Get caught up with the Royal.
Cancel your weekend plans. After roughly a year of waiting, the new Bridgerton prequel spin-off, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, just dropped on Netflix, and it’s bringing back all the Regency-style drama, scandal, and gossip you’ve been missing in your life .
ICYDK, Bridgerton is a romantic historical-fiction show that takes place during the Regency era in England (or the early years of the 19th Century). However, don’t get it confused with The Crown. Some of the show is based on true history, but other parts are simply fictional storylines that move the plot along.
Actor Regé-Jean Page, who starred as Simon Basset (a fan favorite in Season 1), described the show as “Jane Austen meets Gossip Girl” in an interview with Variety in 2020. Trust me, Bridgerton isn’t your average period piece .
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is a one-off limited series centered around Queen Charlotte, a character in the original series. Since Bridgerton seems to follow a pretty believable plotline, you might be wondering how much of Queen Charlotte’s story is accurate. Spoiler: A lot. Women’s Health has all the deets:
Who is Queen Charlotte in Bridgerton?
The new Bridgerton spin-off jumps from the Regency era (when Bridgerton took place) to the Georgian era (around 1760).
The story picks up as the show’s main character, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, played by actress India Amarteifio, begrudgingly marries King George III of England. Of course, the pair ends up falling for each other, and it’s rather steamy, based on the trailer. But would you expect anything less from a Bridgerton story?!
If you’re an original Bridgerton fan, you’ll still get your dose of actress Golda Rosheuvel, the OG Queen Charlotte. She will appear in the spin-off as her character’s older self, since the plot jumps between timelines. However, the show mainly focuses on the younger Charlotte’s life as she leaves her aristocratic home in Germany to marry King George III.
Queen Charlotte dives deeper into the relationship that buds between Charlotte and George, and viewers will follow along as Charlotte finds her place in London’s royal court.
Is the show’s ‘Queen Charlotte’ based on a real person?
Yes! Queen Charlotte is, in fact, a real person. Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was born on May 19, 1744, per the royal family’s website. She ruled as Queen of England from 1761 to 1818.
In 1761, King George III succeeded the English throne at age 22, and 17-year-old Charlotte was the “obvious” choice as his wife, because of her family’s duchy status in Germany.
A group of British royal officials traveled to Germany in August 1761 to bring Charlotte back to England. Charlotte arrived in England on September 8, 1761, and reported married King George III that same night. A few weeks later, on September 22, 1761, the pair had their coronation, per the royal family’s website.
The real Queen Charlotte had 15 children.
Yep, Queen Charlotte had 15 children with King George III. Their first son (who became King George IV) was born less than a year after they married. The 14 children who followed were born in rapid succession between 1762 and 1783.
Here is a list of all Queen Charlotte’s children, and their lifetimes:
George, Prince of Wales (and later King George IV), 1762-1830
Prince Frederick, 1763-1827
Prince William, 1765-1837
Princess Charlotte, 1766-1798
Prince Edward, 1767-1820
Princess Augusta, 1768-1840
Princess Elizabeth, 1770- 1840
Prince Ernest, 1771-1837
Prince Augustus, 1773-1843
Prince Alphonsus, 1774-1850
Princess Mary, 1776-1857
Princess Sophia, 1777-1848
Prince Octavius, 1779-1783 (died at age 4 from smallpox)
Prince Alfred, 1780-1782 (died just before age 2 from smallpox)
Princess Amelia, 1783-1810
Queen Charlotte was interested in botany and music.
The royal took on many hobbies during her time as queen, but she’s mainly known for her amateur skills in botany and music. She even hired Johann Christian Bach, the son of the great Johann Sebastian Bach, as her music-master, per the royal family website.
Charlotte’s interest in botany meant she spent a lot of time at a cottage in Kew Gardens, (or Kew Palace), which King George III bought in 1781. She loved plants so much that a South African flower, the Strelitzia reginae (a.k.a. the Bird of Paradise), was named after her.
Queen Charlotte may have been the first Black British royal.
While there is much debate on the subject, several experts, including African disapora historian Mario De Valdes y Cocom, believe that Charlotte could be the first British royal of African descent, according to The Washington Post.
