With the recent release of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story on Netflix, interest in the historical figures that inspired its characters has skyrocketed. However, many people are unaware of the genetic disorders that plagued the real-life Queen Charlotte’s family.
King George III’s Disease
As he does in the series, the real King George suffered with his mental health. During particularly difficult episodes, he was known to write letters with 400-word sentences as well as talk so much that foam would come from his mouth. Though doctors at the time could not diagnose the king, modern-day physicians have attempted to explain the now-deceased monarch’s condition. Ida Macalpine and Richard Hunt, a mother-and-son team of psychiatrists, theorized that King George III suffered from a type of porphyria.
Porphyria is a rare group of genetic disorders that limits the ability of the body to break chemicals called porphyrins down into a compound called heme. Heme is part of a protein called hemoglobin that carries oxygen throughout the body. If an individual has porphyria, porphyrins will build up, causing a wide range of symptoms, including mental changes and blue urine. As it happens, George suffered from both of these symptoms and it is well known that his 4x great-grandson, Prince William of Gloucester, suffered from porphyria as well.
Despite his symptoms and the ailments of his descendants, many researchers have argued against the idea that the king had the genetic condition. Some claim that he actually suffered from bipolar disorder and that his blue urine was simply the result of medication. However, there is no way of knowing with certainty which, if either, is correct.
Queen Victoria’s Illness
In the Bridgerton prequel, Queen Charlotte pushes her children to produce legitimate heirs. This also occurred in real life and resulted in the birth of the woman known to history as Queen Victoria. As the granddaughter of King George III and Queen Charlotte, Victoria was destined to be queen from the day she was born. However, the royals were unaware that she was born with a genetic mutation that made her a carrier for a disease called hemophilia.
Hemophilia is a group of genetic disorders that decrease the amount of certain clotting factors in the blood. Decreased levels of these factors can cause an individual to bleed to death spontaneously or from injury. Victoria would pass her hemophilia-causing mutation down to many of her descendants. Ten of her male descendants were known to have hemophilia and six of her female descendants were known to be carriers. These descendants would go on to marry into other royal families. This resulted in damage to and sometimes destruction of monarchies throughout Europe.
