And she may have been the first Black British Queen.
Aside from the scene-stealing Simon, Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page) and our heroine Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor)—not to mention the disembodied voice of Julie Andrews—one of our favorite characters of Shondaland’s Bridgerton was the gossip-loving Queen Charlotte.
From her icy stare and commanding presence to her over-the-top wigs and unapologetically opulent gowns, we can never thank showrunner Chris Van Dusen enough for adding her character (played by Golda Rosheuvel) to the romantic drama. Particularly seeing as Queen Charlotte—who was a real royal of the Regency Era from 1761 to 1818—was not in the Julia Quinn book series the show is adapted from.
“Queen Charlotte opened up an entirely new world for us,” Van Dusen says about the series, which takes place in 1813 London. “What really struck me with the books from the beginning is that this was an opportunity to marry history and fantasy in a really exciting, interesting way. So in Queen Charlotte, that was the history. And then it was thinking of these fantastical scenes and situations to put her in that were really fun to write, too.”
For Quinn, the royal was a welcome addition to the Bridgerton universe, confessing that she even wrote a “fan letter” to Rosheuvel after seeing her performance.
“I go back and forth between wishing I had actually written her in the books and then being glad I didn’t, because I don’t know if I could have done as good a job,” Quinn says.
What was intriguing to the writer was the debate among scholars over whether or not the real Queen Charlotte was Black. One particular researcher has tracked the royal’s genealogy and believes he’s found evidence that she was. Despite peers contesting his findings, Quinn looked into how that affects the world of the Netflix series.
“I don’t think it’s ever going to be proven or disproven to be honest with you,” Quinn says. “But let’s say she was Black. And what if that was accepted at the time and people acknowledged that, and then she used that position to lift other people of color to higher positions in society. What would society look like?”
Ahead, we explore the life of the real Queen Charlotte that inspired the Bridgerton character.
Queen Charlotte had 15 children.
Queen Charlotte was born Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz to a German duke and princess on May 19, 1744. She became queen of Britain and Ireland after marrying King George III in London in September 1761. The young royal was 17 at the time, while her husband was 23. According to the royal family’s official website, the couple married just six hours after Charlotte arrived in England and they met for the first time. Despite only brief mentions of kids in Bridgerton, the real Queen Charlotte gave birth to 15 children, with 13 surviving until adulthood.
As mentioned in a dinner conversation between the queen and king in episode 5’s “The Duke and I,” their youngest child Princess Amelia died at age 27 in 1810—just three years before Bridgerton took place. However, their 13th and 14th children, Prince Octavius and Prince Alfred, died at ages four and two respectively.
