As you've probably figured out by now, "Bridgerton" is not based on a true story (opens in new tab): string quartets didn't (unfortunately) play "Thank You, Next" (opens in new tab) at formal balls in the 1800s, and young women of the time wouldn't have had the courage to push back on family plans, partly due to the fact that the Netflix series is based on Julia Quinn's romance novel series, in which Julia Quinn herself describes the process of building the Bridgerton family world (open with a new tab).

Still, there is much about the Georgian era of the early 1800s that the period drama does justice to (largely due to Quinn's meticulously researched world-building and historical consultant Hannah Graig's contributions to the televised production). The social seasons and "marriage market" were very realistic, as was the lack of sex education for Regency women and the birth of anonymous gossip columns and scandal sheets. Another historically accurate tidbit. Queen Charlotte, as portrayed by Bridgerton, does not actually appear in Quinn's series. Here's everything you need to know about George III's charming real-life wife.

Many historians believe that the queen, born Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1744, actually had African blood. The claim that Queen Charlotte was of mixed race was initially made by historian Joel Augustus Rogers in his 1940 book Sex and Race, Volume 1 (opens in new tab), who wrote that Charlotte's portrait and contemporary descriptions "clearly . clearly indicate [a] Negro lineage."

More recently, a Frontline study by historian Mario de Valdes y Cocom (opens in new tab) has divided Charlotte's ancestry into six lines, tracing it back to Margarita de Castro e Sousa, a 15th-century noblewoman.

Incidentally, after the "Frontline" series was published in 1999, a spokesperson for the royal family, namely Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Charlotte's great-great-granddaughter, told the Boston Globe (opens in new tab) about the possibility of Queen Charlotte being of mixed blood, "This has been a rumor for many This has been rumored for years and years. This is a matter of history, and frankly, we have more important things to talk about."

"Bridgeman" showrunner Chris Van Dusen said he was heavily influenced by this historical version of Queen Charlotte while looking for actors to bring the lords and ladies of the series to life.

"It really resonated with me. And what would have happened? Could the queen have elevated other people of color socially and given them titles, lands, and dukes?" Van Dusen told (open in new tab) Collider. 'That's really how our Simon Bassett, Duke of Hastings came about. We get to explore that in a really interesting way. We combine history and fantasy in a really exciting and fascinating way.

George and Charlotte were married within six hours of their first meeting in 1761, and while that might seem to indicate that they were united more for international strategy than love, their marriage is considered to have been the most successful and loving of all previous royal marriages. As Charlotte's letter to her husband (opens in new tab), signed "very affectionate wife and friend," indicates, they had 15 children and doted on each other for decades after their marriage. The two also reportedly shared a love of music (open in new tab), often joining the royal band to play harpsichord and flute.

They remained married for nearly 60 years. As described in Bridgerton, Charlotte was deeply affected by King George's mental and physical illness. Although they lived separately during this time, Charlotte remained devoted to her husband, writing in one of her letters Charlotte died in 1818, a year before her husband.

Queen Charlotte was deeply involved in the social life of the ton; in 1780, King George held an annual "Queen Charlotte's Ball" in honor of his wife's birthday.

Van Dusen also noted how important the queen was to London society. Adding Queen Charlotte gives us an idea of the true excesses and decadence of the time." From Buckingham Home to St. Regis Palace, you could be in wonderful spaces with the queen and she brought real importance to the world," he told ET Online (opens in new tab). 'Needless to say, she was a very important part of the social scene during the Regency era.'

In "Bridgerton," Charlotte, played by Golda Rochevell, frequently demands snuff from her servants. Snuff is dried ground tobacco, and yes, Queen Charlotte is believed to have been a snuff addict. Charlotte is said to have filled an entire room at Windsor Castle with snuff alone, and her addiction earned her the nickname "Snuffy Charlotte."