What Does Queen Charlotte Keep Sniffing In Bridgerton Season 2?
The monarch’s mysterious habit is a nod to her real-life counterpart, and a wider snapshot of Regency-era indulgence in the Bridgerton world.
Queen Charlotte took to sniffing a curious brown-hued substance in Bridgerton season 2, begging the question of what, exactly, was the monarch’s new addiction. The Queen used the strange powder throughout the season, on the tail end of conversations or to cap off a comment about her latest entertaining subject of gossip, and its appearance to hand in its own little silver box and delicate spoon sparked curiosity in curiosity about what Could possibly have the royal so hooked.
Bridgerton season 2 followed Viscount Anthony Bridgerton on his hunt to find a suitable, loveless marriage with Queen Charlotte’s so-called diamond of the season, Edwina Sharma. The series executed a fan-favorite Bridgerton book in its enemies to lovers arc between Anthony and Edwina’s older sister, Kate, who found herself vexed by Anthony Bridgerton and spent most of the season attempting to dissuade Edwina of her desire to marry him. The Queen spent most of the season enjoying her machinations in the match between the viscount and the diamond, going so far as to orchestrate their elaborate, ill-fated wedding, with the mysterious silver box of brown powder by her side.
It appears that the brown substance in question is snuff, a Regency-era tobacco product which the wealthier participants in the social scene prefer to snort as a smokeless alternative to pipe tobacco. Although the Queen snorted it like many mainstream hardcore drugs tend to be used in the modern day, snuff wasn’t anything as dangerous or addictive as audiences might have been led to believe at first glance. Still, it added to the weird slate of drug allusions throughout the series, joining the mystery of Bridgerton brothers Benedict and Colin’s newly acquired “herbal” tea fixation as one of Bridgerton season 2’s biggest unanswered questions. Subtly, the show taps into the slightly darker elements of the era’s progress.
Queen Charlotte actress Golda Rosheuvel confirmed that the finely ground powder the royal snorted was in fact snuff; however, the real substance on set was a sugar-based alternative which had been styled to look like the real thing. Snuff was also often flavored to give it a boost of scent as it was consumed. Apparently, the real Queen Charlotte who the Bridgerton character is based on held the fine tobacco in such a high degree of fondness that she was historically known as Snuffy Charlotte in a nod to her love for the brown powder. The subject might give the upcoming Bridgerton prequel series about Queen Charlotte a few plot threads to follow in reference to the real-life inspiration behind the royal figure.
The show also explores Colin Bridgerton’s new habit of drinking a strange form of tea, which came from a sachet of his own foul-smelling powder from his long travels throughout Europe. The tea was introduced by the younger Bridgerton brother to Benedict to help relax him and take his mind off his application to art school. However, events took a far stranger turn than Queen Chalotte’s relatively innocuous habit, as Benedict dumped the entire pouch of the unknown herbs into his tea and ended up goofy and under the influence, culminating in odd rumations and a spilled glass of red wine at the Bridgerton dinner table. Suffice to say, Queen Charlotte’s snuff habit was not the strangest substance experimentation in Bridgerton season 2.
