A serious storyline all through Queen Charlotte‘s run is the intersection of race and politics inside the monarchy as Charlotte is introduced as the primary Black individual to marry into the royal household. To this present day, specialists nonetheless debate the racial origins of Charlotte, with historian Mario de Valdes y Cocom believing her to instantly descended from Portugal’s king Alfonso III and his mistress, Ouruana, a Black Moor. Nonetheless, many lecturers have countered that there isn’t any genealogical proof to again the declare.
Regardless of the questions surrounding Charlotte’s real-life ancestry, it was vital for the show-makers to establish her as a Black lady. “Many historians imagine that Queen Charlotte was of combined cultural heritage,” director Tom Verica instructed Netflix. “We needed to take that in a special path than what the historical past books have mentioned occurred—which was principally to bury that and never cope with it.”
In an unique interview with E! Information, Tunji Kasim, who performs Charlotte’s brother Adolphus, defined how vital it was to have the subject explored on the present.
“It is incredible to have a dialog about that,” Tunji mentioned. “It is particularly related in the previous couple of months given the Prince [Harry] and [Meghan Markle] scenario that is occurring in Britain. Navigating such an establishment—such a predominantly Caucasian establishment, and proudly so—Queen Charlotte having to navigate that could be very a lot entrance and middle inside this story.”
