What colour was Queen Charlotte’s skin really and why do we care? Britain’s first black royal?

Comments · 1.6K

• HI

  @HistoryCalling · 8 months ago · pinned

  What do you make of the evidence regarding Queen Charlotte’s skin colour? Let me know below (and keep your comments polite and respectful please) and for more from me, check out my other online platforms at: <br> <br>BUY MY BOOK (Find Your Irish Ancestors Online): <a href="https://amzn.to/3Z2ChnG">https://amzn.to/3Z2ChnG</a> <br>Website (with 2 FREE DOWNLOADS): <a href="https://www.historycallingofficial.com/">https://www.historycallingofficial.com/</a> <br>Patreon: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/historycalling">https://www.patreon.com/historycalling</a> <br>Amazon storefront: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/shop/historycalling">https://www.amazon.com/shop/historycalling</a> <br>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/historycalling/">https://www.instagram.com/historycalling/</a>

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• CA

  @canoeman621 · 8 months ago

  As a portrait artist, I can say that this entire conversation based upon a painted portrait is utterly absurd.

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• AE

  @aetheldarren · 8 months ago

  I&apos;m positive Queen Charlotte was a human being.

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• HI

  @historylover9999 · 8 months ago (edited)

  As a black woman this conversation always annoys me lol.<br><br>Portraits aren’t proof of ancestry. Facial features vary naturally within every population there are fully African people with thin noses and lips, just as there are Europeans with broader features. Statistical anomalies exist. Appearance alone doesn’t override documented genealogy and contemporary records.<br><br>A biracial woman becoming Queen of England in the 18th century without a single contemporary rival, newspaper, diplomat, or relative ever mentioning it would be historically unprecedented. Like yeah freaking right LMAO <br><br>In an 18th‑century society that racialized everything, silence on that scale is not plausible. In her portraits she does look biracial lol I&apos;ve heard stranger things but I doubt this one is true.

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• BO

  @BohemianDruid · 8 months ago

  Given the time frame in which Queen Charlotte lived, it would be difficult to believe that if she did in fact look biracial that it was not mentioned by contemporaries at the time. England&apos;s citizenry, nobles, royals, and the king himself would have been very vocal about a biracial woman becoming Queen. As an American, I can say, without a doubt, given that we were in rebellion against King George III at the time, colonists would have definitely said something offensive.

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• CH

  @cherylmiller1753 · 8 months ago

  I LOVE when she gets so cross with “historians” who don’t do their research. 😂

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• LO

  @lovmi2byz91 · 8 months ago

  As a black woman this conversation bugs me.<br><br>A portrait doesnt i dicat ancestry. She had maybe ONE Moorish ancestor 500 years before she was born. She wasnt black.<br><br>Its like how black centrists try saying Cleoptra VII was black which...no....she was Macedonian Greek NOT black.

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• TH

  @thechampagnestitcher · 8 months ago

  what removed any suspicion of Charlotte being (visibly) multiracial for my part is the fact that the caricatures did not hint at it - unfortunately, if you can count on anything, it would be that the negative prejudices against other races would shape the way she was portrayed

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• MR

  @mrjones2721 · 8 months ago

  The English aristocracy was so pale that the complexion of Charles II was described as “black” because he was slightly olive-skinned. It’s impossible for Queen Charlotte to have been even the lightest shade of brown without every single description of her making a stink about it.

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• 7A

  @7arboreal · 8 months ago

  I just can&apos;t believe it wouldn&apos;t have been recorded formally, multiple times, at the time.

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• CU

  @curlyfryzzz1 · 8 months ago (edited)

  People seriously underestimate how racist folks were back then. If Charlotte was visibly black or mixed, she wouldn&apos;t have been allowed to marry into the monarchy, no matter how desperate they were for literally anyone to marry George. If the Black ancestry is true, at most, she probably had fuller lips or a wider nose than your standard European, but still visibly white. (which her portraiture seems to indicate). I love Bridgerton, Charlotte is actually one of my favorite characters in that, but it&apos;s not real history

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• KA

  @katwitanruna · 8 months ago

  I think the darker shades of some of her portraits is due to varnish or the discoloration of the paint used.

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