The Meaning Behind Queen Charlotte’s Bridgerton S3 Hair

Depending on which scholar you ask, the real Queen Charlotte may or may not have been Black — but this one (played in Bridgerton by Golda Rosheuvel) is undoubtedly so, and as we saw in the show’s prequel (where young Queen Charlotte is played by India Amarteifio), she had to fight to wear what she wanted and express herself authentically. It makes more sense through the lens Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story depicted that the queen’s clothes and hair are an extension of her independence, a subversive show of rebellion, and a display of power and purpose. She’s had to play the game carefully so that through her marriage, the ton — the aristocrats and noblemen and women of British high society — could be integrated and a more inclusive society could be born, in theory. The racial dynamics within the BCU get a little hazy if you think about them too hard (season 1 was a mess and season 2 basically ignored race altogether) but if you look at Queen Charlotte as a figurehead of representation for resilience and grace in an archaic institution, you can take her big, coily, kinky hair as an act of rebellion or just what an acceptable regal hairstyle would be if a Black woman was the one making up the arbitrary rules on what is considered acceptable.