Explore the real Georgian-era history of England inspired by Netflix's Queen Charlotte

12.07.2024 - 17:26 / lonelyplanet.com

Jul 2, 2024 • 7 min read

Queen Charlotte seems to live in another universe of a never-ending whirl of razor-precision etiquette, high society balls and lavish entertainment. Days and nights are spent well away from the humdrum outside world within the walls of vast country piles or stuccoed, high-society city townhouses. 

It all looks a bit of a blast, highlighting the charms of Georgian-era England. This is the country that young Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz found herself transported into, where she married the freshly-crowned King George III in 1761 to become Queen. 

When tuning in to Netflix's new series, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, those aren't film sets you're looking at. They're real places, with a heavy dose of fairytale-that-never-was vibe added in by the gloriously over-the-top production. Even in today's New Carolean England, Charlotte's country is still right here, down an endless driveway or half-hidden behind expertly-trimmed Ligustrum ovalifolium (that's privet hedge, darling). 

By taking a close look at the clever roster of shooting locations for Bridgerton and Queen Charlotte, we've put together a wonderful itinerary for a week or more in southern England that, with the right fancy dress, will convince your friends that you've landed a role in your own forthcoming spinoff series. 

London, and the immediate surrounding area, is a Bridgerton buff's treasure chest. Even after 250 years of restless reinvention, urban development and bomb damage, it still delivers the Georgian goodies — which is one of the reasons so much of the Bridgerton universe is here in the first place. To the southwest of the city yet within easy reach by train, Hampton Court Palace's interiors and gardens feature throughout the series. Exploring this Tudor wonder will take most of the day. And there is plenty to see in the surrounding area — perhaps no other area of London, dominated by leafy greens like Richmond Park, quite retains what you're probably imagining refined air to smell like.

To the north of Richmond Park, you'll find Kew Gardens, the grounds of which hold the family home of Kew Palace and the semi-secret retreat of Queen Charlotte's Cottage. Syon House, the latter of which is the setting for the "Material Girl" ball in Series 2 of Bridgerton, is on the other side of the river. The River Thames, green and gentle at this point in its journey to the sea, is lined with footpaths to help you explore. Riverside spots like Richmond, Teddington and Kew are lovely spots for an afternoon tea or a pub lunch, with put-putting river cruisers and rowers passing by.

After one day wandering the west of London (ideally with a twirling white parasol), you need another in Greenwich, which is a