Adjoa Andoh, the British actor who plays Lady Danbury in Netflix's Bridgerton, has sparked controversy after commenting on the lack of diversity at King Charles's coronation. Invited by ITV to provide commentary, Andoh described the royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony as 'terribly white', a remark that drew the highest number of complaints to Ofcom this year.
The incident has reignited debate over race in historical dramas, particularly those like Bridgerton that reimagine the past with diverse casting. The show's latest spin-off, Queen Charlotte, centres on the theory that the 18th-century queen had African ancestry, a claim based on historical speculation. Creator Shonda Rhimes has said the idea of a Black royal was 'very interesting' to her, but the series opens with a disclaimer that it is 'fiction inspired by fact'.
Critics argue that such portrayals risk distorting history. Egypt's former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass condemned Netflix's Queen Cleopatra, which cast a mixed-race actor as the Egyptian ruler, calling it 'completely fake' and insisting Cleopatra was Greek and light-skinned. The show's director, Tina Gharavi, defended the casting, questioning why some people need Cleopatra to be white.
In Queen Charlotte, the 'great experiment' sees racial unity achieved overnight through a royal decree, a stark contrast to 18th-century Britain, where Black people numbered between 10,000 and 20,000 but were mostly poor. The show's fantasy of instant integration has been criticised as unrealistic and potentially misleading.
