One of the many obstacles that blocked Daphne and Simon’s path to happiness was the dashing Prince Friedrich. After declaring her the “diamond of the season,” Bridgerton’s Queen Charlotte pushes her Prussian nephew to court Daphne. But was he a real person, too?
Well, it appears as though the character was based on the little known Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig of Prussia. According to Sotheby’s, he lived from 1794 to 1863 and was an esteemed soldier. His parents were Prince Louis Charles of Prussia and Duchess Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the eventual Queen of Hanover who was both the niece and daughter-in-law of Queen Charlotte after marrying the queen’s eighth child Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover. And although he did not marry Daphne on the show, in real life, he married Princess Luise of Anhalt-Bernburg in 1817. They had two sons.
As Bridgerton shows, Queen Charlotte truly did “discover” Mozart.
King George III was the founder of the Royal Academy of the Arts, and he and Queen Charlotte bonded over their shared passion for music. She was an accomplished harpsichord player, and if you remember in episode 2’s “Shock and Delight,” Rosheuvel’s Queen Charlotte confidently declared to Violet Bridgerton: “I became acquainted with Mr. Mozart when he was not 10 years old. The boy accompanied me as I sang an aria, and I declared then and there that he should become one of the finest composers in Europe.”
This is true. The Royal Collection trust says in 1764, an 8-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart performed for the royals during a visit to England, while Olwen Hedley’s biography about the queen confirms that Charlotte sang while the young musical genius played the organ. A year later Mozart dedicated his Opus 3 to Charlotte and would go on to dedicate six sonatas to her.
A few other fun facts about about the royal? As we see in the show, she was particularly fond of Pomeranians throughout her life and would often give them as gifts to friends. Plus, her husband purchased what we know as London’s Buckingham Palace. The family moved into the home in 1762, and it quickly became a favorite property of Charlotte’s and was called “The Queen’s House,” according to the royal family website.
As a country escape for her and her daughters, she bought Windsor’s Frogmore House and commissioned the construction of Frogmore Cottage on the property in 1801. That name may sound familiar because it’s the much-talked-about home that was formerly rented by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, but eventually turned over to Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank in fall 2020. (But it seems they’ve now moved out, too).
After 57 years on the throne, Queen Charlotte died in 1818 at the age of 74. She’s buried at St. George’s Chapel.
