Mylene Rafa Holfort

Mylene Rafa Holfort is the Queen of Holfart and the mother of Crown Prince Julius. Trapped in a political marriage to King Roland that long since collapsed into mutual neglect, she has held what is left of the court together by personal charisma and an enormous amount of paperwork.

She is one of the first powerful adults to spot what Leon Fou Bartfort is and is not — a useful tool of state pretending to be a country idiot — and she treats him accordingly: with a polite courtesy that is also a polite threat. Her affection for her son Julius does not blind her to the fact that he is, by the time of the academy scandal, beyond her ability to save politically.

Mylene's quiet appreciation of Leon edges, more than once, into something messier. The series plays it carefully: a queen who has been alone for too long is allowed to look fondly at the one young man at court who treats her like a person.