Bridgerton star Golda Rosheuvel reveals she has waited ‘all her life’ to play the Queen of England – as she dazzles in stunning Tatler cover shoot for April issue
- Bridgerton’s Queen Charlotte, Golda Rosheuvel, 52, graces Tatler’s April cover
- The 52-year-old said she hopes to ‘pay homage’ to her mother through Queen
- Her character Queen Charlotte is the only one in series based on a real person
- Revealed she has been waiting ‘all her life’ to be asked to play Queen of England
- The April issue of Tatler is available on newsstands and via digital download on Thursday 3 March
Bridgerton actress Golda Rosheuvel looked incredible in a lavish gown as she stunned on the cover of April’s Tatler magazine.
The 52-year-old Guyanese-British actress, is reprising her role as Queen Charlotte in the hit period drama, which is returning to screens next month.
She explained how she had waited her entire life to play the role, saying: ‘I’m a great believer in waiting, in biding my time, being confident enough in my craft and who I am as a person to know that it will happen, that one day someone would see me and go, “Right, you are perfect for playing the Queen of England”.’
Based on a series of books of the same name by Julia Quinn, the Netflix show follows the eight siblings of the Bridgerton family as they attempt to find love in Regency-era England.
Bridgerton actress Golda Rosheuvel looked incredible in a lavish gown as she stunned on the cover of April’s Tatler magazine
Golda grew up in a high society environment similar to that of which Queen Charlotte did, in Guyana, South America, before the family relocated to England when she was five.
She explained that every time she dresses up as the Queen from the 1700s, she is ‘paying homage’ to her mother, who was a high-society socialite.
When her mother, Judith, visited Golda’s great-uncle, who was Bishop of Barbados and later Archbishop of Jamaica, she had dinner with Princess Margaret.
‘I didn’t need to do much research because I knew the world this character came from already – it was my mother’s world and that makes her very easy to play,’ she explained.
The 52-year-old Guyanese-British actress, is reprising her role as Queen Charlotte in the hit period drama, which is returning to screens next month (pictured)
‘Every time I dress up as Queen Charlotte, I pay homage to my mother. [She came from an] upper-middle-class London family.
‘Before the war they had butlers; their world was very public school.
‘My grandfather was the headmaster of Colet Court [St Paul’s prep school], my great-uncle was Bishop of Barbados, later Archbishop of Jamaica, and when my mother visited him there, she had dinner with Princess Margaret.’
Golda debuted her acting career in a performance of musical production Hair on the West End, as well as appearances on Holby City, Luther and Silent Witness.
Golda, who performs in Bridgerton as George III’s consort, Queen Charlotte, is the only character in the series not to appear in the original Regency-set novels by Julia Quinn – and the only one based on a real person (pictured in Tatler)
She told Tatler she had been dreaming of playing the Queen of England for her whole life (pictured in April edition)
In her steady rise to the grand role of Queen Charlotte in worldwide sensation Bridgerton, she explained that she never fully understood if racism was a hindrance on her career or not, noting that she, as a mixed-race woman, was either ‘not black enough’ or ‘too black’ for particular roles.
In 2018, Golda auditioned for the role of Lady Danbury, which then went to Adjoa Andoh.
But shortly after, she was then asked to do an audition tape for the Queen, something which says was ‘the easiest tape I’ve ever done’ and sent it off within half an hour.
The idea that Queen Charlotte was black was partly popularised by historian Mario de Valdes y Cocom
Who was Queen Charlotte and why do some claim she was of African descent?
Sophia Charlotte ( Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; May 19 1744 – November 17 1818) was the youngest daughter of Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg and his wife Princess Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen.
Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a duchy in what is now northern Germany but was then part of the Holy Roman Empire.
The theory that she may have had African ancestry was popularised by historian Mario de Valdes y Cocom.
He argued that portraits of her show she had African features which were also noted by her contemporaries.
Despite her German heritage, he claimed in a blog for American investigative programme PBS Frontline that she was distantly descended from a black branch of the Portuguese royal family.
He said she was related to Margarita de Castro e Souza, a 15th-Century Portuguese noblewoman whose own ancestry traces back to 13th-Century King Alfonso III and his lover Madragana.
Valdes claimed Madragana was a Moor and therefore a black African.
However, historian Kate Williams told The Guardian that ‘if we class Charlotte as black’ because of the alleged distant heritage, ‘then ergo Queen Victoria and our entire royal family, [down to Prince Harry, are also black’.
Referring to the portrait of Charlotte by Sir Allan Ramsay, Valdes wrote that it had ‘negroid characteristics’ even though ‘Artists of that period were expected to play down, soften or even obliterate undesirable features in a subject’s face.’
He adds: ‘[But] Sir Allan Ramsay was the artist responsible for the majority of the paintings of the queen, and his representations of her were the most decidedly African of all her portraits.’
Valdes suggests that Ramsay was an anti-slavery campaigner who may have stressed the true ‘African characteristics’ of Charlotte for political reasons.
But Desmond Shawe-Taylor, the Surveyor of the Queen’s pictures, previously said of the same portrait, ‘I can’t see it to be honest.’
‘We’ve got a version of the same portrait. I look at it pretty often and it’s never occurred to me that she’s got African features of any kind. It sounds like the ancestry is there and it’s not impossible it was reflected in her features, but I can’t see it.’
He added that none of the caricatures of Charlotte held at the British Museum show her as African. He said that they would likely do so if she was ‘visibly’ of African descent.
And her huge role was part of the phenomenon that is Bridgerton – in just four weeks of its release on Christmas Day 2020, it garnered 82 million worldwide views and gained the title of Netflix’s most-watched series to date.
Filming for season two, which is out on 25 March, began in Spring last year, something she describes as like the ‘family getting back together’ after a third national lockdown had finally eased.
Queen Charlotte is the only character in the series not to appear in the original Regency-set novels by Julia Quinn – and the only one based on a real person.
The second season sees Queen Charlotte witnessing her husband, King George III, go through mental illness, pointing the eye of the audiences further into her private life and internal monologue.
Golda also revealed how her role meant she had to dedicate two hours per day to fit the Queen’s wigs, which are often worn for 11 hours straight, and that it can take her 20 minutes to take a quick trip to the toilet after removing all her corsets and crinolines.
She said: ‘Our favourite scenes are the ball scenes because it’s the only time we’re all together and you get to catch up on people’s children, their husbands, their dogs.
‘The directors find it quite difficult with everybody chat, chat, chatting away. They’re like, “Come on!”‘
Sitting on the fictional throne even made Rosheuvel a fan of the Royal family, she explained.
‘I like to see the royals as human beings, trying to live a life, and I think we often miss that,’ she said.
‘They’re set at a height of perceived unattainability, but to me they’re just guys and gals trying to live their lives in the best way they can.’
It was reported last year a Bridgerton prequel series ‘based on the origins of Queen Charlotte’ is in the pipeline at Netflix from creator Shonda Rhimes.
The story is reportedly being written by Rhimes herself will follow the origins of a young Queen Charlotte who grows up to be King George III’s wife.
It will also include the origins of other characters featured in Bridgerton, namely Violet Bridgerton and Lady Danbury.
‘Many viewers had never known the story of Queen Charlotte before Bridgerton brought her to the world, and I’m thrilled this new series will further expand her story and the world of Bridgerton,’ Netflix head of global TV Bela Bajaria told Deadline.
Adding: ‘Shonda and her team are thoughtfully building out the Bridgerton universe so they can keep delivering for the fans with the same quality and style they love. And by planning and prepping all the upcoming seasons now, we also hope to keep up a pace that will keep even the most insatiable viewers totally fulfilled.’
In an attempt to keep up that break-neck pace of production, Deadline also reported that Jess Brownell was being brought on as showrunner for seasons three and four of Bridgerton.
Meanwhile, Chris Van Dusen, who served in the role for season one will stay on board in the same capacity for season two.
The April issue of Tatler is available on newsstands and via digital download on Thursday 3rd March.
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