Queen Charlotte – Frock Flicks

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!

Mrs. Fitzherbert (1947)
The film deals with Prince George’s secret marriage to Maria Fitzherbert in 1785 and the scandal that ensued when the truth came out and he was forced to repudiate Maria in order to marry the vastly more royally palatable Caroline of Brunswick. Queen Charlotte was played by Lily Kahn as a relatively minor character who only showed up to wring her hands about her son’s whoring and general indolence, wondering why he won’t just settle down with a nice royal girl.

Affairs of a Rogue/The First Gentleman (1948)
In 1948, Charlotte appears again in Affairs of a Rogue (also called The First Gentleman), this time dealing with the fallout of Prince George’s daughter, Princess Charlotte, falling in love with Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg who was a penniless minor German noble living in England. Queen Charlotte is portrayed by Frances Waring.

Fast forwarding 30 years, the next appearance of Queen Charlotte on film is in the miniseries, Prince Regent (1979), portrayed by Frances White. The series covers the period of Prince George’s life starting in 1779, at age 17, through the Regency, and finally with his succession as George IV. Charlotte is featured throughout the eight episodes.

The first time I remember seeing Queen Charlotte in a film was in The Madness of King George, portrayed by Helen Mirren. She’s shown as stylish and composed, but clearly unraveling beneath the surface as her husband’s mysterious illness progresses to the point where the need for a Regency becomes obvious.

Two decades after Helen Mirren, Queen Charlotte resurfaces in Bridgerton, portrayed by Golda Rosheuvel. By far the most sympathetic depiction of Charlotte so far, she is initially portrayed as a somewhat imposing figure at the center of the court. She is shown wearing fashions that are far out of date, which coincides with the rigidity and formality of her bearing, but over the course of the series we learn more about who she is underneath the facade, leading her to become one of the series’ most popular reoccurring characters.

So popular was Queen Charlotte in Bridgerton that a spin-off series entirely focused on Charlotte was created to explore her history and how she became queen of England. India Amarteifio portrays the younger Charlotte while Golda Rosheuvel portrays the older queen as the series flashes back and forth between Charlotte’s past and present.

Would you like to see more Queen Charlotte on film? Tell us about it in the comments!

Like this:

Like Loading…