Gout used to be an affliction of royalty but is now a disease of the masses

By Dan Baumgardt, Senior Lecturer, School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol

“The Queen’s had an attack of gout! Hurry!”

So exclaimed the crotchety Mrs Meg in Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite, in which Olivia Colman plays a moribund and overweight Queen Anne. The queen was afflicted with, among many other conditions, gout – a disorder which causes joint inflammation and severe pain.

In the film, while screaming out in pain, her swollen feet are wrapped in strips of soothing beef. The next day her soon-to-be new favourite, Abigail, collects wild herbs to make a poultice for her. A bit more effective than raw steak, she finds.

You’ve…

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