Is ‘Bridgerton’ Based on a True Story, and Are the Bridgertons a Real-Life Family?

Netflix has done its best to keep people entertained throughout 2020 and beyond. From the surprise hit Tiger King to the new season of The Crown, it’s safe to say that Netflix will likely continue into 2021 and viewers will be satisfied with the current content. But first, another must-watch period piece called Bridgerton debuted on December 25. It’s already become a must-watch, well worth watching multiple times.

What makes Bridgerton so compelling? It delves into Regency London society with dramatic dialogue written by Shonda Rhimes, grand balls for escapist fantasies, and characters with genuinely interesting personalities and over-the-top ensembles to match.

There’s a lot to love, but you might be wondering whether Bridgerton is based on a true story and a real-life Bridgerton family, or is it just a fantastical fictional adventure.

So, is Bridgerton based on a true story?

It’s not a true story. It’s based on the Bridgerton Series written by Julia Quinn. Unsurprisingly, these historical romance novels are incredibly popular, and the on-screen adaptation has done it all. The Bridgerton Series features a novel about each of the eight children of the late Viscount Bridgerton (Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory, and Hyacinth).

The story is set in London between 1813 and 1827, with plenty of period details to set the scene. “I didn’t originally set out to write an eight-book series,” Quinn recalls. “It started out as a trilogy! But readers really liked the Bridgertons (and the mysterious Lady Whistledown, who narrated the first four books in her gossip column), and I found myself quite enamored with the family.” It has sold more than 10 million copies in the US alone.

Are the Bridgertons real?
Again, no. The characters are fictional. The Bridgertons are named alphabetically, and Lady Whistledown and all the dukes and lords were invented by Quinn. The author has explained how some of their names came about. “So instead of someone saying, ‘Mary danced with two other men,’ they might say, ‘Mary danced with the Earl of Whatnot and the Duke of Whosis.’ This meant I often had to come up with names.”
“Actually, when I started The Duke and I, I thought it was going to be the first book in a trilogy,” Quinn shared in an interview on Goodreads.com. “I was going to write about Daphne, Anthony, and Colin. I can’t remember why I gave Daphne seven siblings.”

However, characters are important to her. “I think if you want to take a romance from good to great, it all comes down to the characters,” Quinn shared in an interview on Shondaland.com. “There’s a time and a place for the Great American Novel, and there’s a time and a place for smart, well-written entertainment. I love writing the latter, and I love reading it.”

Quinn has found a solid formula for creating her leading men. “A guy can’t be sexy if he doesn’t respect women,” she said in the interview. “If you want to be a hero in one of my books, you have to believe in the heroine and respect and appreciate her strength and her abilities. That doesn’t mean he can’t be protective and manly from time to time—I mean, who doesn’t love that? But in the end, he has to think she’s the best, and not just because he likes the way she looks on his arm. And of course, there’s nothing wrong with him getting down on one knee and declaring that she’s the missing piece of his soul.”

How historically accurate is Bridgerton?
Quinn sets the series in Regency-era London, and many of the traditions and styles you see on screen match that time period. The marriage market with young women, like the Featheringtons and Bridgertons, entering society to find husbands is very much a thing, and so are all those stifling corsets. And, the showrunners relied on historian and etiquette consultant Hannah Greig to make Ton and the rest of the Bridgerton fictional universe as accurate to the period as possible. FYI: Greig also worked on The Favourite and The Duchess. “Bridgerton is a mother’s world, and that fits in with the historical world that I perceive,” Greig explained on the HistoryExtra podcast. “There are some very powerful hostesses, as we call them in history, who run the balls and the social seasons, who manage the marriage market, who introduce eligible young people to other eligible young people, and who manage the courtship.”