After bridgertons, Queen Charlotte was another big hit for Netflix. The series is dedicated to a real story, which at one time was added to the plot. Books by Julia Quinn. Real for the veracity of the facts and for his connection with the monarchy, since we are talking about the first years of marriage between Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz And King George III from England. In the series, these early years are marked by the Monarch’s incipient mental illness. An illness that also took place in reality, although it began a little later.
Yörg III began to be subjected to continuous attacks in 178827 years after his marriage to Queen Charlotte. In addition to the obvious bouts of insanity, he often complained of severe pain. He even went so far as to experience convulsions, which forced the pages to sit on him so that he would not get hurt. Without a doubt, his pages were very attentive to him, which can also be seen in the Netflix series.
Logically, given the backwardness of medicine at that time, it was impossible to know exactly what was happening to it. However, many modern researchers have diagnosed a posteriori. At first they thought he was hurt porphyria. However, a scientific study published in 2017 reveals a different, much more plausible theory.
Porphyria, the first theory about George III’s illness
Porphyrias are a group of diseases characterized by a deficiency of certain proteins involved in the synthesis of a very important part hemoglobin.
They are usually accompanied by a very varied set of symptoms, among which some of those experienced by the monarch stand out. This is the case, for example, with pain, hallucinations, confusion and seizures. For most of the chapters Queen Charlotte one can see many seizures marked by these symptoms.
There are also some cutaneous porphyrias that cause increased sensitivity to sunlightConsequently, in the past, these patients were confused with vampires. But, without a doubt, the main reason why it was believed that George III’s illness was just that, was the blue color of your urine. As her symptoms worsened, this color became more intense. Although it is usually more brownish or reddish in porphyria patients, in some cases it may contain substances that give it color. blue or magenta.
This led to it being considered the leading theory for many years. Today, however, we know of another which also corresponds to what we have been able to see in Queen Charlotte.
Common features and differences with Queen Charlotte
Although he suffered a minor crisis in 1765, shortly after his marriage to Queen Charlottewhat were then described as the monarch’s bouts of insanity began regularly in 1788. That would be different from the series.
Yes, this is in line with what we saw in bridgerton, when George III asks Queen Charlotte about his daughter Amelia. She tries to remind him that she passed away a few years ago, but he doesn’t believe her and has another seizure. It may seem that it was a girl, although in fact Amelia, the youngest of her children, died at age 27 in 1810.3 years before the time of the series.
Those who died at a very young age were Octavio and Alfredo, from 4 and 2 years respectively. Both died after undergoing the process of being inoculated against smallpox to prevent the disease. It should be noted that it was this procedure that led to the creation of the vaccine, but it was much less safe because inactive or mild forms of the pathogen were not used. It happened a few months apart in 1782 and 1783capable of being one of the triggers for Jorge III disease.
This is all in line with what Queen Charlotte says when she appears older on the show. And it is that, despite the presence 13 adult childrennotes that she and her husband produced 15 children. It’s true that it should be 12 by then due to Amelia’s absence, but that’s something we can forgive.
too long sentences
The symptoms with which he began to suffer and which we were able to see in Queen CharlotteThey seemed clear of mental illness. For this reason, a group of scientists from University of London he decided to analyze some of the letters and other documents he had written for clues as to what might have happened to him.
All this was subjected to linguistic analysis softwareto find trends at the moments when he lost his clarity. So it was. Those letters that matched attacks based on other records from the time matched in very long sentences. So much so that some have been found 400 words and only 8 verbsWith. Today it is common in patients experiencing the manic phase of psychiatric disorders such as Bipolar disorder.
For this reason, these scientists believe that it is a more accurate theory to explain George III disease. It should not be forgotten that porphyria is genetic disorder and that none of their fifteen children suffered the same symptoms. It remained only to give an explanation for the color of the urine.
To find an explanation, it was necessary to study some of the reports of the doctors who treated him. The clue was in one of the medications he had been prescribed since the onset of the attacks. In its composition, it contained gentiana flower with a bluish hue that has historically been used for medicinal purposes and can stain urine.
So while we’ll never know for sure what George III was sick with, science has a theory that makes a lot of sense.
Source: Hiper Textual
