This begins where Bridgerton usually ends: a marriage. Seventeen years old and fresh from the mountains of an insignificant German vassal state, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz is being walked down the aisle to wed George III, the husband she met roughly 30 minutes before the ceremony began.This reluctant bride is the younger incarnation of Golda Rosheuvel’s iconic Bridgerton character Queen Charlotte, the woman who (in the show’s lore, a version of history that reimagines England if people of colour had been accepted into society) brought everlasting change to the upper classes by helping to integrate the white aristocracy with the more diverse nouveau riche.
Shonda Rhimes’s new Bridgerton spin-off project is about how Charlotte (whom historians have speculated may have had African ancestry, IRL this time) brought this about. But don’t worry — this is very much a return to the classic Bridgerton fare: scenes of watchful dancing to 18th-centurified Alicia Keys and a chance to watch two hot people go at it in a variety of gorgeous, period-appropriate locations.
