Corey Mylchreest as Young King George and India Amarteifio as Young Queen Charlotte in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.Netflix
On the weekend of King Charles’s coronation, corset-loving viewers may be distracted watching another royal saga unfold: Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
The anticipated, six-part spinoff drops on Netflix on Thursday, catapulting the fan-favourite Queen Charlotte character to centre stage with a dramatized romance loosely based on the historical relationship between King George III and Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
For Bridgerton fans, the series is like a warm blanket, thanks to familiar elements from the show’s chart-topping first season. There are plenty of orchestral remixes of modern songs. Julie Andrews returns to narrate as Lady Whistledown, who now sets her gossipy sights on royal heirs. And as for the sex scenes? Well, Regé-Jean Page isn’t there to lick any spoons, but there’s plenty of effort to recreate that vibe with heaving beds, destroyed dinner tables and a few wet garments thrown in for good measure.
More importantly, the series brings back three beloved Julia Quinn characters, who each get larger arcs thanks to the prominent flashback scenes. Golda Rosheuvel stars as Bridgerton’s Queen Charlotte, while India Amarteifio slides seamlessly into the role as her younger counterpart. Adjoa Andoh returns as Lady Danbury, who is formidable even in her earlier years thanks to a scene-stealing Arsema Thomas. And Hugh Sachs is back as the beloved Brimsley, played in the past by a charismatic Sam Clemmett.
Unlike Bridgerton, Queen Charlotte is more substance than froth, as the show moves farther from matchmaking and balls and into themes of race, mental health and misogyny. That kicks off with the unlikely match of George (played by Corey Mylchreest) and Charlotte. George’s mum, Princess Augusta (Michelle Fairley) and parliamentarians call the match the Great Experiment, as they attempt to merge cultures for the benefit of the country. (In real life, Charlotte was believed to have been biracial but was whitewashed by artists of the era.)
It comes with all of the messy discourses you’d expect.
Royal fans may also get a kick out of the show’s numerous historical references, from the couple eventually having 15 children to King George’s penchant for farming. Buckingham House and Key Palace are primary residences, Charlotte has a thing for Christmas trees, and as George’s mental state is called into question, doctors use many controversial methods to try and “cure” him.
Queen Charlotte unravels nuanced stories of love and sacrifice, and highlights just how darned hard it can be to stick with someone no matter what.Netflix
Where Queen Charlotte truly succeeds, however, is in the relationships holding it all in place: the monarchy, the “Great Experiment” and even the royals themselves, as they learn to navigate post-nuptial life together.
George and Charlotte anchor that as their wedding day goes from swoon-worthy to horrible fast enough to cause whiplash. That makes it easy to root for Charlotte and the many hurdles she faces in this strange new land. But George’s character is such a slow burn that by the time the fourth episode doles out a revisionist, king-centric narrative, you want them both to succeed.
The friendship between Charlotte and Lady Danbury is also a highlight whether in the past or present storyline (and often includes a third companion, Ruth Gemmell’s Lady Bridgerton). But it’s the unlikely alliance between Danbury and Princess Augusta that highlights just how complicated royal life truly is. The women strike an uneasy but mutually beneficial alliance early on, one that develops into an important bond that examines the sacrifices women had to make at the time, in both marriage and motherhood. Whereas it would have been easy to make either character the series’ villain, their motives enable them to transform into more complex beings who just sometimes happen to make the wrong call.
What viewers may appreciate most, however, is the developing relationship between Charlotte and her biggest annoyance-turned-ally, Brimsley. The characters allow for some great transitions between the past and present storylines, but the greatest discoveries happen when Brimsley interacts with George’s right-hand man, Reynolds (Freddie Dennis). Through them, loyalties emerge and highlight why, as viewers already know, Brimsley stays by the Queen’s side all these years.
This isn’t all to say Queen Charlotte will replicate the success of Bridgerton’s original first season, nor is it flawless. George and Charlotte are no Duke and Duchess of Hastings, to start. But there are also several uneven moments scattered throughout, a few episodes are longer than need be, and there are several extraneous sex scenes without any real plot or progression behind them. Still, it feels more like a callback to that first season than the second, and will likely reignite the fandom that wanted to tune out after Season 2.
At the very least it’s an entertaining fictionalization of a historical period of royal life. One that speculates what society could have been had real change started decades ago, and moves past the tired “happily ever after” trope. In the end, Queen Charlotte unravels nuanced stories of love and sacrifice, and highlights just how darned hard it can be to stick with someone no matter what.
All six episodes of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story stream May 4 on Netflix.
Special to The Globe and Mail