Season two of \u201cBridgerton\u201d<\/a> has brought us all closer to the characters we know and love<\/a>. In this batch of episodes, we learn why Anthony Bridgerton<\/a> sometimes has a hard time connecting with people and why Lady Danbury strongly believes in marriage<\/a>, hence all that match-making, among other stories.<\/p>\n But out of all the season’s new revelations, none come Queen Charlotte’s bombshell of a backstory.<\/p>\n In season one, audiences see Queen Charlotte confidently residing on the throne alone, with no king by her side (but quite a few Pomeranians). It\u2019s not until season two that we learn exactly how Queen Charlotte came to call the shots around town so independently.<\/p>\n As it turns out, Charlotte\u2019s husband, King George III (James Fleet), is unwell from an undiagnosed illness, likely inspired by the real King George III\u2019s supposed madness<\/a>. His condition causes him to be confused about important events that have happened in his life. For example, he forgets the death of his daughter, Amelia.<\/p>\n (In real life, Queen Charlotte and George III had 15 children, six of them girls<\/a>. Amelia, their youngest child, and George III’s rumored favorite<\/a>, died of tuberculosis at 27).<\/p>\n Most of the time, King George III is cordoned off in a separate wing of the palace, his illness kept a secret from civilians. But in a touching moment after her disastrous wedding, Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran) encounters the volatile royal. She calms him down by pretending the wedding decorations are for his<\/em> wedding to Charlotte, which actually took place decades prior.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n One would never know, given her steely and serene demeanor, that Charlotte was dealing with such a stressful and heartbreaking situation behind the walls of the palace.<\/p>\n But perhaps their relationship explains <\/em>Charlotte\u2019s strength. Speaking to TODAY, Rosheuvel said King George III\u2019s illness is the reason why Charlotte has become such a strong ruler: She had to be strong for both of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe love that she and George have gives her the strength to be able to rule.”\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe love that she and George have gives her the strength to be able to rule,\u201d Rosheuvel said. \u201cIt gives her the strength to be able to make decisions. We don\u2019t necessarily really see them in \u2018Bridgeton,\u2019 but that\u2019s a layer that I have, and I take with me and as the character.\u201d<\/p>\n An unnamed \u201cBridgerton\u201d prequel<\/a>, also starring Rosheuvel, will explore the early days of Charlotte and George\u2019s relationship. Their marriage is part of \u201cBridgerton\u2019s\u201d foundational mythology: By marrying a Black woman, George supposedly ushered in the racially integrated version of the Regency era that the show takes place in.<\/p>\n Lady Danbury explains the connection during a season one conversation with Simon Basset (R\u00e9ge-Jean Page)<\/a>: \u201cLook at our queen. Look at our king. Look at their marriage. Look at everything it is doing for us, allowing us to become. We were two separate societies divided by color, until a king fell in love with one of us.”<\/p>\n In Queen Charlotte, Rosheuvel \u2014 who grew up in England \u2014 sees echoes of Queen Elizabeth II and her relationship with Prince Philip<\/a>, who died in 2021 after more than 70 years of marriage.<\/p>\n \u201cI look at our own queen over here and there\u2019s a lot to be said of the role,\u201d Rosheuvel said. \u201cPeople have a lot of opinions on the royal family. But I think there\u2019s a grace, there\u2019s an empathy, there\u2019s a warmness and openness to people\u2019s lives and their journeys. And I think Charlotte has to have that.\u201d<\/p>\n The moment in episode six, when Charlotte’s \u201csecret\u201d comes out, gives Queen Charlotte a new layer of vulnerability. Before then, she was mostly was a gossip-hungry, snuff-snorting<\/a> monarch. Now, Rosheuvel said, we see more of her humanity.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be very easy to just write a one-dimensional character who\u2019s in the balls, who loves fashion, who loves to gossip, who\u2019s very surface, but to have the intimacy and the vulnerable moments are really, really special because it makes her human,\u201d the actor said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes her relatable, even with all the opulence that she has and that she\u2019s surrounded by,\u201d Rosheuvel continued. \u201cI think audiences really relate to her because of those honorable moments. They see a human being.\u201d<\/p>\n Queen Charlotte\u2019s expanded backstory doesn\u2019t change her, so much as explain her. She\u2019s still back to her favorite hobby in season two: Chasing gossip, and chasing the woman who spreads it best. <\/p>\n The Queen’s quest to unmask Lady Whistledown gives her a sense of purpose this season. Eventually, she wrongfully accuses Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) of being the infamous scribbler and threatens to hurt her family\u2019s reputation if she doesn\u2019t come clean.<\/p>\n This tense interaction marks the first time the Queen uses her regal power against another character. \u201cThat was an interesting scene to play because we\u2019ve not seen the queen as a threat,\u201d Rosheuvel said.<\/p>\n Although she wants nothing more than to find Lady Whistledown, she\u2019s undeniably amused by the anonymous writer\u2019s words \u2014 even when they\u2019re about her. Rosheuvel characterizes the Queen and Lady Whistledown\u2019s relationship \u201ca love affair,\u201d that\u2019s \u201cmysterious\u201d in its own \u201cweird\u201d way.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the person that really kind of gets your back up, but yet you have a lot of respect for them,\u201d she said. \u201cYou admire them in some way. It\u2019s kind of that yin and yang relationship: Hatred, yet that real hatred can turn into absolute passion and desire.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosheuvel said she doesn\u2019t know what will happen if, and when, her character learns what audiences already know: Lady Whistledown is Penelope Featherington. As Penelope gears up for a romance with Colin Bridgerton<\/a>, perhaps in season 3<\/a>, she may be pulled into the Queen\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n![\"Golda](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/espacestudio.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Golda-Rosheuvel-talks-%E2%80%98Bridgertons-most-understated-love-story-Charlotte-and.jpg?resize=1300%2C868&ssl=1\")
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