SPEAK UP Explains Lady Whistledown has the pen power to make or break any reputation. Lady Whistledown tiene el poder de crear o destruir cualquier reputación con su pluma. El verbo to whistle significa literalmente ‘silbar’. Así, si bien no se explicita en la serie, es razonable deducir que el o la periodista que propaga ‘chismes’ (gossip) sobre la alta sociedad londinense ha elegido este nombre a partir de la frase hecha “to whistle someone down the wind”, literalmente ‘silbar o soplar a alguien para que se lo lleve el viento’, y que puede traducirse como ‘calumniar’ o ‘difamar’ (to slander o to defame). Tal es el poder de su ‘pluma’.
Left: Simon Basset (RegéJean Page) with Daphne and Anthony (far right). This page: Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton and Regé-Jean Page as Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings. Below: Queen Charlotte played by Golda Rosheuvel.
GLOSSARY
to increase her desirability by pretending that he is interested in her. The subterfuge works, but the results are unexpected!
HOT GOSSIP While Bridgerton sounds like conventional material, it is novel19 for its 21st-century style: some 7,500 items of clothing, from stunning20 dresses and corsets to ornate waistcoats21 and cravats22, were inspired by modern fashion icons Christian Dior and Chanel. Listen carefully, and you will recognise classical covers of modern songs by Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande. And the attitudes are far from antiquated: the defiant Eloise Bridgerton asks why women are treated like cattle23, the sex scenes are hardly24 prudish25, and an anonymous gossip columnist known as Lady Whistledown has the pen power to make or break any reputation.
EQUAL RESPECT Most notable, though, is the diversity of the cast, more in line with modern high society London than that of the 19th century. Back then26, people built their
wealth on slavery27 and few non-whites were respected figures. The prominence of black actors in Bridgerton has received much praise28 and, although the show has been admonished for airbrushing29 the realities of the past, millions of fans worldwide have delighted30 in the equal status accorded to black glamour, romance and power on screen.
20 stunning: deslumbrantes 21 waistcoats: chalecos 22 cravats: pañuelo 23 cattle: ganado 24 hardly: a penas 25 prudish: mojigato 26 back then: por entonces 27 slavery: sclavitud 28 praise: alabanzas 29 airbrushing: retocar 30 to delight: deleitar 31 to take over: hacerse con el poder 32 to go mad: enloquecer 33 royal: miembro de la realeza 34 mixed race: mestiza 35 descent: ascendencia
QUEEN CHARLOTTE The Regency refers to the period of rule of George IV, who took over 31 from his father George III when the king went mad 32 . Queen Charlotte, one of the most memorable figures in Bridgerton, is based on a real royal 33 who historians believe to have been mixed race34. The wife of George III, Charlotte, was of German descent35 but also descended from the Portuguese royal family, which may have had African origins. This has interesting implications for the rest of the British royal family, from Queen Victoria to Prince Harry.
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