A highly anticipated prequel! Still based on the books by Julia Quinn and created by Shonda Rhimes for Netflix, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Chapter, available this Thursday on the Los Gatos platform, tells how the marriage of young Charlotte (India Ria Amarteifio) to King George (Corey Mylchreest) gave birth to a great love story that shook up the morals of the time, creating the society in which the Bridgertons and their contemporaries live. “We go back in time, to a very different era in terms of costumes, customs and conventions. We actually go back to the origins of the society we know in The Bridgerton Chronicle “, explains Shonda Rhimes in the press kit of the series. Why the spin-off Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Chapter is much more than a romance?
“I’ve always been a fan of Queen Charlotte. He’s a fascinating character. And I have the same passion for Lady Danbury, Lady Violet and all those people whose story is not always told in their entirety. But what really decided me was when Ted Sarandos called me and said, “My stepmother is crazy about Queen Charlotte. Do you want to create a story around this character? I immediately said yes. Not just because it was Ted, but because I loved the idea,” says Shonda Rhimes. “Extending the exploration of this character in the world of The Bridgerton Chronicle is a genius idea, in my opinion”, greets Golda Rosheuvel who plays Queen Charlotte in the original series and in the prequel.
“Many of us also wonder how this extraordinary character, this woman, this force of nature, became what she is, this pillar of the Bridgerton universe. This world is so determined and dominated by Queen Charlotte, her point of view, her moods, her wigs. And what I find great about being able to tell her story is that suddenly you have the context of her origins and you understand better why she makes the decisions that she makes in The Bridgerton Chronicle adds executive producer Betsy Beers.
The story of an arranged marriage
“We meet Charlotte when she has just been sold, in a way, in marriage to the future King of England. This is the arrangement that her brother has developed to promote trade between Germany, Charlotte’s homeland, and England, which does not please her at all, ”says India Ria Amarteifio.
As expected, this prequel takes up the elements that make the salt of The Bridgerton Chronicle : beautiful costumes, romance and sex. “I loved immersing myself in the love story between Charlotte and King George. There was something really fascinating about it. And I really wanted to show viewers what a love like that means, even if they already know the outcome. I saw a challenge there,” says Shonda Rhimes. “The love story between Queen Charlotte and King George, two people brought together by political calculation, but who have, against all odds, managed to weave a genuine bond of love despite considerable obstacles, obviously occupies a significant place in the series”, reveals Betsy Beers.
The fans of The Bridgerton Chronicle will also discover how the Queen became best friends with a young Lady Danbury (Arsema Thomas) and pre-Bridgerton Lady Violet (Connie Jenkins-Greig). The series goes back and forth between the Georgian era, which serves as the main setting for the series, and the Regency, where Golda Rosheuvel (Queen Charlotte), Adjoa Andoh (Lady Danbury) and Ruth Gemmell (Lady Violet Bridgerton) resume their roles.
The question of racism skilfully explored
A change in society called “the great experiment” and initiated by George’s mother, Princess Dowager Augusta (Michelle Fairley, the unforgettable Catelyn Stark from Game of Thrones). “In The Chronicle of the Bridgertons, we constantly talk about the fact that Queen Charlotte and King George allowed the advent of this new England, a completely mixed society where everyone has titles. I wanted to show how it happened and explore the role of Lady Agatha Danbury in this transformation of society, as well as that of King George’s mother, ”comments Shonda Rhimes. Queen Charlotte thus becomes the headliner of a royal family that wants to present itself as modern and inclusive. But Ton’s society still remains profoundly racist: “the rest of his congeners”, “fortune does not make them our equals”, comment the privileged people of Ton.
While the Regency era featured in The Bridgerton Chronicle seems “colorblind”, this new series shows the discrimination black people faced in the Georgian era and how this intermarriage will change everything. “I really wanted to try to demonstrate what it meant for a company to make a 180 degree turn in terms of integration,” says Shonda Rhimes.
A change in society called “the great experiment” and initiated by George’s mother, Princess Dowager Augusta (Michelle Fairley, the unforgettable Catelyn Stark from Game of Thrones). “In The Chronicle of the Bridgertons, we constantly talk about the fact that Queen Charlotte and King George allowed the advent of this new England, a completely mixed society where everyone has titles. I wanted to show how it happened and explore the role of Lady Agatha Danbury in this transformation of society, as well as that of King George’s mother, ”comments Shonda Rhimes. Queen Charlotte thus becomes the headliner of a royal family that wants to present itself as modern and inclusive. But Ton’s society still remains profoundly racist: “the rest of his congeners”, “fortune does not make them our equals”, comment the privileged people of Ton.
Mental illness at the heart of the plot
The sentimental relationship between Charlotte and George is by far the most interesting in Ton’s world. “The relationship between Charlotte and George is fundamentally based on their shared desire to free themselves from the constraints of duty and responsibility when they imprison them. Charlotte faces the situation as a woman, as a person of color, and as a German foreigner at the English court. George faces the situation as a man born in a royal line, who does not particularly wish to become king of England and suffocates in this role, ”analyzes Corey Mylchreest. “One of the most wonderful things about this series is being able to learn more about King George and especially the personal difficulties he faced,” adds Betsy Beers.
In The Bridgerton Chronicle, we already had a glimpse of King George III and how his life is affected by mental illness. “I don’t think it’s possible to tell Charlotte’s story without understanding that when she got married, she married a man who suffered from these ailments. To this day, it is still unclear what exactly ailment King George suffered from. And I think that represents a huge part of the world in which it was projected. What the series largely tells is the story of a woman trying to understand the difficulties that threaten her husband in order to find a way to face them, ”continues the producer.
“We don’t know about George’s disease, quite simply because knowledge of medicine, or science in general, was not sufficiently developed in the Georgian era and under the Regency. It’s very difficult to read and even more difficult to watch, and some scenes were very hard to play, but they are important”, concludes India Ria Amarteifio.