The real life royal behind Bridgerton’s iconic queen had an impressive life all her own.
Bridgerton has no shortage of scene-stealing characters, from heartthrob lords to conniving social climbers and, of course, the cutting wit of Lady Whistledown herself. Yet, even among all of these dramatic personalities, Queen Charlotte stands out. The ultimate in social power, the ever-coiffed queen can make or break the chances of a young debutante with one word. With a new series taking a look into Charlotte’s history debuting this spring (Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story hits Netflix on May 4) what better time to investigate the real life royal?
Here, everything you need to know about the real Queen Charlotte.
She was born a German princess.
In 1744 in Mirow, Germany, Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was born into German nobility as the youngest daughter of Charles, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Princess Elizabeth Albertina. Despite her title of princess, Charlotte was raised in a fairly rural duchy, and had limited knowledge of court life.
Some scholars have suggested that her lack of courtly experience may have been a factor when, in 1761, England’s King George III selected her to be his bride. Having succeeded his grandfather’s throne the year ago, the 22-year-old king was in need of a wife and heirs, and after surveying a number of options among the Protestant princesses of Europe (as head of the Church of England, the British monarch was and remains banned from marrying a Catholic) he ultimately chose the 17-year-old Charlotte, sight-unseen.
George and Charlotte
George and Charlotte didn’t actually meet until the day of their wedding, on September 8, 1761. The future queen had arrived in London mere hours ago. “Introduced to the king, Charlotte ‘threw herself at his feet, he raised her up, embraced her and led her through the garden up the steps into the palace,'” writes Janice Hadlow in A Royal Experiment: The Private Life of King George III.
Although she’d been chosen as a matter of practicality, the royal couple appeared to get along well and evidently developed a genuine love connection. Over the course of their first decades of marriage, they were rarely apart, and all evidence suggests that unlike most of the royals of his time, George never took a mistress.
The couple went on to have 15 children together—9 boys and 6 girls—13 of whom would survive into adulthood. Among their number were the future King George IV, who would spend much of his father’s later life acting as regent, King William IV, and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, whose daughter, Queen Victoria, would become one of England’s most storied monarchs.
While their love for each other might sound like the stuff of a real life royal romance, it was far from smooth sailing for George and Charlotte. The king reigned over England during a wildly turbulent period, notably marked by the American Revolutionary War, in which Britain’s North American colonies officially separated from them, becoming the United States of America, as well as ongoing battles with France. George had, by that time, already begun suffering from bouts of what came to be known as his “madness,” the precise nature of which is still unknown. (Historians have suggested a number of possible causes, including bipolar disorder and acute porphyria.)
The Regency Bill of 1765 stated that if George should become permanently unable to rule, Charlotte would become Regent, acting in the king’s stead as his official representative. However, after the Regency Bill of 1789, their son, George IV became regent, while Charlotte became the guardian of the king himself, as well as the court, after the collapse of her husbands mental state in 1811, from which he never recovered. Charlotte oversaw his care and performed the duties of queen until her own death in 1818.
Charlotte’s mark on history
She may not have taken an interest in politics, but Charlotte nevertheless made an indelible mark on the monarchy as it exists today. Although the royal couple’s official residence was St James’s Palace, where court functions were held, in 1762, George and Charlotte moved into Buckingham House, which was rechristened Buckingham Palace—the home became such a favorite of Charlotte’s that it was often known simply as ” The Queen’s House.”
She was also responsible for another piece of now-historic royal property, purchasing Frogmore House as a retreat for herself and her unmarried daughters in 1792. She commissioned artist Mary Moser, a founder member of the Royal Academy, to decorate the walls and ceiling at Frogmore giving the house links to some of the most important female artists of the time.
