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QUEEN CHARLOTTE – Review by Susan Granger

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Royals rule this week…so Shonda Rhimes has created a new Netflix series you’re gonna want to binge. Spinning off Bridgerton, there’s Queen Charlotte.

Part of a political pact, 17 year-old Charlotte (India Amarteifio) is dispatched from Germany to England to marry King George III (Corey MyIchreest). Since Charlotte has no idea if he’s “a troll or a beast,” she’s understandably reluctant.

Conveniently, they ‘meet cute’ as she’s trying to climb a wall to escape, so the lavish nuptials go as planned. But instead of consummating their union on their wedding night, George departs for his observatory to watch the night sky.

Persistently followed by her aide Brimsley (Sam Clemmett) – who’s dawdling with the King’s aide Reynolds (Freddie Dennis) – bewildered young Queen Charlotte’s only confidante is conniving Lady Danbury (Arsema Thomas).

“I am born for the happiness or misery of a great nation, and consequently must often act contrary to my passions,” George fumes. (That evokes a contemporary connection to King Charles’ contrived marriage to naive Diana to produce an heir and a spare, while he canoodled with his long-time mistress Camilla.)

Interspersed are glimpses of the mature, Regency-era Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel), familiar from Bridgerton, coping with the King’s debilitating illness as she poignantly prods her 13 progeny to preserve the dynasty.

Narrated by gossiping Lady Whistledown (Julie Andrews), the romantic plot is filled with clever gamesmanship, as many of the characters are deliciously duplicitous. (Even my action-oriented husband was intrigued.)

Shonda Rhimes has perceptively dedicated this historical prequel “In Memory of Jacqueline Avant.” Mrs. Avant, mother of Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos’ wife Nicole, was shot and killed in a home invasion in 2021.

Renown as an activist/philanthropist in Los Angeles, Jacqueline was married to music executive Clarence Avant, called “the Godfather of Black music”…and she was fascinated by historical Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1774-1818),

According to historian Mario de Valdes y Cocom on PBS Frontline, Queen Charlotte was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a Black branch of the Portuguese royal house. Even in varying accounts, her African roots are apparently verifiable, which brings us back to King Charles III coronation.

If Queen Charlotte had Black ancestry, that would affect the entire lineage of her granddaughter, Queen Victoria, whose offspring occupied many European thrones.

Another contemporary connection is the fanciful ‘Great Experiment’ in which titles and land were bestowed on people of color to equalize interracial marriages – evoking thoughts of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, Queen Charlotte is a tantalizing 10 – with all six episodes now streaming on Netflix.

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Susan Granger

Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at R.K.O., M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures; her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M. As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O'Brien and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. During her adult life, Susan has been on radio and television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic. Her newspaper reviews have been syndicated around the world, and she has appeared on American Movie Classics cable television. In addition, her celebrity interviews and articles have been published in REDBOOK, PLAYBOY, FAMILY CIRCLE, COSMOPOLITAN, WORKING WOMAN and THE NEW YORK TIMES, as well as in PARIS MATCH, ELLE, HELLO, CARIBBEAN WORLD, ISLAND LIFE, MACO DESTINATIONS, NEWS LIMITED NEWSPAPERS (Australia), UK DAILY MAIL, UK SUNDAY MIRROR, DS (France), LA REPUBBLICA (Italy), BUNTE (Germany), VIP TRAVELLER (Krisworld) and many other international publications through SSG Syndicate. Susan also lectures on the "Magic and Mythology of Hollywood" and "Don't Take It Personally: Conquering Criticism and other Survival Skills," originally published on tape by Dove Audio.