While Queen Charlotte is a fictional television drama, the main characters are based on two historical monarchs: King George III, who ruled the United Kingdom from 1760 to 1820, and his wife Queen Charlotte.
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When a 22-year-old unmarried King George III ascended to the throne in 1760, finding a wife became an immediate priority in order to secure his family’s lineage.
After much searching, he found the perfect match: Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, a 17-year-old German girl from a rural region.
The match turned out to be remarkably well-suited: they were both music enthusiasts. They both had a love of the countryside, with George specialising in agriculture and Charlotte in botany.
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Both desired a relatively private domestic life and spent a significant amount of time at Kew Palace outside of London. They ended up having 15 children together.
However, there was a sad complication to their union: King George’s madness. Historians now believe that George suffered from bipolar disorder and chronic mania, which were possibly exacerbated by his doctor’s prescribed arsenic treatment.
There are documented historical accounts of at least five episodes during his reign.
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