In the Bridgerton prequel Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, viewers are given a closer look at some of the original series’ characters. They find that King George, with whom Queen Charlotte has a deep romance, who reigned from 1760 to 1820, had a severe mental illness that doctors of the royal court were unable to treat.
King George suffered from a number of bouts of poor mental health during his reign. In 1778 he even had to be restrained with a straitjacket when he became overly aggressive. Another time saw the King foam at the mouth and be unable to communicate properly for several hours.
In one slightly amusing incident, George tried to shake hands with a tree, mistakenly believing it to be the King of Prussia. He soon earned the nickname ‘The Mad King’. George had usually been able to overcome these bouts of poor mental health, but his final episode lasted until he died, said to have been inflicted by the death of his daughter Princess Amelia.
In his last days, the King developed rheumatism, blindness and deafness. He spent them in privacy at Windsor Castle, eventually dying at the age of 81 in 1920. The cause of death was pneumonia. Some history experts believe George was ailed with bipolar disorder, although others claim that he had a genetic metabolic disorder called porphyria.
