Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte in Netflix s Bridgerton
Credit: LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX
It’s starting to become a habit. Netflix has found itself caught in another controversy over historical accuracy, this time over its romping Regency drama, Bridgerton.
At first blush, it seems the bodice-busting show has plumped for colour blind casting. It’s an established practice in theatre – and is starting to become more popular in films, such as Armando Iannucci’s recent Dickens adaptation, The Personal History of David Copperfield.
But the casting of black British actress Golda Rosheuvel, 49, as Queen Charlotte appears to have been a deliberate nod to a tenuous historical theory – that George III’s consort was Britain’s first black queen. This is especially telling as Queen Charlotte is the most prominent real-life figure in the show; the duelling families around which the drama swirls are fictitious.