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Netflix’s Bridgerton is a show that soared to massive heights of popularity because of its unabashed embrace of all things romantic. The show presented a fantasy version of Regency England, where ladies wore bedazzled frocks, couples danced to Vitamin String Quartet’s pop music covers, and — most importantly — races intermingled freely. Bridgerton Season 1 explained that when the Black Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) wed her King George III (James Fleet), it destroyed racism as we know it, setting the stage for true love to blossom within mixed race couples all over the ‘ton. Netflix’s new historic romance, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, tells the story of young Charlotte and George’s revolutionary romance and, in doing so, pushes the Bridgerton franchise into new bittersweet territory.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is not quite the fluffy confection that Bridgerton proper is. The happily ever afters are in short supply for the Bridgerton siblings’ elders, but it does have enough swoon-worthy romance, soap opera twists, and fabulous performances to keep Bridgerton fans sated until Season 3 finally hits Netflix.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story sagely opens with a disclaimer. Julie Andrews, reprising the role of “Lady Whistledown,” addresses the Netflix audience explaining that the show is “not a history lesson,” but “fiction inspired by fact.” Thereby lending series creator and showrunner Shonda Rhimes the freedom to interrogate what might have happened if the real Queen Charlotte had not only been Black, per some theories, but also in a position to help usher in a post-racial Britain, where wealthy folks of all ethnic backgrounds intermingled and intermarried.
When Dowager Princess Augusta (Michelle Fairley) realizes that they have unwittingly betrothed her son, King George (Corey Mylcreest), to a foreign princess who would otherwise be shunned at court because of the melanin in her skin, she decides to invite London’s wealthiest residents of color to the wedding and a young Agatha Danbury (Arsema Thomas) to join young Queen Charlotte’s (India Amarteifio) court. Thus, kicking off the “great experiment” in Bridgerton‘s fictional England, and explaining why the Duke of Hasting’s (Regé-Jean Page) father was so obsessed with holding onto his title in Bridgerton Season 1. It was a new-fangled honor that could be taken away at the royal family’s whim, as Lady Danbury is quick to constantly point out.
Although Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is set against the backdrop of the larger societal repercussions of Charlotte’s coronation, the show’s real beating heart is the star-crossed love story of Charlotte and George. When we meet her, she is a rebellious teenager sold in marriage to a mysterious king in a foreign land. What really gets Charlotte’s goat, though — and has her attempting to flee her own wedding ceremony — is the fact that no one will tell her anything about King George. The subterfuge leads her to fear he is a beast, when in fact, he is the sweet, smart, and extremely handsome “Farmer George,” a nickname earned by his literal love of farming.
Just when it seems George and Charlotte are a match made in heaven, he puts his walls up in a most abrupt way. The teenaged Charlotte interprets George’s actions as a romantic rebuff, but it’s clear something more tragic is at play. It’s stuff of dark fairy tales or the myth of Cupid and Psyche, where a beautiful maiden is wooed by a powerful lover with jewels and gifts, but unable to get close to him for some reason.
India Amarteifio is a revelation as a young Queen Charlotte. She has all the poise of Golda Rosheuvel’s mature version of the character, but none of the hard-won confidence. Both Amarteifio’s performance and Rhimes’s writing hint that some of the elder version of the character’s brusque manners come from a culture clash. While the ladies English court prefer to hide their venom behind hollow gestures of civility, Charlotte is direct with her thoughts and feelings. Likewise, the show’s King George, Corey Mylchreest is the very model of a romantic hero. The chemistry between him and Amarteifio runs the spectrum of achingly cute to brutally sexual.
Oh, yes, there is sex. After a rather prudish Bridgerton Season 2, Shondaland has ramped the steam factor back to Bridgerton Season 1 levels in Queen Charlotte. Moreover, Charlotte and George’s is not the only love story — or lust story — that might get viewers heated. Without delving into spoiler territory, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story finds room to tell more complex tales of courtship, marriage, and forbidden love than the core series does. It’s the soapier aspect of Queen Charlotte that I found the most interesting, even if it took a while for all the pieces of the drama to fall into place.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story isn’t the must-watch reinvention of the Regency romance that Bridgerton Season 1 was. (Heck, even though a sub-plot takes place between Bridgerton Seasons 2 and 3, it’s technically not a Regency romance, but a Georgian one.) But Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story has enough to hook historic romance fans happy to look the other way when it comes to historical accuracy in exchange for a sublimely acted love story.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story premieres on Netflix on May 4, 2023.
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