'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 storytelling with historical accuracy, depicting the queen's children and a succession crisis for the royal family.
• Many of Queen Charlotte's children had scandalous lives, having illegitimate children rather than heirs.
• The succession crisis was resolved when Queen Victoria, Queen Charlotte's granddaughter through her fifth-oldest child, was born and later, ruled for a record-breaking 64 years.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is very much an alternative history, where real-life royals are fictionalized and embellished to create a compelling storyline. Historical figures and events have been remodeled to fit the narrative rather than give a history lesson. This spin-off builds on Bridgerton's appeal as a show full of romantic intrigue and high society scandal. Golda Rosheuvel reprises her role as Queen Charlotte in the 1814 plot, while India Ria Amarteifio perfectly depicts her younger self. Moving back and forth between Bridgerton’s present day and the Queen’s marital past, the show tells the story of the tumultuous early experiences of marriage between Charlotte and King George III (played by Corey Mylchreest). As in real life, the king is shown to be suffering from a steady decline in his mental stability, which has caused history to label him as a “mad king."

This, and many other elements of the show, represent a degree of historical accuracy. One point of interest is that Queen Charlotte depicts the couple’s 15 children in the present-day scenes, where it is made clear that a succession crisis has arisen due to the absence of a legitimate heir. Factual accuracy varies when it comes to how the children of Charlotte and George III are depicted, where grains of historical truth have been smoothly tied into this decidedly fictional retelling. Notably, three of the couple's 15 children died young. Two did not survive infancy, whilst their final child, Princess Amelia, succumbed to ill health at the age of 27. This is not touched upon in the show, where the focus is on the Queen’s eldest and better-known offspring.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story

Betrothed against her will to King George, young Charlotte arrives in London on her wedding day and faces scrutiny from the monarch's cunning mother.

Births, Deaths & A Succession Crisis For Queen Charlotte's Family

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

There was no direct heir to the throne until as late as 1819; the queen's sons had fathered numerous offspring, but none by their wives. In the show, the queen laments that her daughters are unmarried, and her sons have only produced children out of wedlock. While her sons did have many illegitimate children, it is not the case that the queen was eager for her daughters to marry. On the contrary, it was a fact that the king and queen were not keen for their daughters to find husbands. The daughters had largely secluded upbringings until they were presented with opportunities to find spouses. It is thought that the queen preferred to keep her children with her for their company, especially as the king's health declined. Conversely, in the show, she chastises them for being spinsters.

The show also implies that many of the queen's daughters remained spinsters, but several led just as scandalous lives as their brothers. Princess Sophia (Eliza Capel), for example, was thought to be romantically involved with the king's chief equerry, Major-General Thomas Garth, who was more than 30 years her senior. There are even rumors that she gave birth in secret to Garth's illegitimate child. However, Princess Elizabeth (Sabina Arthur) was married to Prince Frederick of Hesse-Homburg, as she brings up in the series. Yet this didn't happen until she was 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 is putting on them and their siblings, which is not out of the realm of possibility, but the show adds the detail to demonstrate the harshness of the "baby race." Several of Charlotte's daughters were rumored to be involved in scandals, which is not shown in the series, forcing them to lose some of their individuality for the sake of effective storytelling. Their real lives were a lot more complex than viewers have been led to believe.

'Queen Charlotte' Explores the Rumors, Scandal & Dozens of Illegitimate Children

The queen's oldest son, George, became the Prince Regent in 1811 when his father's health irretrievably worsened. He eventually became King George IV upon his father's death in 1820. Queen Charlotte includes the reality of his Regency, as his brothers expositionally explain as they try to use him to block the marriages Charlotte arranges. As the acting head of the country and the family, he must approve any marriage, and despite the urges 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 parent grieving for his daughter, where he is shown absentmindedly acting in accordance with the queen's wishes. In contrast, the public generally perceived the real George IV negatively for his lavish spending habits and continual extramarital relationships.

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 by their wives. This is a truthful representation of the case where George IV was known for his affair with actress and poet Mary Robinson and had a long-term relationship with the devout Catholic Maria Fitzherbert. The pair actually married in a secret wedding, which was later deemed invalid by the king. George was eventually married to his cousin Caroline in 1795, but there was little love between them, and they had no surviving children besides the ill-fated Princess Charlotte. The show acknowledges that illegitimate children exist throughout Charlotte's conversations with her sons, but the fact is brushed aside as Charlotte sets her sights on a legitimate grandchild.

Additionally, the show depicts the queen’s third-oldest son, William (Seamus Dillane), being encouraged to marry so that he could sire a legitimate heir. He was convinced to marry Princess Adelaide in 1818 but had no surviving children. Prior to this, William had a long relationship with comic actress Dorothea Jordan, with whom he is thought to have fathered 10 illegitimate children. William later became King William IV after his brother’s death in 1830, and he held the crown until his death in 1837.

Queen Charlotte Gets an Heir At Long Last

The pressure to produce an heir depicted in Queen Charlotte really did prompt William's marriage to Princess Adelaide. The succession crisis continued until the queen's fifth-oldest child, Edward (Jack Michael Stacey), had a daughter who would later become Queen Victoria. In the show's finale episode, 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. Though Charlotte's reaction to the news of her granddaughter can only be speculation, this statement is proven true. It is widely believed that Queen Victoria repaired the damage done to the monarchy's reputation during the reigns of her uncles. She ruled for almost 64 years, longer than any of her predecessors. However, there is one major difference. Like several elements in this plot, the date is changed for the story. While Queen Victoria was born in 1819, the announcement of her impending birth in Queen Charlotte takes place in 1814, putting her birth a few years earlier than in reality. However, this small change allows the series to conclude the plot.

The Queen Charlotte spin-off ultimately combines a fictional fantasy world with moments of authentic royal history. In the case of the King and Queen's many children, the true history seems even more tumultuous and complex than the fictional adaptation. With most of the story spent in 1761 as it recounts Charlotte and George's marriage, there is only so much time to explore their children, and with so many of them, it's difficult to distinguish them in the allotted time, so it's no wonder their stories are simplified or left out. However, the royal family's storyline is one area in which Queen Charlotte demonstrates its historical inspiration.

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

WATCH ON NETFLIX

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