Queen Charlotte Is A Bridgerton Story, AKA Wait Until The Kids Are In Bed To Watch

The Bridgerton franchise on Netflix has been our go-to destination for sumptuous, campy, and positively steamy costume-drama romance. We swooned over Daphne and her Duke, melted for Anthony and Kate, and now the latest installment tells the love story of none other than King George III Our Lady Of Perpetual Wig Goals Queen Charlotte. But what age is Queen Charlotte appropriate for? Here’s what parents need to know about the latest in the Regency romance series.

Queen Charlotte is rated TV-MA.

As in “mature.” As in “Queen Charlotte isn’t family friendly entertainment, generally speaking.” Common Sense Media gives it four out of five possible points for “Sex, Romance, and Nudity,” citing simulated sex, discussion of sex, bawdy language in regard to sex (use of the word “whores” for example) and nude backsides as items parents may want to be aware of. There’s also a little bit of “spicy” language, and depictions of alcohol and tobacco use. The site suggests this show is best shown to children 16 and older.

Queen Charlotte tells the story of a fan-favorite character from previous Bridgerton seasons.

In fact, the full title of the series is Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. The character of Queen Charlotte has been in the series from Season 1, when she declared Daphne Bridgerton “The Diamond of the Season.” Other familiar characters include Violet Bridgerton (née Ledger, matriarch of the titular family) and Lady Danbury, in both their Regency-era selves and their younger selves.

New characters include King George III (though we do see him briefly in Season 1), his mother, Princess Augusta (played by Game of Thrones alumna Michelle Fairley) and a slew of George and Charlotte’s children, among others.

Queen Charlotte is based on the real-life romance of King George III & Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Students of history can tell you that most royal marriages are at best loveless and at worst positively hateful. But though George and Charlotte were a match arranged for political purposes, wed mere hours after meeting (after, it must be said, a brutal sea voyage from Germany for poor Charlotte, who didn’t speak much English), the pair enjoyed a loving, affectionate marriage for most of the 57 years they were together. George never took a mistress (which is baseline courtesy for a standard marriage but almost unheard of among 18th century kings) and the couple had 15 children together, all but two of whom survived to adulthood.

Though much of their marriage may have been a fairytale, tragedy did come for the royal couple. George suffered intermittent bouts of mental illness, which is a plot point in both Queen Charlotte and Bridgeton generally. No one is certain of the king’s diagnosis, though scholars today suggest it may have been bipolar disorder. During these periods, George — would become erratic and lose touch with reality — was kept isolated from Charlotte any almost everyone else. Unfortunately, mental health treatment in this period was not only ineffective but often cruel and did not improve the king’s condition. By 1810, George’s mental illness became a perpetual state. He lived in isolation, apart from Charlotte, who predeceased him by a little over a year.

Queen Charlotte TL;DR...

Queen Charlotte is a new series in the Bridgerton lineup that tells the story of the romance between Queen Charlotte and her husband, King George III. Like other installments in the franchise, it’s does not shy away from talk and depictions of sex and, as such, you might want to wait until the kids are in bed before tuning in.