WCW: Queen Charlotte

I was all excited to do this Woman Crush Wednesday feature on Queen Charlotte, until I started looking into depictions of her in film and TV and realized there’s hardly any! That said, there have been a few more recent, memorable depictions of Charlotte and perhaps we will see more going forward, as shows like Bridgerton spark more interest in this particular queen.

Born Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in Germany in 1744, she married King George III of Great Britain and Ireland in 1761, bearing him 13 surviving children. She was initially chosen as a suitable bride for George due to her relative disinterest in politics, but over the course of their 57-year marriage, Charlotte ended up having quite a bit of influence over British political matters owing to the frequent periods of infirmity and madness exhibited by her husband throughout his long life.

Queen Charlotte painted by Thomas Gainsborough in 1781.

Charlotte was extremely protective of her husband, which led to increasing periods of conflict with her eldest son, the Prince of Wales (and future George IV). Neither parent seemed particularly fond of their firstborn, finding him alternatively indolent and overly ambitious, especially once he achieved the age of majority and began exerting his own influence during his father’s frequent absences from court due to his illness. Eventually, the regency was decided in favor of Prince George, but Charlotte retained responsibility for the king himself and their remaining children. This inevitably caused the rift between mother and son to deepen even further, dividing the court between the two competing allegiances, both absolutely convinced they were acting in the best interest of the king and the country.

Queen Charlotte by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, c. 1768.

Queen Charlotte was never considered a great beauty by the standards of the time and contemporary portraits often struggle to flatter her while still maintaining a recognizable likeness. Over the centuries, this has morphed into a debate as to whether or not Charlotte had African ancestry, with allusions to some of her features as evidence of her lineage having a secret African bloodline by a distant ancestor from 13th-century Portugal who was alleged to have been of Moorish descent. The official position on this matter is that all eight of Charlotte’s great-grandparents were German aristocrats, so any significant African ancestry was so far in the past that it was likely negligible. That said, I always thought it was clever that Bridgerton seems to make a nod to this by casting Black actress Golda Rosheuvel as Charlotte, as well as being one of the most flattering and sympathetic depictions of this queen t0 date. Older portrayals of Charlotte really don’t do her any justice for being capable of holding together a monarchy that was in constant crisis. More recent portrayals seem to do much better about giving Charlotte her due and I hope that this trend continues!