In last night’s Fit to Rule on BBC2, chief curator of the Historic Royal Palaces Lucy Worsley questioned the “porphyria” theory of George III’s mad spells, saying more recent medical opinion sees that as a misdiagnosis and believes instead he did indeed have a psychiatric illness.
But in Royal Paintbox on ITV on Tuesday, the Prince of Wales — looking at the work of royal predecessors who like him were artists — sticks to the porphyria theory when discussing George III.
Prince Charles has enthusiastically championed the porphyria explanation in the past, clearly with press attacks on himself as mad in mind. But it’s unclear if Worsley has had a chance to brief him on the changing medical consensus when he visits one of the palaces she looks after.
