Alert: Contains spoilers for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
The Bridgerton spin-off, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, has received mostly positive reviews from critics and television audiences. The spin-off is a limited drama series created by Shonda Rhimes for the streaming giant Netflix. Queen Charlotte is an easily binge-able series with only 6 episodes, with a running time of 50–85 minutes per episode.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story focuses on the life of the younger Queen Charlotte, with a closer look at her romance and early marriage with King George III and her rise to power. Although created as a stand-alone series, Queen Charlotte acts as a worthy foundation upon which the Bridgerton series can stand upon. This makes the spin-off much more important to the original show than it is given credit for.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story Connects The Dots To The Bridgerton Canon
Based on Julia Quinn’s book series, Bridgerton introduced TV audiences to London’s Regency Era, beginning at the start of its social season in 1813. Besides the series’ main families, the Bridgertons and the Featheringtons, one major character that stood out was Queen Charlotte. Obsessed with finding the tons’ next Diamond of the First Water, Queen Charlotte is all for love and romance. Yet, underneath her fascination for love, Queen Charlotte seemed alone without a King always by her side.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story tells Queen Charlotte’s story from being contractually married to King George III, left alone in Buckingham House, discovering and dealing with the King’s illness, to establishing herself as the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. Queen Charlotte’s power and prominence in Bridgerton is now easily understood as an unwavering love and protection for her husband, King George III. The same goes for Queen Charlotte’s close relationship with Agatha, Lady Danbury.
In Bridgerton, Lady Danbury is Queen Charlotte’s confidant for reasons not specifically explained. However, with the Queen Charlotte series, viewers are shown how their friendship is forged and the Queen’s trust in Lady Danbury’s counsel. While viewers are introduced to Bridgerton‘s Lady Danbury as a strong-willed, insightful, and independent woman, Queen Charlotte tells the story of how she came to be that way. Agatha’s story begins with being the young wife of an older Herman. Agatha orchestrates Lordship for non-white members of the ton, ensuring their titles and lands are bequeathed to successors. Unarguably, Lady Danbury played a crucial part in Bridgerton‘s social class mixture of whites and people of color.
How Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story Affects The Bridgerton Timeline
Although Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is created as a stand-alone prequel, it also features plots existing in the Bridgerton timeline. Several conversations in the Queen Charlotte TV series point to a timeline ensconced between the end of Bridgerton seasons 2 and 3. While the limited series gives closure to several unanswered questions in the Bridgerton canon, it also significantly affects the future Bridgerton timeline.
Most of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is set some 52 years before the events of Bridgerton season 1. However, in episode 5, “Gardens in Bloom,” a conversation between Viscountess Violet Bridgerton and Lady Danbury, Violet mentions her son, Anthony, is on his honeymoon. She also makes reference to Gregory and Eloise.
All of these events take place at the end of Bridgerton season 2. The final scenes of Bridgerton season 2 saw a married Anthony and Kate, after traveling for six months, play the game of pall-mall with the rest of the Bridgertons. Since Anthony and Kate return from what seemed like their honeymoon at the end of Bridgerton season 2, it’s safe to say the penultimate episode of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story rightly falls in a time within the six months honeymoon.
Queen Charlotte Plots Will Influence Bridgerton Season 3
Beyond the formation of new romances and marriages that viewers have been accustomed to in the Bridgerton canon, it has shown strong friendships and bonds between characters. One such relationship is the mutual respect and bond between Lady Danbury and Viscountess Violet Bridgerton. However, their friendship looks like it’s about to suffer a drawback stemming from Violet’s understanding of Lady Danbury’s affair with her father, Lord Ledger. Although Bridgerton season 3 is expected to focus on Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton’s romance, any unavoidable plot should see Lady Danbury making out to time explain her relationship with Violet’s father or their estrangement will get noticed by Queen Charlotte or become a subject for Lady Whistledown’s scandalous society newsletter.
Queen Charlotte’s renewed affection for her husband, King George III, may see the King make more appearances in Bridgerton season 3. Queen Charlotte TV series threw more light on the King’s illness, making audiences sympathetic to the plight of the King and Queen. With this understanding, showrunners could give King George III much more screen time. The same goes for Brimsley, who had little to no lines in Bridgerton. Like Queen Charlotte realized at the end of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Brimsley had lived his life in utmost servitude – never marrying or chasing love. There has been no mention of his lover, Reynolds, in Bridgerton. Bridgerton season 3 may give a bit of focus on his life and bring closure to whatever happened to his relationship with Reynolds.Bridgerton season 2
Follow Us
