The 'Bridgerton' pair no one is talking about: Lady Whistledown and Queen Charlotte
Spoiler alert: This story includes details from the final four episodes of Netflix's "Bridgerton" Season 3 (now streaming).
NEW YORK — If there is one person in the world of Netflix's Regency-era romance "Bridgerton" who has managed to impress the formidable Queen Charlotte, it is Lady Whistledown (voiced by Julie Andrews). Mayfair's anonymous gossip writer has captivated the Queen for many social seasons, and despite the queen's multiple attempts to unmask her identity, she has escaped every time.
In the first season, the queen tasks the fifth child of the Bridgerton family, Eloise (Claudia Jessie), to find out who Lady Whistledown is. Last season, she assumes Eloise herself to be the author after her footmen spot Eloise speaking to a printer's shop apprentice, Theo Sharpe, in Bloomsbury, until the real Lady Whistledown steps in to save Eloise by publishing a scathing expose on her consorting with “political radicals” and her budding relationship with Theo.
The search continues in Season 3 and in the final episodes (now streaming), her obsession with the scribe reaches new heights when she offers a reward for whomever reveals Whistledown's real identity. That brings us to the question: Why is Queen Charlotte so obsessed with Lady Whistledown?
"The Ton is a very insular place," says Golda Rosheuvel, who plays her, in an interview last week. "And to have somebody come in and kind of shake that up a little bit is intriguing to the queen. There's a lot of respect there for this person, who has dared to come in and shake up the Ton. There's a sense of 'how dare you,' but also there's a sense of 'who is this?' And I slightly respect her. Because this is a dangerous thing to be doing and whoever it is has the respect of the woman at the top of the food chain."
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Mapping Lady Whistledown and the Queen's future
By the end of Season 3, the queen's efforts finally pay off, and she learns it's the newly married Penelope Bridgerton, née Featherington (Nicola Coughlan). Now that Lady Whistledown's identity is out in the open, what kind of relationship will the queen have with her?
"That was a really big moment, when she finds out that it's actually Penelope," Rosheuvel says, adding the queen first took notice of Penelope when she sees her walk down the stairs in the green dress in her big "She's All That" reveal at the beginning of Season 3.
That moment comes full circle when Penelope is revealed as Lady Whistledown at her Dankworth-Finch Ball, wearing an emerald-green dress similar to the one she wore in the earlier scene. After Penelope explains to the crowd why she started writing the society papers and the power they gave herher column, she requests mercy from the queen. Charlotte, wearing a satisfied smile, says: "What is life without a little gossip?"
Does this mean that the Queen and Penelope will now become friends?
"Nicola and I have always had this conversation from Day One (that), wouldn't it be lovely for the queen to summon, and Whistledown and the Queen have tea together and come up with some kind of plot to destroy the Ton or whatever, or become allies," Rosheuvel says. "But there is a scene there that definitely Nicola and I want to have."
While the queen and Lady Whistledown may not become friends and gossip over tea, how will they co-exist, given that the queen has allowed the author to continue writing her society paper? column?
"I think they will try to, but there's going to be a bit of push and pull," Rosheuvel says. "There has to be a little bit of push and pull to make it a little sweeter, a little bit more electrifying. They are equals in different ways. And that lends itself to juicy storytelling."
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Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
