Netflix’s Queen Charlotte

This series was so fun and touching to watch. It is a fictional account of the relationship between Queen Charlotte and King George III. The story also took quite some liberties with regards to their lives. In any case, you can say that it is a story set in 1800’s England that is based off of the real-life figures of Queen Charlotte and King George III, but is not an actual historical account. Regardless, it was a beautiful show, and here are my reasons why (**warning: spoilers ahead):

Following the life of a strong, young lady – Queen Charlotte is 17 years old when she is literally purchased to become the Queen of England. She is already a confident young lady, and granted, she has already been born into and grown up into royalty, so she is used to having some kind of high status in society. However, I appreciate the small ways she continues to stand up for herself, even if she is not always successful – such as advocating for her own wedding gown, and demanding her new husband to explain why he refuses to spend time with her. She may be viewed as headstrong by others around her, but this personality trait is a strength during this time and place, and especially as a teenage girl. It is truly inspiring for me in all honesty.
The complexities of grief – I am specifically referring to Lady Danbury and the passing of her husband here. Lady Danbury actually really did not want to marry her husband, and actually deeply despised him. When he finally passed, she was overjoyed in that moment. However, as the days went on, we see her genuinely mourning (not like sobbing and being sad, but more of her being in a melancholy mood). She was groomed to be this man’s wife since her childhood, and with that man gone, we can see that in some sense, she has lost a sense of purpose. Although she didn’t want to be married to him, he also became a companion and the father of her children (as absent as he was to them). In her older years as we see in the Bridgerton series, she continues to find ways to have him rot in his grave by doing things in his name that he would not prefer, such as creating a place for orphans and girls because he didn’t like orphans and believed girls were only for breeding. In any case, all while she did not appreciate the fact of being raised to be his wife and being married to him, she still had reasons to grieve, and I think it has been a good reminder for me of the complexities of grief and that honestly, grief does not need to always make sense – it just is and it needs to be felt.
Mental health – the Queen Charlotte series portrays in a fictional way the mental health of King George III. I learnt that the manifestations of his mental health issues actually showed up much later in his life, but for the dramatic purposes of the show, he displays them as a young man, and shares that he has always had these “mad fits”. The most agreed upon diagnosis is bipolar disorder, with episodes of acute mania, which is what the show also tries to depict. In the show (and in real life), King George had a strict upbringing with much pressure, and although his mother seems to acknowledge that that may be the cause of his fits as well, it does not really stop her from being strict because of her own duties as his mother and princess. While the cause of bipolar disorder is complex and unique to each individual diagnosed with it, I would say for King George in the series, his strict upbringing probably contributed a significant amount to his mental health issues that we see. There is so much pressure for him to perform and rule well, and it makes me think how humans were not meant to have so much power as it literally can break us; even with all the power in the world and with the influence of colonialilsm, it also breaks those who colonize (which proves even more the importance of the work of decolonization).

In any case, Queen Charlotte in this series also shows incredible compassion and patience with King George, which I personally think is the most beautiful aspect of the show. While she is definitely surprised and grieved when discovering his condition, overall, she doesn’t question it nor try to change him. She continues to enter his world during his manic fits, and when she acknowledges that they may be coming back, she is calm and stern, and finds ways to ground him – tactile touch/pressure (grabbing his hands between hers, place his hand on their baby), and also removing stimuli (inviting him under the bed for a more dark and quiet environment) to connect with him. When she is excusing the strange physician, she lets him know that she does not want his services anymore because if mad is what George needs, then she would prefer that he be mad.
Implications of race – I really like how they chose a black actress for Queen Charlotte due to the speculations of the real Queen Charlotte being of mixed race (which is true, as she indeed did descend from a black line of Portuguese royalty). While the speculation continues, I appreciate Shonda Rhime’s creativity and genius to imagine that era of England having a black queen, and the potential fictional implications it would have had in a more fictional, mixed society (I actually do not know if England had citizens of higher status that were people of color – I do not think so but would have to actually research a bit). It is a fun and thought-provoking from Rhime’s end, so I definitely appreciated that.

Overall, I highly recommend this show ! I enjoyed the Bridgerton series but Queen Charlotte far outshines the Bridgerton series. Last I heard, there were announcements of making a second series for Queen Charlotte which I am curious about, as the first season seemed to have ended on a really touching scene. In any case, we’ll see !