Queen Charlotte demonstrated how much the lightness and romance of the narrative universe of Bridgerton still appeal to the public. The Netflix spin-off that told the passionate love story of Queen Charlotte and King George III is, in fact, gaining great success. Looking forward to the third season of Bridgerton, it was Corey Mylchreest and India Amarteifio who made fans of the TV series dream. Shonda Rhimes she doesn’t miss one and managed to find the right idea to produce a spin-off that proved to be worthy of the original series, as well as extremely enjoyable. However, there was no shortage of controversy: some didn’t like it the choice to change the story of the sovereign who really existed e to have her played by a black actress. The creator and producer of the show has decided to intervene to answer those who accused Bridgerton and the spin-off of having granted itself a few too many licenses.
What does Shonda Rhimes respond to those who turn up their noses at Queen Charlotte?
According to the creator of the series, his show wants to be a simple work of fantasy and for this reason it doesn’t have to stick completely to historical reality. Shonda Rhimes he decided to start from a figure who really existed and to bend it in all respects to his narrative needs. In an interview given to EW explained about Queen Charlotte:
“This is not a docuseries. This is a fictional story based on historical fact. The queen whose story we are telling is Queen Charlotte as we knew her in Bridgerton, not Queen Charlotte as she was in England. It was really fun to get away from what was real and then also create what was needed for the story.”
Contrary to what one might think, Shonda Rhimes said she did a lot of research on the story of the English sovereign from which she was inspired. A historian was also present on set, which gave the writers a base from which to understand how far they could deviate from the real story. He said:
“I always think that it’s interesting to see how desperate people are to prove that someone wasn’t black. It seems to be a focal point in their life. I don’t get it, but for me I’ve really delved into researching the real Queen Charlotte. We had a wonderful historian working with us and we got into what was happening historically, so I could know when I was stepping away From reality. So, I could walk away on purpose, or I could take a little thing I’d heard from real history and turn it into something else“.
If there was one element of the life of the two English kings that the writers decided to keep in their version of the story was the nuisance of King George III, known to history as “the mad king”. The creator of Queen Charlotte she explained that she was committed to trying to tell this aspect in the most respectful way possible:
“History has no idea what George had. They don’t know if it was a mental illness or a physical illness. There are a lot of different opinions on this. I wanted to find a way to portray what was happening to him the way doctors of his time must have seen it. They don’t know what it is, but I wanted to find a way to represent it and make it feel honest. I wanted to make Corey feel empowered to play that character in a way that he respects.”
