Matters of the heart and state collide in the first teaser for Netflix’s Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story

Whoever said all is fair in love and war likely never served as a queen, and certainly not one of the wide-eyed young eligibles so well-chronicled in the Bridgerton universe. In a world where courtship essentially serves as a pregnant pause before a wedding (and a wedding can define the ethos of an era), nothing is really fair.

Queen Charlotte, the regal and romance-happy monarch who has a hand in all of Bridgerton’s most pivotal pairings, knows this better than anyone—and in the first teaser for Netflix’s prequel to the series, Queen Charlotte, viewers get a glimpse at the world Charlotte grew up in, and her journey to matrimony with King George.

As the teaser clearly illustrates, there’s a lot on the line for a young Charlotte (India Amarteifio) when she arrives at the palace to begin an organized courtship with King George (Corey Mylchreest). Although an initial meeting indicates some early romantic tension, the pressure on Charlotte to get things right with George is more than a little intense.

“Your marriage is the business of this country,” Princess Augusta (Game Of Thrones’ Michelle Fairley), George’s highly involved and overprotective mother, tells Charlotte in one scene. “This cannot go wrong.”

Although the first teaser skimps on any outright plot details, all the standard Bridgerton trappings are here: lavish ball gowns and carefully choreographed waltzes; meetings in gardens characterized by subdued yet sensual physical contact; a stern matriarch with some overreaching opinions. As far as iconography goes, Shondaland still has the Regency period down pat.

In Queen Charlotte, Golda Rosheuvel returns as the eponymous ruler, with Arsema Thomas, Adjoa Andoh, and Ruth Gemmell rounding out the main cast as Young Lady Danbury, Lady Danbury, and Lady Violet Bridgerton. Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story premieres exclusively on Netflix on May 4, 2023.