I managed to get through 10 minutes or so of it until an African-American Queen Charlotte was introduced. Then the ton ball with a black duke and dowager duchess. It was ridiculous! The only blacks in regency England were scullion maids and stable hands. 😆
Sounds like you and I reached about the same point. I watched it on the basis that comparisons were drawn to Downton Abbey. Obviously, the same points you mentioned just floored me. I finally turned it off when I was saying to myself “Why is everyone acting like this is normal?”. Even if I offered the benefit of the doubt and recognized that there possibly could have been a few black people that rose to the level of the gentry in regency England, it would HAVE to be considered intolerable for the possibility of the mixing of races (at that time). But there was NO comment or insinuation to that effect. Finally, turned it off.
“an African-American Queen Charlotte was introduced”
Okay, we’re all used to having to engage in some suspension of disbelief when reading a romance novel, but that is absurd.
Were I a black woman, I would be insulted.
What’s wrong with a real romance that could have happened, say a master and his maid/slave falling in love and escaping to someplace where they wouldn’t have as hard a time. Canada, for example. And there are true examples of that happening, once the slaves were freed. And maybe before, who knows?
The heart wants what it wants.
I watched a few episodes this weekend. Queen Charlotte shows up at some soriee with an afro three feet in diameter. Frankly, I can’t believe I made it that far - bored to tears I guess.