Is Francesca Pregnant in Bridgerton?

A fairytale romance unfolds between Benedict and Sophie in the fourth season of Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton.’ While their different worlds clash and create conflict that takes an entire season to resolve, other Bridgerton siblings go through a cycle of emotions of their own. This season is particularly devastating for Francesca, whose husband, John Stirling, dies unexpectedly, leaving her with a deep sense of loss. In the midst of her grief, a ray of hope appears in the form of her pregnancy, but even that ends in a tragic manner. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Francesca’s Pregnancy Turns Out to be a False Alarm

One of the things that plagues Francesca following her marriage to John is that they remain childless even a year after their marriage. At the beginning of the fourth season, when they return to Mayfair, she expresses her disappointment at not being with child yet. John assures her that they haven’t been married that long and there is all the time in the world for them to build a family. Despite his words of affirmation, the thought of not getting pregnant weighs heavily on her, and she later shares her distress with Michaela, who is also sympathetic to her situation. And then, John has a series of headaches, and he passes away in his sleep, leaving Francesca utterly alone.

While everyone grieves John, Francesca tries to stay calm. This makes everyone concerned about her, and when Penelope and Eloise try to get her to express her grief and anger, she reveals that she wants to be clearheaded because she is pregnant. This is happy news because through the child, John lives on, in a way, and it will also help Francesca heal and move on. At first, Francesca didn’t want to tell anyone about it. But when the matters of the estate come into the picture, she is forced to reveal that she is pregnant. She thought it would be enough to just say it, but it turns out that she needs to prove it.

For this, she will have to go through a medical checkup. Even though she is still grieving her husband, and Benedict tries to buy her some time, she is forced to go through it. The checkup reveals that she is, in fact, not with child. In truth, Francesca never really had the confirmation of being pregnant. She was simply late, and a desperate desire for hope convinced her that this was the sign of a pregnancy. Even though she may have had doubts, she told herself that she was with child, because it was the only thing that could get her through her grief. But it turns out that she was never pregnant, and with that, the last thread holding her together breaks, and she falls into a pit of despair.

The Desire of Motherhood is a Major Plot Point for Francesca

The loss of her husband is magnified for Francesca by the fact that she wasn’t able to give him a child. It wasn’t just out of the sense of duty that she wanted to be pregnant, but it was her own desire to have a family, like the one she grew up in. When John dies, the void of being childless shatters her heart even more. First, she feels the guilt of not having been able to give him an heir, which means that the title of Lord Kilmartin will pass on to someone else now. Secondly, she feels entirely cut off from him. When her father died, her mother had eight children as a token of their love. The children became Edmund’s legacy and gave Violet a purpose. Francesca, however, doesn’t have that.

In the book, ‘When He Was Wicked’ by Julia Quinn, which focuses on Francesca’s love story, things get even more tragic for her. Francesca is pregnant when John dies, but later, she has a miscarriage. She loses her husband and her unborn child in close succession, which makes things even more heartbreaking for her. The show spares her the grief of miscarriage, but that doesn’t make the loss of her husband and not having his children any less painful. Had it not been for the mandatory medical checkup, she could have held on to the hope, the fantasy of being pregnant for a little longer. It could have helped her navigate the space she occupies in John’s absence.

However, the checkup and the crudeness with which it happens not only ruthlessly burst her bubble in which she’d hoped to find temporary refuge, but it also makes the thing rather humiliating for her. Still, her desire to have a family doesn’t go away, and even as she declares that she will not marry again, things change after a few years when she steps back into the marriage mart. This is where the show differs from the source material, because in the novel, she marries John’s cousin, Michael, the new Lord Kilmartin, with whom she eventually has kids. The show, however, has gender-swapped Michael into Michaela, opening an entirely uncharted space to explore their love story and Francesca’s desire to be a mother.

Read More: Bridgerton: Why is There a New Lady Penwood? Who is She?