‘Queen Charlotte’ – The True History of the King & Queen’s Children

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.

The big picture

• Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
  mixes fictional narrative with historical accuracy, depicting the Queen's children and a succession crisis for the royal family.
• Many of Queen Charlotte's children led scandalous lives, having illegitimate children rather than heirs.
• The succession crisis was resolved when Queen Victoria, granddaughter of Queen Charlotte through her fifth eldest son, was born and later ruled for 64 years.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story it's a very alternate history, where real-life royals are fictionalized and embellished to create an engaging story. Historical figures and events have been reshaped to fit the narrative rather than provide a history lesson. This spin-off is based on Bridgertonthe appeal as a show full of romantic intrigue and high society scandal. Golda Rocheuvel reprises her role as Queen Charlotte in the 1814 plot, while India Ria Amarteifio perfectly represents his younger self. Movement back and forth between Bridgerton'the present and the Queen's marital past, the show tells the story of the tumultuous early experiences of the marriage between Charlotte and King George III (played by Corey Mylchrest). As in real life, the king is shown to be suffering from a steady decline in his mental stability, which has led the story to label him as a “mad king”.

This, and many other elements of the show, represent a certain degree of historical accuracy. A point of interest is this Queen Charlotte represents the couple's 15 children in the current scenes, where it is made clear that a succession crisis has occurred due to the absence of a legitimate heir. Factual accuracy varies when it comes to how the children of Charlotte and George III are portrayed, where grains of historical truth have been seamlessly tied into this decidedly fictional narrative. It should be noted that three of the couple's 15 children died young. Two did not survive infancy, while their last child, Princess Amelia, succumbed to ill health at the age of 27. This is not covered in the show, where the focus is on the Queen's older and better-known offspring.

Births, deaths and a succession crisis for Queen Charlotte's family

One of the key moments of the show's first episode is the revelation that the Queen's grandson and only legitimate heir has died in part along with his newborn son. This is a real moment, referring to the death of Princess Charlotte of Wales, who died in 1817 after giving birth to a stillborn child. However, with the series set in 1814, the date is changed. Princess Charlotte was the daughter of the Queen's eldest son, George, who would later become King George IV (Ryan Gage). This tragedy caused a succession crisis in the show and in real life, where the royal family was suddenly without a legitimate heir to the throne. Although Charlotte secured her place as queen with so many children, it seemed that the royal line would end with the next generation.

There was no direct heir to the throne until 1819; the queen's sons had fathered numerous offspring, but none by his wives. In the show, the Queen laments that her daughters are not married and that her sons have only given birth to children out of wedlock. Although her sons had many illegitimate children, it is not the case that the Queen was keen on her daughters marrying. On the contrary, it was a fact that the king and queen were not eager for their daughters to find husbands. Daughters had a largely isolated upbringing until they were presented with the opportunity to find spouses. It is believed that the queen preferred to keep her children with her for their company, especially when the king's health declined. Conversely, in the show, he chastises them for being single.

The show also implies that many of the queen's daughters remained unmarried, but several led lives as scandalous as their brothers. Princess Sofia (Eliza Capel), for example, was thought to have had a romantic relationship with the king's chief squire, Major General Thomas Garth, who was more than 30 years her senior. There are even rumors that she secretly gave birth to Garth's illegitimate child. However, Princess Isabel (Sabina Arthur) was married to Prince Frederick of Hesse-Homburg, as she brings up in the series. However, this did not happen until the age of 47 and she remained childless throughout her life. Queen Charlotte brings up miscarriages when Elizabeth and her brother confront their mother about the pressure she's putting on them and their siblings, which isn't out of the realm of possibility, but the show adds the detail to demonstrate the toughness of the “child breed”. Several of Charlotte's daughters were rumored to be involved in scandals, something not shown in the series, forcing them to lose some of their individuality for the sake of effective storytelling. Their real lives were much more complex than viewers have been led to believe.

'Queen Charlotte' explores rumours, scandal and dozens of illegitimate children

The Queen's eldest son, George, became Prince Regent in 1811 when his father's health deteriorated beyond repair. He eventually became King George IV upon the death of his father in 1820. Queen Charlotte it includes the reality of her regency, as expositively explained by her siblings as they try to use it to block the marriages Charlotte arranges. As the acting head of the country and family, he must approve any marriage, and despite the urgings of his brothers, he follows his mother's orders and forces them to marry. In the show, George is given a somewhat sympathetic characterization as a father grieving for his daughter, where he is shown acting absent-mindedly in accordance with the Queen's wishes. Instead, the public generally perceived the real George IV negatively for his lavish spending habits and continued extramarital affairs.

A key episode of the show features a conversation between Queen Charlotte, Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh), and Lady Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell), where Charlotte laments the misfortune that her sons are in love with actresses and Catholics and that they have numerous children by these women instead of their wives. This is a true representation of the case where George IV was known for his affair with the actress and poet Mary Robinson and had a long-term relationship with the devout Catholic Mary Fitzherbert. The couple married in a secret wedding, which was later deemed invalid by the king. George eventually married his cousin Caroline in 1795, but there was little love between them and they had no surviving children apart from the ill-fated Princess Charlotte. The show acknowledges that there are illegitimate children throughout Charlotte's conversations with her children, but the fact is set aside when Charlotte sets her sights on a legitimate grandchild.

Additionally, the show features the Queen's third eldest child, William (Seamus Dillane), being encouraged to marry so he could father a legitimate heir. He was persuaded to marry Princess Adelaide in 1818, but had no surviving children. Prior to this, William had a long relationship with comedic actress Dorothea Jordan, with whom he is believed to have fathered 10 illegitimate children. William later became King William IV after his brother's death in 1830, and held the crown until his death in 1837.

Queen Charlotte gets an heir at last

The pressure to produce an heir represented a Queen Charlotte actually brought about William's marriage to Princess Adelaide. The succession crisis continued until the Queen's fifth eldest son, Edward (Jack Michael Stacey), had a daughter who would later become Queen Victoria. In the final episode of the show, the Queen is shown to be comforted by the news of a female heir and remarks that the country will benefit from having a strong queen. While Charlotte's reaction to her granddaughter's news can only be speculation, this claim has been proven to be true. It is widely believed that Queen Victoria repaired the damage done to the monarchy's reputation during the reigns of her uncles. He ruled for almost 64 years, longer than any of his predecessors. However, there is one important difference. Like several elements of this plot, the date is changed for the story. While Queen Victoria was born in 1819, the announcement of her impending birth a Queen Charlotte takes place in 1814, putting his birth a few years earlier than in reality. However, this small change allows the series to wrap up the plot.

The Queen Charlotte The spin-off finally combines a fictional fantasy world with moments of real royal history. In the case of the many children of the king and queen, the real story seems even more tumultuous and complex than the fictional adaptation. With most of the story taking place in 1761 as it chronicles Charlotte and George's marriage, there's only so much time to explore their children, and with so many of them, it's hard to tell them apart in the allotted time, so it's not uncommon for their stories to be simplified or left out. However, the history of the royal family is one area in which Queen Charlotte demonstrates its historical inspiration.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is available to stream on Netflix.

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