‘Bridgerton’ creators talk ‘Queen Charlotte’ and styling natural hair

‘Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story’ is a prequel to the Netflix series, focusing on a young Queen Charlotte (India Ria Amarteifio) and King George (Corey Mylchreest).

While the older Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) wears large wigs, the younger version of her character shows off her natural hair and afro proudly.

“We all agreed that it would be a journey,” said hair and makeup designer Nic Collins. “She’s not coming in as this big personality with these large wigs.

“She starts with natural hair. She’s in a foreign land, she’s in an arranged marriage that she doesn’t want to be in. It must have been terrifying for her. Those were the things we were considering.”

“We wanted to show the afro and its beauty,” Collins continued. “That was important. It’s her decision, it’s her choice. It’s like she just let her hair down and it sits in its glory.”

Inspiration from real royals

While ‘Bridgerton’ is largely a work of fiction, elements of the costuming was inspired by the real life royals. For example, Charlotte’s ivory wedding gown was inspired by Queen Elizabeth II.

“Laura [Frecon, costume designer] and I went to Kensington Palace and saw Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown, which has this amazing iconography from each colony,” said co-costume designer Lyn Paolo. “We thought, wouldn’t it be great if we did this, so we incorporated the Tudor and the Yorkshire Rose into the hem along with some other very British pieces of iconography.

“The embroidery matches the embroidery on George’s wedding suit. So they’re bonded.”

‘Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story’

The prequel series was released on Netflix on May 4 with a total of six episodes. Alongside Amarteifio, Mylchreest and Rosheuvel, the show stars Adjoa Andoh, Michelle Fairley, Ruth Gemmell, Arsema Thomas, Sam Celmmett, Freddie Dennis, Hugh Sachs and Julie Andrews.