Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story's Corey Mylchreest Is Still Getting Used to Swooning Fans: 'I Get Really Awkward' (Exclusive)

For his first major television role in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Netflix’s hit spinoff drama that served as a prequel about the early life and romance of Queen Charlotte, Corey Mylchreest says, he “put so much pressure” on himself to play King George III. “The most challenging parts were the emotional scenes." 

Now Mylchreest, 26, is adjusting to all the attention from his newfound adoring fan base: “It’s a very surreal experience and really lovely, but I am just very British and awkward!” 

What was the best part about playing the role of King George III?
There are so many things I have to be thankful for but the best part was being with that gang, I even lived with Freddie who played my servant, we just got on so well. It was all our first big job and it was a six-month shoot spending 14 to 16 hours a day with each other. It was a brilliant character to play. I have done so many things since, I feel I have the world to thank for that show really and that guy, George.

Were you prepared for how the show was going to propel you into the public eye?
No, nothing can really prepare you for that. Although I did try to mentally prepare but it turns out that’s called anxiety! It was scary but exciting but I don’t think I had any tangible idea of what it would be like in real life or in my career afterwards. ... It was a big old leap. I was so green and I really didn’t know what I was doing but I had enough confidence not to be sick every day.

What was the most challenging part of the role?
I think the most challenging part were the emotional scenes, the scenes where he is entering psychosis. I would tackle them from a much more relaxed mindset but looking back, I was so new. ... I put so much pressure on myself. Any of those dramatic scenes, I found difficult, but I look back and I think we did an alright job.

I’ve shot three things for Netflix since doing Queen Charlotte and in two of them I’ve been doing scenes in rooms where there’s a massive portrait of King George III because a lot of them have stately homes in them. It was so strange stepping on that set, ready to be a new person and then seeing that! He’s on my shoulder now.”

If you were a member of the royal family, what perk do you think you would most enjoy?
I would enforce the four-day week. I would get myself a season ticket at Anfield and watch Liverpool play every other week. I’m a massive Liverpool fan and nobody could say no the King, could they? And maybe a meet and greet with the whole team or I could just be a Liverpool player. Actually that’s what I would do, I would just play for Liverpool and nobody could say no.

How have fans responded to you both before and after the show?
There were no fans pre-Queen Charlotte and I have to say, for the most part it’s been really lovely. It’s still strange for me and I’m not sure I will ever get to the point where I’m completely confident and comfortable with these people who I don’t know and yet they know me, it’s a very surreal experience meeting fans of the show on the street. It is really lovely and it’s just a spontaneous expression of appreciation of something I was a part of and very proud to be a part of.

Half of art is to be good and poignant and mean something and be truthful; half of it is that it has to be witnessed and understood. It can’t just be for the artist. It’s validation from the world that half of the job has been done well and people have responded to it.

Is there one memorable or funny encounter that has stayed with you?
In Paris I met a fan and she made me laugh so much. She said something like ... she apologized and she said, "I’m so sorry to tell you this" and I got all worried for a second and she said, "I just don’t see it, you’re not sexy," and I said, ‘Oh okay, you don’t have to find me sexy, no one does."

Then she said, "You should really change your hair." She really looked at me and basically the general gist of it was "It’s not working right now, maybe it could work but I don’t have a lot of hope." I really loved it because in this industry so many people tend to blow smoke up your arse and it was a real antidote to that. I really didn’t expect it.

Where were you?
I was at Paris Fashion Week and I was with Kit Connor [Heartstopper] at the time. I found it very funny and we were just looking at each other, both thinking we’ll laugh afterwards, we’ll laugh after. How ironic, doing this shoot today, this one is for [her]!

Shall we mail her a copy?
Yes, I think so. She might not like my hair though.

If you weren’t an actor, what would you be doing?
I would love to do something to do with history. If I didn’t go to drama school, I would have studied history. I’m thinking Indiana Jones, out in the field, bit of action, bit of gunfire and preserving the great chronicles of the world really, single-handedly with a cowboy hat and a whip.

There is still time, no?
I don’t see any barrier to it! I would have [also] loved to have been a football coach. Maybe when I have kids, I can coach them. Born at the same hospital as David Beckham, same part of London, that’s the closest I get.

What does the perfect date night entail?
If I’m not watching Friends, I think maybe I would get some drinks around Holborn and then go to a comedy club, going to see new comics would be perfect for a date. It’s either going to be awful and you can laugh or it’s going to be great and you’re going to laugh. Maybe get a bite to eat in Camden at one of the stalls and go for a walk along the river, maybe get a mulled wine if its winter.

When did you first realize you were famous?
I don’t think I am famous, I think I am known by some people for that show. We were doing press in the States on the day when it came out in May and I got a flight two days later and someone at the airport, one of the security staff, she recognized me even though I had a Covid mask on, a hat on and sunglasses on. I remember getting so nervous, my heart was beating and I could see in the selfie we took, how red my face was. Then there was the flight that I took maybe a week later and the steward asked me to come to the back of the plane to take a picture and then all of sudden there was a carousel of four or five of the air stewards and stewardesses lined up. I get really awkward with it, I am just very British and awkward. Unless I am on stage being a character I just don’t feel totally comfortable with it, but I am getting better.

What has kept you grounded?
That fan in Paris helped! I have the best most amazing people in my life and I love them all. They are really sensible but brilliant and funny people and you are your habits, and a lot of your habits come from the people you spend your time with. There are no ideas of grandeur. I think the fact that I struggled a little bit with it, my nervousness about it all, I guess that’s helped me a little bit because I went the other way and felt more self-conscious, definitely not like the king of the world!

What’s on your bucket list?
I want to scuba dive, I want to get my driving license, I want to bungee jump, and skydive. I remember saying this when I was 12: "I never want to be famous but I want to be famous enough so that I will at one point in my life be invited to play a charity match at Anfield" because I was in love with Steven Gerrard. That would be my life finished. I would also like to travel and hopefully I’ll feel cemented enough in the industry that I can take some time off and travel properly.

What makes you happy?
Games. Any type of games. I love playing games, board games, word games, I love the idea of making up a game, really stupid stuff but I’m told it’s really annoying. I love go-karting and I really want to go paintballing again. Fundamentally what makes me happy is spending time with people where everyone is relaxed, just switching off with the people I love, that’s what really fills the bar of contentment, more than anything, Playing football too but I can’t right now because I’ve slipped a disc. I’ve been seeing an acupuncturist, and it is doing wonders!

Describe what you hope your life will look like in 10 years?
Ask God. I have no idea. I would like to be a dad and I’m lucky enough to have a partner [whom he has not named] who I can [see] myself having a life with. If I’m lucky enough to be here still I would love to have a better work-life balance and be slightly more in control of my time, I would love to be a better actor in basically every other way, be kinder to myself and therefore have more time and space to be a better person to everyone around me and be in a position to help those around me.

By 36, I would like to have a kid by then, while I am still able to be athletic ... but of course they would have invented immortality by the time I have a kid so I would be probably fine. I will be immortal.

What’s sexy?
Humility is sexy. When someone is really amazing at what they do and almost bashful about it. You’re so good at this thing that it feels like a gift sent from above and yet you are not egotistical, you are generous with other people, that’s really sexy, as in attractive, it’s a trait that would attract me to my friends too, that’s the real s---.