Sanditon is a way better love story than Bridgerton.

I loved the idea of having POC all over in Bridgerton until the Queen told us why. The King married a Black woman and suddenly Black people were cool in Regency times? It seemed rather like a cop-out. I’d rather the reason been a flagrant “just because.”

The historical Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was rumored to have African ancestry. I see the Bridgerton version of Charlotte as a nod to that rumor, but I still would have loved a cheeky “just because.”

“I married the king and now black people are aristocrats” worked for Charlotte in Bridgerton, but a real-life Black woman married a British prince and was treated abominably. I fckn love Meghan and idk how I feel about this contrast.

Also, the historical Charlotte would have been raised in great (white) privilege and even if she did have African ancestry, which has never been proven, it’s not like she would have understood intimately the experiences of Black people in the early nineteenth century.

This is a fascinating read and it corrects the rumor about Charlotte’s ancestry: http://acaciatreebooks.com/blog/royalty-race-and-the-curious-case-of-queen-charlotte/

Absolutely we need to see and I want to see Black people in historical roles not only as servants but as members of the upper class and royalty. I loved the Bridgerton portrayal before Charlotte gave the “in-world reasoning.”

I wish she’d never explained at all. I wish it hadn’t made it to the final script. I wish we’d just seen Black people as British royals and British aristocrats, take-it-or-leave-it.

Also in Sanditon we don’t have a white chick trying to force/trick her Black husband to impregnate her against his will. It would have been icky without the racial dynamic (indeed it was when I read the scene many years ago), but with the racial dynamic, it’s much more appalling.