‘Queen Charlotte’ Star Corey Mylchreest Explains King George’s Illness as ‘Rooted in Anxiety and Stress’

thewrap.com:

“Queen Charlotte” actor Corey Mylchreest thinks it’s best to look at King George’s illness without a solid diagnosis, but he does share the roots of George’s poor mental health.Viewers start to get glimpses into the king’s “fits” as Charlotte spends more time around him.

His love for astronomy crosses over into what look like hallucinations in which the king confuses reality for the galaxy. The actor emphasized that George’s condition is rooted in anxiety and stress.“Everyone can have theories, but what is useful to know is that it’s triggered by panic, and that panic is set off because his trauma is so wearable because he hasn’t addressed it ever,” Mylchreest said. “No one has ever addressed it, and he’s constantly in situations that trigger that.

Once, the stress or this panic or this anxiety, that’s when he loses his facility.” The King’s condition is hinted at in the “Bridgerton” series, but the prequel takes viewers into the entire backstory of how the King and Queen met and got married.

Charlotte learns a lot about George’s family history, and young Lady Danbury (Arsema Thomas) gleans more information through George’s mother Princess Augusta (Michelle Fairley). “I think what’s really interesting and what’s important to acknowledge is that George had an incredibly traumatic childhood filled with lots of different kinds of abuse and pressure,” Mylchreest said.