Golda Rosheuvel’s family history helped her portray Bridgerton’s Queen Charlotte

Actress Golda Rosheuvel has revealed how her family’s royal connections helped her successfully take on the role of the Queen in Bridgerton.

Rosheuvel, 52, plays Queen Charlotte in Netflix hit Bridgerton and is also known for her roles in Luther, Lady Macbeth and Silent Witness.

Speaking to Tatler magazine for their special Bridgerton issue, the Guyanese-British actress explained that her mother’s high society life inspired her when she was preparing for the role of Queen Charlotte.

“I didn’t need to do much research because I knew the world this character came from already – it was my mother’s world and that makes her very easy to play,” she said.

She added: “Every time I dress up as Queen Charlotte, I pay homage to my mother. (She came from an) upper middle class London family. Before the war they had butlers, their world was very public school.

“My grandfather was the headmaster of Colet Court (St Paul’s prep school), my great-uncle was Bishop of Barbados, later Archbishop of Jamaica, and when my mother visited him there, she had dinner with Princess Margaret.”

Bridgerton is returning for its second series at the end of March.

The Netflix show, based on a series of books of the same name by Julia Quinn, follows the eight siblings of the Bridgerton family as they attempt to find love in Regency-era England.

Rosheuvel also revealed she has been waiting to play a Queen for a long time, knowing she would eventually be offered the role.

She told Tatler: “I’m a great believer in waiting, in biding my time, being confident enough in my craft and who I am as a person to know that it will happen, that one day someone would see me and go, ‘Right, you are perfect for playing the Queen of England’.”

Bridgerton became the most watched show on Netflix when it was released on Christmas Day 2020, thanks to its risque scenes and opulent costumes and sets.

Rosheuvel explained the cast have become very close after filming two series of the show.

“(For season two) it was like family getting back together. Our favourite scenes are the ball scenes because it’s the only time we’re all together and you get to catch up on people’s children, their husbands, their dogs.

“The directors find it quite difficult with everybody chat, chat, chatting away. They’re like, ‘Come on!'”

Bridgerton series two launches on Netflix on March 25.

The April issue of Tatler is available on newsstands and via digital download on March 3.