‘Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story’ will showcase the queen’s friendship with Lady Danbury.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story will open several decades before the events of Bridgerton Season 1. The show will showcase a young and naive Queen Charlotte (India Amarteifio), who arrives in England for her arranged marriage to King George (Corey Mylchreest). This version of the queen will be very different from the self-assured woman Bridgerton fans have grown to know and love.
When the queen arrives in the country, she is virtually alone, but she finds a mentor in Lady Danbury (Arsema Thomas). However, the regal lady might have ulterior motives.
Queen Charlotte arrived in London in 1761
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story opens in 1761 when the queen arrives in London from Germany. The official description for Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes’ new book, Queen Charlotte reads,
“Born a German Princess, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was beautiful, headstrong, and fiercely intelligent, not exactly the attributes the British Court had been seeking in a spouse for the young King George III. But her fire and independence were exactly what she needed because George had secrets — secrets that could shake the very foundations of the monarchy.”
Lady Danbury may have ulterior motives for mentoring Queen Charlotte
When Queen Charlotte arrives, she really has no allies, and she finds herself navigating the royal court alone. That is until Lady Danbury takes the young queen under her wings. However, with all of the races within the ton mixing for the first time, it could be that Lady Danbury has her own ulterior motives to see Queen Charlotte succeed.
She says in the teaser trailer, “You must secure your position.” It looks like their friendship is initially fairly transactional.
Inside Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury’s friendship
Although her motives might not be malicious, Lady Danbury does know how important it is for Queen Charlotte to succeed in her new role in England.
Amarteifio gave some insight into Danbury and Queen Charlotte’s friendship and its importance in the limited series. Amarteifio told Essence’s Hollywood House,
The relationship was natural. I think, you know, I really respect Arsema as a person and as an actor and then as the role I respect Danbury and I respect everything that she kind of does and I think one of the most amazing things about Danbury is that she sees Charlotte as almost a catalyst or an object that can be molded in order to make change. I can’t and Charlotte would never take full credit for how she turns out to be as a strong woman without the help of Danbury kind of giving her that power and making her realize her power. So it was in the writing but it was also just in understanding our characters and I grew to love Charlotte and I know you [Arsema] grew to love Lady Danbury.
