The Queen Charlotte Cast On The Burden Of Black Excellence

Netflix’s Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story takes fans of the Julia Quinn novels-turned-series back in time. Pivoting away from the romantic shenanigans of the Bridgerton family before the next instalment of the Regency-era drama, the six-episode series depicts the earliest days of Queen Charlotte’s (played by India Amarteifio and Golda Rosheuvel) reign. In the Bridgerton prequel, we peel back the layers of the royal’s icy demeanour and learn the heartbreaking context behind her stern approach to the crown. Queen Charlotte is a love story, but it’s also a narrative of Black girl magic — and the sometimes unbearable weight that comes with it. 

The first two seasons of Shondaland’s sprawling period drama focused on the respective love lives of the oldest Bridgerton siblings Daphne (Phoebe Dyvenor) and Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and the scandal that their relationships sparked in the ton. Between Daphne’s contract relationship with Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page), a duke and confirmed bachelor, and Anthony’s thinly-veiled obsession with Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley), the ton could barely keep up with the chaos that followed House Bridgerton. The tea was hot, and perched on her throne eagerly watching the drama unfold was the Queen (Rosheuvel) herself, even going as far as attempting to get personally involved in the trajectory of the Bridgertons’ marriages. But why would the Queen of England be so invested in the love lives of her subjects? As the head of one of the most powerful countries in the world, Queen Charlotte realistically shouldn’t have had the time for gossip, but her interest in the ton goes beyond simply being nosy. It’s personal: she wants her people to experience the love that she wasn’t able to. 

From the jump, Charlotte is fully aware of how strong she’ll have to be in order to survive in this world. “Charlotte is thrown into this world that doesn’t accept her at first, and she has to power through and work it out,” Roshevuel says in an interview with Unbothered in New York City. “She has every reason to say, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t sign up for this,’ but she sticks with it because of love — and also because she knows she can do this. Even as she’s being vulnerable, she knows who she is. This is a strong Black woman, and that, for me, is an awareness that Charlotte has from the very start up to where we meet her in the other Bridgerton stories.”

Queen Charlotte sets the stage for young Charlotte’s (Amarteifio as Roshevuel’s younger counterpart is the show’s crown jewel) overnight ascension to the throne — and for the sky high expectations of her and the other Black nobles in this community. Because of a marriage contract signed by her older brother without her knowledge or consent, Charlotte is plucked from her peaceful life in Germany and sent to London to marry a man she’s never laid eyes on and become the queen of England. Unbeknownst to Charlotte, her arranged marriage has a hidden scheme: painting England as a more progressive space and hiding the severe mental illness of its young king, George (Corey Mylchreest). Just Black enough to push the monarchy’s agenda but not so Black that she turns society on its head, Charlotte is the perfect pawn in their game. 

“No one who looks like you or me has ever married one of these people ever,” Adolphus, Charlotte’s brother, tells his sister sternly on their way to London. “So shut up, do your duty to our country, and be happy.”

Fulfilling her responsibilities as the Queen proves more difficult than she expected; Charlotte spends most of her days locked away in her castle wondering what her husband is up to. She learns that the careful physical and emotional distance George maintains between them is a means of hiding his mental illness from her and the rest of his kingdom. Driven by a deep love and compassion, Charlotte steps up to become her husband’s fiercest advocate without the reciprocal covering of his protection. 

Roshevuel points out the fact that weakness was never an option for a woman in this time, certainly not for a Black woman, and Amarteifio agrees. “She didn’t really have a choice,” adds Amarteifio. “She’s just a girl trying to do her duty, figuring out where she fits, and getting used to being uncomfortable. Being in that space where you don’t know if you’re wanted…that’s something that I’m familiar with because I’ve felt that same way so much of the time [in life].”

Like every one of the Bridgerton seasons before it, Queen Charlotte is first and foremost a love story, and the sizzling chemistry between Amarteifio and Mylchreest makes them the Bridgerton couple to beat. (To Kanthony stans — sorrows, sorrows, prayers.) But Charlotte’s journey is complicated by the many unique burdens that come with being “the first.” As a rumoured descendant of the Moors, Charlotte’s darker skin colour and textured hair make her stand out, and the king’s advisors specifically choose her to offset any suspicions about George’s health. She was selected to be a distraction, but Charlotte’s position in the second highest seat in the land also means that everything she does has immediate consequences, good or bad, throughout society. From the social events she attends down to the way that she dresses and styles her natural hair, Charlotte’s every move has direct implications on every other Black person in the kingdom. Charlotte has to be excellent not just for herself, but for everyone else, too — a standard that her friend and mentor Lady Agatha Danbury (played brilliantly by Arsema Thomas and Adjoa Andoh) never fails to remind her of. 

Lady Danbury’s pragmatic advice comes from her thorough understanding of her own place in society. When we first met her in Bridgerton, she offered what was the series’ only real discourse on race at the time, making it a point to remind Simon of the singularity of his station as a Black duke in London. Queen Charlotte highlights the origins of that racial awareness, introducing us to a woman who is bound by duty to not only her family but to her community. Lady Danbury hesitantly takes on the responsibility of securing the financial and social security of the other Black nobles in the ton. She goes from a housewife to hero, setting aside her very real needs to focus squarely on the welfare of the people around her.

“The moment I read the script, I thought, I know this woman,” Thomas tells Unbothered of her emotional connection to the character of Lady Danbury. “This is the story of so many Black women who were doing a lot of the work behind the scenes and never got any of the recognition. Agatha doesn’t do anything for herself, and that’s because she knows that she can only rest easy when everybody else is good. In that sense, she’s my mother, my grandmother — she’s all the women that I look up to. Agatha makes these choices because of the environment that she’s in, and that makes change and growth attainable for everyone. I just hope people are able to empathize with her knowing that there’s a vulnerable little girl behind that strong woman, and that both need to be honoured in equal measure.”

The show’s discussion of Blackness (specifically of Black femininity) and the onus that comes with it is a first for Bridgerton, a universe that’s only very lightly touched on the unique racial dynamic of this universe in the past. Queen Charlotte works to retroactively explain why and how race isn’t that big of a deal by the time the Bridgerton kids start looking for love, showing how Charlotte and Lady Danbury make personal sacrifices so the next generation won’t have to. (Though Bridgerton could have benefited from this pointed discourse on race from the very beginning  — understanding how Blackness racial diversity became normalized in Regency-era London from the start would have allowed for a richer, more nuanced story.) Black women pushing themselves in order to uplift their community…sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Charlotte and Lady Danbury’s challenges are a big part of what’s made the Bridgerton prequel resonate so deeply with much of the fandom, specifically with Black women who have enjoyed the series but have always wished for more nuance for the people of colour in this fictional world. Couture gowns, fabulous hairstyling and all, Charlotte and Lady Danbury are the epitome of Black girl magic, but Queen Charlotte injects their stories with something raw and real by exploring the darker sides of that calling. Black women everywhere know the toll that that type of hypervisibility can take. In a racist, sexist society that demands the world from Black women without giving us anything in return, trying to fit into this pigeonhole of perfection and prove that we deserve a seat at the table is often a painful process, and Queen Charlotte artfully demonstrates that reality in a way that this universe never has attempted to before. 

Lady Danbury might be beholden to the mission of Black excellence, but the actress bringing her story to life has chosen to take a different, less exhausting path: rest. “I’ve been trying to relinquish myself from the term ‘Black excellence,’ because for one, I think it’s a redundant term — Blackness is excellent,” Thomas laughs. “But also because of the exceptionalism that comes into play, as if you’re just Black because you’re not Black and excellent. I think it's also about relinquishing the need to always be the model citizen and to be perfect and therefore achieve some sort of status, or to then be seen as valuable or worth something."

"To keep ourselves as Black femme people in a place of safety and security and rest is one of the most revolutionary things we can do," she stresses emphatically. "Make mistakes — it's cute — but also take it easy because this world is already quite difficult for us.”

Rosheuvel relates deeply to the plight of the Black women in this prequel because it reminds her of her own experience. As a veteran in the industry, Roshevuel has spent much of her career working twice as hard for half of much in the hopes that a new standard could be set for those coming behind her. Even as one of the stars of Bridgerton’s first Black female-led title (and one of the few period dramas to star Black women), the British actress is fully aware of the potential impact of this show on the television and film space as a whole. Much like Charlotte herself, the success of her show could aid in creating a different reality for the next generation of Black actresses to come.

“I think [Queen Charlotte] opens up the door and creates a space where people can lean in and be included in the discussion for the first time,” Roshevuel explains passionately. “Being included means that you’re able to move the process forward. And as creative people, we have an obligation to create a space through storytelling for these important conversations.”

“I’m so lucky that this has come to me at a mature time,” she continues. “The journey of my career hasn’t been an easy one, and there have been times that I’ve had to reconcile how the industry sees me. But I’ve taken that time to change that viewpoint for myself, to be in control of it, and things need to happen on my terms, not on anyone else’s. If through my journey of finding authenticity and agency, the message comes across, that’s amazing.” 

The crown of representation is a heavy one, but Amarteifio wears it proudly. “I see it as an added bonus of my job,” says the Queen Charlotte star. “I don’t necessarily want to feel responsible for anything or anyone, but there’s a real sense of duty to people watching me. I’ve been given this platform, and now I need to show up because we can’t afford to go wrong.”

The overwhelmingly positive reaction to the series since its May 4th release indicates that the show is anything but wrong; the spirited discourse around the Netflix offering proves that this is exactly the type of layered storytelling that fans have been waiting for. It may have only been a prequel, but Queen Charlotte completely transforms the way we understand the unique social dynamics of the Bridgerton Cinematic Universe, and that will stay with us even after the focus shifts back to the Bridgertons in the upcoming third season. Leave it to a Black woman to change…well, everything.

All six episodes of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story are now streaming, only on Netflix.