Why Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story Is One Of Netflix’s Most Important Series Of The Year

Our hearts have been longing for the return of Bridgerton season 3, along with its over-the-top gowns and some Lady Whistledown gossip but what better way to tide us over than the highly anticipated Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story which hit our Netflix screens this May.

In this prequel we see young actress India Amarteifio play a younger version of our beloved Queen Charlotte as she meets and marries King George, played by Corey Mylchreest.

Rosheuvel also returns to play Queen Charlotte with appearances from Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh and Ruth Gemmell, who play Lady Danbury and Violet Bridgerton, respectively.

This spin off series follows the life of gossip-loving Queen Charlotte, we delve into the origin of her reign as queen and get to experience the Queen’s very own love story before she took to matchmaking the Ton later in life.

This series is unique from Bridgerton as Queen Charlotte was actually a real monarch of the Regency Era from 1761 to 1818 and was not a part of the Julia Quinn book series in which the show is adapted from.

There is a debate among historians over whether or not the real Queen Charlotte was Black. Quinn told Oprah Daily; “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 acknowledge that, and then she used that position to lift other people of colour to higher positions in society. What would society look like?”

This emphasises how important it is to have a person of colour as the lead of the series. From the first episode we are given a window into the minds of the British Empire and their concerns in having a person of colour marrying into the Royal family, however alongside these concerns we see the hope for inclusivity from the rest of the Ton.

The whole series does a great job of showing the underlying hope from the members of Queen Charlotte’s court, that they may finally be viewed as equals.

This is prevalent in the scene in which different members of the Ton visit a young Lady Danbury (Thomas) to see if their futures as Ladies and Lords of the Ton are secured.

As an audience you can feel the stress build with each meeting between Lady Danbury and the Queen’s Mother, we can almost feel the hope for her son’s future slipping through our fingers with her.

In a recent interview with STELLAR, Arsema Thomas delves into her character, young Lady Danbury. She says: “She acquiesces, she doesn’t feel like she’s going to change. And she feels like there isn’t any other option for her than to fulfil her duty as a wife. But as she starts to come closer to Charlotte, she sees what her positioning means and a chemical reaction happens. You see Lady Danbury step into her power.

“We see her catch her mistakes and recognise that she has done something wrong and she wants to go in a different way and pivot. Understanding the conflict that she’s going through and seeing that I’m going through that same conflict at the same age. It made it feel less like this big job and this mountain to climb, and more like there are shoes that are going to fit me perfectly. I don’t have to fit into these other shoes.”

The younger versions of these women are drastically different to the matured minds of the women in Bridgerton, it shows the audience the oppressive side of women’s lives in this era and the battles they faced daily to stand up for themselves and not be forced to live in the shadow of a man.

With Queen Charlotte being such a huge success we can only hope and keep our eyes peeled for a season two.

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• Netflix
• queen charlotte