Are you waiting, like me, for Season 3 of Bridgerton? If so, don’t miss the series prequel, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, now streaming on Netflix. This collaboration between Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes offers an in-depth look at one of Bridgerton’s most intriguing characters.
However, don’t mistake this prequel for a documentary. In a prologue to the six-episode series, narrator Julie Andrews points out that Queen Charlotte is not a history lesson but rather “fiction based on fact.”
The story of this oft-overlooked queen’s life deserves a closer look. Her marriage contract signed before she even met the king, the 17-year-old Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz arrived in London on a September afternoon in 1761. Hailing from a remote province in Germany, she couldn’t even speak English.
Six hours later she was marrying her 22-year-old fiancé in a small ceremony in the Chapel Royal at St. James Palace. And two weeks after that she was at her husband’s side at their coronation in Westminster Abbey.
History tells us Charlotte and George conceived 15 children, 13 of whom lived to adulthood. They are the parents of the Prince Regent, later George IV, the man for whom the our beloved Regency era is named.
But what about the private lives of George and Charlotte? How did they relate to each other as a couple?
This is the focus of the series. It delves into how the teenage queen learns to love her husband and accept his mental illness. The themes of love, marriage and commitment are explored not only through the story of Charlotte’s life, but also though the experiences of Lady Danbury and Violet Bridgeton, matriarch of the Bridgerton clan.
The narrative alternates between the 1760s, when the young queen begins her reign, to the latter Regency years, when Britain is in the grip of a constitutional crisis after the heir to the throne, Princess Charlotte of Wales, dies giving birth to a stillborn son.
Faced with the prospect of no legitimate royal heir (although there were plenty of illegitimate ones) the aging Queen commands her adult children to marry respectable spouses and produce babies. Otherwise, George’s line will die with him, his legacy obliterated, and she’s determined not to let that happen.
It wouldn’t be Bridgerton without the conspicuous interracial mingling at the highest levels of society, and this prequel addresses how that situation came about. Here the king’s mother, Princess Augusta, refers to this racial mixing as the “Great Experiment,” and implies that her choice of Charlotte as Britain’s queen is a large part of it.
Unfortunately, this part of the plot is entirely fictional. The premise is based on the popular belief that Charlotte had African ancestry, and thus she introduced a Black bloodline into the royal family.
Though this hypothesis has been bandied about for years, it’s never been proven. The discussion of Charlotte’s racial heritage resurfaced more recently when Prince Harry married Meghan Markle, a biracial woman.
Regarding the king and queen’s private relationship, we do know that contrary to the conventions of the time they often slept in the same bed, at least until his madness overcame him. And, although she seldom saw him after his condition deteriorated irrevocably in 1811, Charlotte remained her husband’s guardian until her death in 1818.
In my opinion this prequel is a worthy addition to the Bridgerton saga. It’s well-paced with lots of drama and steamy romance, the acting is top-notch, and the settings, including the costumes, are magnificent, whether the story takes us to the mid-18th century or the latter years of the Regency.
Production details aside, Queen Charlotte is a touching love story. Two young people, strangers at their wedding, learn how to love and care for each other as they also learn how to perform their duties as leaders of their country.
Their path wasn’t smooth, especially at first. But as Violet Bridgerton says many years later over tea with Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury: “Love can bloom from the thorniest of gardens, can it not?”
And the queen, though somewhat disillusioned by this point, has to agree.
Have you seen Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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For more information, see:
“Bridgerton fans, rejoice! The Queen Charlotte prequel series is just days away,” by Hope Cook, The Tatler, April 6, 2023
“Was Queen Charlotte Black? Here’s What we Know,” by DeNeen L. Brown, The Washington Post, December 27, 2020, updated February 25, 2021 (reprinted in The Seattle Times)
“The Blurred Racial Lines of Famous Families: Queen Charlotte” by Mario de Valdes y Cocom, written in 1997 and updated March 11, 2021, PBS. org, for Frontline
I haven’t watched Queen Charlotte yet. Plan to binge this weekend. Very excited to see how the love story of George and Charlotte unfolds. Thanks for sharing the back story.