Queen Charlotte and King George boast a far more moving and realistic story about enemies for lovers than Daphne and Simon from the season premiere of Bridgerton.
Queen Charlotte and King George in ‘Queen Charlotte: The Bridgerton Story’ | Nick Wall/Netflix
Queen Charlotte premiered on Netflix to rave reviews from critics and viewers alike, boasting one other tumultuous romance but a rather more socio-political and complicated narrative than its Bridgerton ancestors.
The relationship between Queen Charlotte and King George, like that between Daphne and the Duke of Hastings, is an arc between enemies and lovers. However, despite this overarching relationship, Queen Charlotte and King George’s romance may be very different from that of Daphne and the prince.
Charlotte and George’s love will not be to be confused with the eagerness that ignites when opposites attract. Rather, they represent two individuals who, wanting to interrupt free from the shackles of social expectations, are forced to work together for the advantage of others. They don’t hold a grudge against one another, but against the present structures that will unite them.
Spoiler alert for Queen Charlotte: The Bridgerton Story
Daphne and the prince get a bit refresher in Bridgerton’s first season
Daphne is butterflies and dandelions. She is prim and decent and greater than willing to undergo the pomp and circumstance of a ton. The prince is pensive and secretive, stubborn and independent. His contemptuous glances and condescending mockery of all the pieces he considers superfluous only add to his intrigue. It’s a story as old as time: a foul boy falls in love with a great girl (and vice versa).
Opposites attract, true, but this dynamic often only works when the underlying desires of each parties are more compatible than meets the attention. When deep down, a foul boy desires to be understood – he desires to marry a lady who wants the very best for him. When deep down a lady sees a person breaking free from the shackles of youthful anxiety to turn out to be a worthy partner. That’s not what the sport between the prince and Daphne is about.
These two are always attempting to slot in with their very own desires. Daphne wants a family. The prince says no. Simon also hides from Daphne who he’s, leading them to repeat the cycle of arguments, interrupted only by passionate sex.
Steam doesn’t create an everlasting love story. Daphne even tries to trick the prince into getting pregnant when she discovers the true reason why she doesn’t want children. Does that sound like the inspiration of a healthy relationship? There are so many dark emotions – vindictiveness, malice, stubbornness, denial and pure rage – consistently bubbling beneath the surface of passion. When the flame burns out, what’s left? It could be an arc from enemies to lovers. The problem: these two remain enemies on a regular basis, becoming lovers.
Breaking the proper arc from enemies to lovers between Charlotte and George in ‘Queen Charlotte’
Queen Charlotte and King George know nothing about one another until it is set that they shall be married. They don’t have any likelihood to faint, to have a look at one another from the opposite end of the garden. They must go from marriage to like, not from like to marriage. And it is that this structure that underlies most of their tensions.
They start off as enemies, but are literally offended not at one another, but at society. As they grow closer, it becomes clear that it is a story about birds flocking together – not opposites attracting one another. They are each intellectuals. Both use wit and cunning. They can challenge themselves within the bedroom and study. They want the identical thing in life – family, closeness, reliability.
From the moment that King George not has to cover his mental health problems from Queen Charlotte – realizing that she could be trusted with such sensitive information and can stand by him – they’re heading for greatness. They could have a passion. They have hot scenes within the dining room, the observatory, the bedroom and the tub, but that is not the eagerness they share.
What they’ve in common is their commitment to one another as allies – allies against the mother of the king who’s vexatious and untrustworthy, allies against a parliament that will dare query the status of the king, allies against “old customs” that can make a ton of antiquated and politically regressive. They resolve to like one another and hold on to dear life, discovering that while the world can sometimes leave them lost, once they are together, they’re found.
Queen Charlotte’s quote to her son when he’s nervous before the marriage best describes the love story we see between Charlotte and George within the spin-off:
“Love will not be something that may or can’t be done based on some magic. Some chemistry. This is for fun. Love is determination. Love is a selection you make. You marry someone and you choose to like them. The lifetime of a member of the royal family is lonely. So you grab someone and hold on. You adore it, and also you adore it hard, because in the event you don’t, you are lost.”
