Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
By Leslie Urena ('23)
On Christmas Day, 2020, Shonda Rhimes rocked our worlds with yet another amazing series full of shocking twists and captivating love stories. However, this one took place in a setting much different from the hospitals of Grey’s Anatomy and the White House in Scandal.
Bridgerton is a period piece set in Regency Era England, adapted from the book series of Julia Quinn. The show has included a more diverse cast, and also incorporated a Gossip Girl-esque narrator who runs a gossip column keeping about the main characters. These factors, as well as the gorgeous costuming and fiery love story between the first season’s main characters, gave the show a unique aesthetic and a large, dedicated audience.
Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Times
Photo courtesy of NBC News
The second season, following the beloved story of Daphne Bridgerton and Simon Bassett (the Duke of Hastings), focused on the oldest Bridgerton brother, Anthony, and his relationship with Kathani “Kate” Sharma. Though many doubted the success of the second season, with the Duke being notably missing in action. Despite complaints, it became a smashing success and clearly showcased that the writers knew how to captivate an audience.
But missing the Duke is one thing. Missing the entire cast we have come to know and love? That was too much! Yet that’s exactly what Rhimes presented fans with when announcing a spin-off series taking place decades prior to the stories of the Bridgerton family released in 2021. It was instead to focus on a series familiar: the queen. I will be the first to say that I loved the queen from the second I saw her on my screen, with her over the top wigs and army of pomeranians. I will also be the first to say that as polarizing as I found her, I was still skeptical of the idea that she could carry an entire season on her own with no Bridgertons.
Now, after the show was released May 4, 2023, and promptly binging it thereafter, I can say that I did not miss the Bridgertons at all. From the first few minutes I was wholly captivated by Charlotte and the way her younger actress, India Ria Amarteifio, commanded the screen. The season followed the troubles of both the younger and older Queen Charlotte, her older actress being Golda Rosheuval. It flip flops between the earlier and tumultuous days of her marriage with King George (younger, Corey Mylchreest), whom she married mere minutes after meeting face-to-face for the first time. Then it goes forward 50 years and 13 children later, with her struggle to force her children to continue the royal line established for them by she and George (older, James Fleet).
Photo courtesy of IMDb
The young Lady Danbury!
Photo courtesy of Radio Times
There is also “The Great Experiment,” which is an effort shown to be headed by the monarchy to integrate the previously segregated white and non-white aristocracy of England. While the Bridgerton family makes no presence, their matriarch, Violet Bridgerton, does make appearances in the flashbacks and flashforwards, played by both Ruth Gemmell and Connie Jenkins-Reid. She is accompanied by their well-known family friend, Lady Agatha Danbury, played by Adjoa Andoh and Arsema Thomas. Dowager Princess Augusta, mother to King George and orchestrator of The Great Experiment, is also played by a familiar face, Michelle Fairley; Catelyn Stark from Game of Thrones.
While the show is considered a period piece, and is based on two very real Kings and Queens of England, it is noted to not be taken at face value as historical fact. The show begins with a disclaimer that the story and its events are fiction inspired fact and not to be confused with real history. The Great Experiment never took place, Charlotte and George’s love story may not have been as dramatic as the show depicts it to be. But, it is true that they were in love and that Charlotte stayed dedicated to him as he succumbed to his mental illness, induced by his real condition of acute porphyria.
There is another aspect of the show that may be historically accurate. That being, Queen Charlotte’s race. In the show, she is very obviously depicted as black, seeing how she is the symbol that heads The Great Experiment. But there are historically reasonable claims that she may have had some African ancestry, seeing as she was a descendant of a black branch of the Portuguese royal family.
Photo courtesy of Town & Country Magazine
Photo courtesy of ELLE
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story has definitely been as much of a success as Bridgerton was when it first came out, claiming both itself and Bridgerton a spot on Netflix’s Top 10 again. If anything, it has made me all the more anxious to see season 3 of Bridgerton, for which neither trailers or teasers have been released yet. As of now, it seems we’ll be playing the waiting game, though I’m sure it will result in just as phenomenal a story!
Banner courtesy of People
Cover photo courtesy Good Morning America