Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story Madly in love
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is a love story like no other. It shows that two people madly in love can conquer all — discrimination, politics, clashing cultures, mental health issues, even a meddling mother-in-law.
The six-part fictional limited series on Netflix, spun around historical facts, also tests how tightly viewers are willing to hold on to their stereotypes on what a European queen, or a storybook queen, should look like.
In fact, even now, the British royal family is hounded by racism allegations, which Prince William flatly denied in an “ambush” interview. The allegations stemmed from Prince Harry and his wife Meghan’s interview in which they said a member of the royal family was concerned about the color of their firstborn’s skin. Meghan is bi-racial.
So is Queen Charlotte in the series (though not confirmed by historical sources), and though she is poised and regal, she, IMHO, doesn’t really look cover-girl stunning like Halle Berry or Thandiwe Newton. Not because she is bi-racial, but because of the fairytale stereotypes I grew up with. BUT! By the end of the series, I was enthralled by her, the Queen Charlotte character, and the actress who portrayed her in her youth (21-year-old India Ria Amarteifio). She became absolutely beautiful to me.
As in other Bridgerton chapters, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story has a multi-racial cast. But in this prequel, the question of discrimination and acceptance is still raging, though sometimes in whispers. Unlike in the other Bridgerton installments, where reigned a multi-racial society where one enjoyed equal social footing regardless of the color of one’s skin, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story shows the struggle of so called “minorities” to fit in. Very 2023! (Racial relations in Georgian England were far more complicated than Bridgerton and Queen Charlotte suggest, according to the Smithsonian magazine. But this is fictionalized, so creative license is used to the hilt.)
There are also other 2023 issues dramatized in the series — same-sex romance, mental health and the issue as old as time, extra-marital love.
But basically, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is a love story that expounds on the virtue of love. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is not judgmental. Love prevails.
“If what we have is half,” Queen Charlotte tells King George (portrayed by the matinee-idol handsome Corey Mylchreest) during one of his lowest moments, “then we shall make it the very best half. I love you. It is enough.”
By the sheer force of her love, Queen Charlotte keeps her home, and therefore her country, together. According to online historical sources, the real-life Queen Charlotte and King George were parents to 15 children, two of whom died in childhood. They were married within six hours after meeting each other. And if there is such a thing as love as first sight, they were the poster couple for it. They were mad about each other till the day they died, a year apart.
The real-life Queen Charlotte and King George were the grandparents of Queen Victoria, who reigned for over 60 years, a record broken only by Queen Elizabeth II.
Watch Queen Charlotte — to reaffirm your faith in both love and romance, in breaking glass ceilings and silos, in rocking social stereotypes. The power behind the throne of King George was neither his queen nor his meddling mother. The power behind his throne was love.
You can’t fire Cinderella
In The Diplomat, a career diplomat juggles her role as ambassador to the United Kingdom with the politics of her marriage to an equally influential man, another diplomat who seems relegated to a ceremonial role as spouse to Her Excellency. On the surface.
The power shifts with every movement of the clock between the two diplomats — the husband and wife team of Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) and Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell). They are navigating the field of landmines between two superpowers, where nothing is ever certain. Even the sands in this field shift all the time, you’ll never know who the villains and the good guys are.
Both Wylers seem to be good guys but it is Mrs. Wyler who seems not to have an agenda. We never really can tell. Though she looks like she hardly combs her hair, she is attractive. And she is made to realize that combining intelligence with her good looks is diplomacy. She has an in-house stylist. She is a mannequin for drop-dead gorgeous gowns. She appears in glossy magazines and goes viral on social media not just because of what she does but also for how she looks, especially during socials.
“Diplomacy is a feminine art,” Ambassador Clare Boothe Luce, the first American woman appointed to a major ambassadorial post abroad (Italy in 1953), was quoted as saying way back in 1976.
Kate knows this though her default costume is a black jacket and black pants.
“You know who you can’t fire? Cinderella,” Kate Wyler tells her deputy chief of mission, Stuart.
“People do things for people they like,” she tells her husband Hal. “We exist in a marketplace of favors.”
“Look at every real option. If you have a good one on the table, you won’t choose the bad one,” she tells a head of government.
In the end, we realize that the world is really an exciting place to live in, and judging by the increasing number of women diplomats, especially in the Philippines, women, from the womb, have what it takes to be seasoned diplomats. No offense to the men, but you really can’t fire Cinderella.
(You may e-mail me at [email protected]. Follow me on Instagram @joanneraeramirez.)
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