You'll Never Believe Bridgerton's Connection to King Charles III's Coronation
Bridgerton's new prequel series quite literally received the royal treatment.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story will bring the drama come May 4, as the Netflix show explores the courtship between young Queen Charlotte (India Amarteifio) and King George of England (Corey Mylchreest), and how they transform the world around them.
And while the series is loosely inspired by the real-life royals of 18th-century Britain, there is a modern connection to the current monarch, King Charles III and his much-anticipated coronation on May 6. Queen Charlotte costume designer Lyn Paolo exclusively revealed to E! News that someone she closely worked with on the show also helped Charles prepare for his big day.
"I was someone yesterday, who helped us on Queen Charlotte, and I was saying if I ever come back, I'd love for you to make the hats," the costume designer shared. "And she said, 'It's so funny you should say that because we just fit the King, and we have his hat ready for the coronation.'"
Similar to the cliffhangers and hidden gems Bridgerton leaves fans with, Paolo kept the person's identity a mystery. However, she didn't keep her lips sealed when sharing details about another coronation—the one depicted in Queen Charlotte.
In fact, Paolo revealed that some of the most expensive costumes to make were for those scenes, as not only did they have to piece together ostentatious gowns and suits, but they had to style the looks with long, velvet robes, embellished crowns and other accessories royals wear during the occasion.
"The front of her gown and his suit, it's gold bullion," she described of the king and queen's coronation ensembles in the Netflix show. "So, it's handsewn, embroidered, and our embellishers went back in with gold bullion as you do with real robes, as you'll see the coronation on [May 6]."
She continued, "We couldn't find the crowns in England, we had them made in Italy, so they were an additional expense on top of everything else."
And while people will soon tune into King Charles III and Queen Camilla's coronation—an event that hasn't occurred in 70 years—Paolo said she and her team were able to take some creative liberties when it came to the coronation in Queen Charlotte.
"This world is a world that none of us lived in," she noted. "We can only surmise what the reality was. All we can really do is look at portraits, which aren't really real. They were publicity things that the royal family sent out all over the empire to say this is what we look like, but we don't know that was true."
As she put it, "It was like their Instagram page, they used a lot of filters."
While King Charles and the rest of his royal family might not have that luxury, there's no denying all eyes (and cameras) won't be focused on them come May 6. To read more about the coronation, click here.
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