It’s nearly blasphemous to say it out loud, but not everyone feels that Queen Charlotte is the shining crown jewel of the Bridgerton universe. For many, the series was everything they hoped for, emotionally gripping, beautiful performances, and visually breathtaking. The praise has been thunderous and, to some extent, deserved.
Yet, beneath all that glitz lies a series that, while impressive, stumbles in ways that make it hard to wholeheartedly crown it as the best installment. The truth is, Queen Charlotte could have been iconic. Instead, it sometimes feels like a royal melodrama that lost sight of what made Bridgerton so compelling in the first place: its lore, its pacing, and its perfect balance between scandal and heart.
How Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story let emotion overpower its plot…
Queen Charlotte aimed to tell a love story full of pain, duty, and sacrifice, and on an emotional level, it mostly succeeded. The ache in Charlotte and George’s relationship is undeniable, and watching Charlotte struggle with a life she never chose is genuinely moving.
But somewhere along the way, the show got stuck in Charlotte’s sadness and forgot to actually let the story breathe and move forward.
Episode after episode, viewers are treated to silent looks, slow walks through the palace, and tense, quiet dinners. These moments can be powerful on their own, but stretched out over so much time, they start to feel like filler.
Fans see Charlotte feeling all the feelings, but they rarely see her taking action. Her emotional journey is deep, but the story doesn’t give her enough chances to really drive things forward.
The side stories also had so much potential, but ended up feeling thin and half-baked. One of the significant disappointments was Lady Danbury’s story. She’s a character who talks about loving fiercely in the main series, so naturally, fans expected a rich, passionate backstory. Instead, people got a quick, fleeting romance that disappeared almost as soon as it appeared.
Moreover, Lady Danbury’s political moves with Princess Augusta were set up to be a big deal, but the drama and consequences never really landed. In the end, Queen Charlotte leaned hard into mood and emotion but left a lot of promising stories feeling unfinished. It’s a beautifully made show, no question, but it often left viewers wanting just a little more.
Why Bridgerton fans found Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story out of sync!
Another big issue with Queen Charlotte is how disconnected it feels from the Bridgerton world it’s meant to expand. Though it’s a prequel, it often seems to play by its own rules, sometimes even contradicting established facts.
Fans quickly noticed inconsistencies, timelines that don’t line up, characters behaving out of character, and important social customs being ignored.
For instance, Lady Whistledown’s publishing schedule is off. In the original series, Penelope only starts releasing her columns once the social season begins in spring. But in Queen Charlotte, she’s writing through the winter with no explanation.
While it might seem like a small detail, it breaks the internal logic that fans expect and makes Penelope’s usually clever, cautious nature feel out of place. Then there’s the strange absence of the Bridgerton family in the drawing room, a central social spot they always occupy in the main series. That gap makes the world feel less authentic.
Beloved characters like Brimsley don’t quite align with what viewers know. Brimsley’s fierce loyalty in the prequel clashes with the Queen’s warning to Violet in season 1 that he’s an untrustworthy gossip monger.
Finally, the darker, more serious tone of the prequel isn’t the problem, it’s the way it clashes with the original series’ spirit. Queen Charlotte tries to tell a new story, but forgets it still needs to live within the world Bridgerton created. That disconnect is where the show ultimately falters.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is available to stream on Netflix.
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