Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s period romance drama, ‘Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story,’ takes the audience years before the events of ‘Bridgerton.’ The sequel serves as an origin story for Queen Charlotte and her evolution from a young, naive girl to a formidable and wise queen. The story digs into Charlotte’s romance with King George and the upheavals in their marriage owing to the secrets he and his family keep from him. Parallel to this, we also follow Queen Charlotte in the future as she tries to ensure her family’s survival. Over six long episodes, many twists, and turns happen in the Queen’s story. Here’s how it all ends. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story Plot Synopsis
17-year-old Charlotte is brought from her humble home in Germany to the grandiose and royalty of England. Her marriage to George is sudden and doesn’t give her time to find out who he is and what he’s like. Scared that he might be a troll or a beast, she decides to run away from the wedding, but a chance meeting with George convinces her to stay. She is happy to discover that he is much more pleasant than she’d imagined. However, the same night, all her hopes are dashed.
Instead of spending their wedding night together, George abandons Charlotte at the new house he’d built for her and goes back to live in another house by himself. When he doesn’t show up for days, Charlotte decides to take action and succeeds, but the marital bliss is brief. Just when she becomes pregnant with their first child, Charlotte discovers that George has a mental illness, which is why he’d been so reclusive from her when they got married.
While Charlotte tries to figure out the complications in her marriage, people like Lady Danbury see her arrival as a sign of changing times. Stuck in an unhappy marriage with a much older man, young Lady Agatha Danbury consolidates a friendship with Queen Charlotte while navigating her new position in the social hierarchy. In the future, the death of the princess royal kicks things into action as Queen Charlotte seeks matches for her children while Lady Danbury and Violet Bridgerton forge a stronger friendship.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story Ending: Is Queen Charlotte Pregnant?
The discovery of George’s mental illness shocks Charlotte. She realizes this is why Augusta came as far as Germany to look for a prospective bride and why Charlotte wasn’t told anything about him, except that he was the King of England. At first, Charlotte thinks about leaving the country as she cannot bear the betrayal, especially from her husband. She’d believed George would tell her the truth, but he kept her from it, angering her more.
Charlotte leaves the palace and stays at Lady Danbury’s for a few hours until the latter changes her mind. Lady Danbury tells Charlotte how important her role is for the country and how, despite the challenges in front of her, she can rise above them and take control of the situation rather than succumb to it. This encourages Charlotte to return to the palace and bring her husband out of hiding.
Following his bout of mania in front of Charlotte, George decides to go back to Dr. Monro to resume the treatment. He resolves not to go back to her until he has been fully cured. However, when he doesn’t answer her many letters, Charlotte barges into the doctor’s office and takes her husband back home. She intends to help him with love and care, and the effects start to show soon. However, it is a long battle ahead of them, and Charlotte realizes this when despite his preparation, George is incapable of getting out of his carriage and addressing the Parliament. Still, Charlotte is certain that she can help George get better.
To bring him in front of his subjects and dispel any rumors about his health, a ball is thrown, and with Charlotte, George is able to present himself in front of the crowd. They dance together, and he gives a speech, convincing the people that their King is fine and fit to rule. Charlotte also owns her position as the Queen and asks Lady Danbury why she didn’t directly come to her with concerns about the newly inherited titles by the black subjects.
By the end of the ball, George appears in great spirits and invites Reynolds to have a drink with him. However, Reynolds refuses, considering that the King cannot be seen mingling with the footman, even if he considers the latter a friend. Then George offers the drink to Charlotte, but she too refuses, adding that she won’t be having a drink for a while now. It turns out that she is with the child again. This is a cause for celebration for them, but there is also a marked difference in George’s reaction this time.
The last time, he found out about Charlotte’s pregnancy from Dr. Monro and became so panicked that it triggered a manic episode. It could have been that the news was so suddenly dropped on him that George had no time to process it. Apart from his concerns about whether or not he’d be a good father, George also worries that his illness might result in him hurting Charlotte and their children. This leads him to lose his grip on reality. This time, however, he is happy to find out that they are going to have another child. This difference in his responses shows how far George has come concerning his mental health and is doing much better than he was under the inhumane treatment of Dr. Monro.
Does Queen Charlotte Get Grandchildren?
While the past timeline of the show focuses on the young Queen Charlotte, the other timeline continues after the events of ‘Bridgerton’ Season 2 and begins with the death of the princess royal, the heir to the throne. Despite having thirteen adult children, Queen Charlotte notices that she doesn’t have any grandchildren to ensure the furthering of the royal bloodline. Throughout the show, she keeps telling her children to get married and have a family of their own.
The only grandchild that the Queen had was the princess royal, the daughter of her first son, George IV. When the princess dies in childbirth, there is no grandchild left, which becomes a huge cause for concern. The Queen worries that she didn’t pay enough attention to her children and their marital life, or such a situation wouldn’t have arrived. Her sons have many children, but they are outside of marriage and cannot be claimed as royal heirs. So, she plans to get all of them married, creating more probability of having a child.
In the end, her efforts bear results, and her second son Edward reveals that he and his wife, Victoria, are going to have a child. They mention that it might be a girl, but the Queen doesn’t care about that. She is simply happy that the royal bloodline has been secured with a successor. Charlotte’s untiring efforts to have a grandchild prove to be a blessing for the royal family because Edward and Victoria’s daughter becomes the next Queen of England after the death of her grandfather, father, and his three elder brothers, ushering in the Victorian era.
Does Violet Bridgerton Know About Lady Danbury and Lord Ledger’s Affair?
Apart from Queen Charlotte, the show also focuses on the backstories of Lady Danbury and Lady Violet Bridgerton. When Charlotte married George, young Agatha Danbury was married to a much older Lord Danbury, while Lady Bridgerton was a young Violet Ledger who hadn’t come out into society yet. After Agatha’s husband dies, she finds herself at a loss of companionship. That is until Violet’s father, Lord Ledger, extends his friendship to her.
Lord Ledger’s kind and pleasant character charms Lady Danbury, and he, too, seems to be attracted to her, as opposed to his wife, with whom his views don’t match. To cheer up Lady Danbury, Lord Ledger makes a birthday hat for her, but before that, they have a brief fling, which he later ends because he is married to someone else. Years later, when Violet tells Lady Danbury about the resurfacing of her desires, the latter confesses that she had feelings for someone after her husband died. Violet realizes that it might have been her father when she finds a birthday hat at Lady Danbury’s place.
One of Violet’s cherished memories of her father was that he used to make birthday hats for her, something that she did for her husband as well. When she finds a similar hat at Lady Danbury’s place, she remembers how once her father mentioned making a hat for his friend. She hopes to get a confession out of Lady Danbury, and when the latter keeps evading the point, Violet invites her to tea, displaying all the hats her father made her.
Seeing all the hats, Lady Danbury realizes Violet knows about her and Lord Ledger. However, she doesn’t outright confess it. She acknowledges it via hints, assuring Violet that despite their feelings for each other, she and Lord Ledger decided to stay away. They cherished each other’s friendship, and that’s all there was. Violet accepts her acknowledgment and doesn’t push past it. They come to a mutual understanding not to discuss the issue any further.
Read More: Is Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story Based on a True Story?
