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Bridgerton’s Black Aristocracy Isn’t Entirely Fiction
Black aristocrats did exist… they’re just not in your history books.
When it comes to historical dramas, most period films lack diversity but Bridgerton is one of those rare gems that has over-stepped the boundaries of filming historical cinema by including a large Black presence in the cast. The series is primarily fictitious and largely ignores historical accuracy, race snobbery and the backdrop of slavery.
Instead, the series emphasizes the gossip, class constraints, gender issues, and the incessant rumor-mongering of the era in the upper-crust of society.
Generally-speaking, Black nobility in Britain as a whole never existed but that doesn’t mean there weren’t individual members.
Let’s take a dive into the aristocratic circles — beginning with Dido Elizabeth Belle…
Dido Elizabeth Belle is the first to spring to my mind when thinking of Black aristocrats. The movie Belle first captured my imagination due to her enigmatic character in a world that frowned at her exotic appearance and yet, held her in high-regard due to her aristocratic lineage.
Dido Elizabeth Belle was a girl born into slavery of mixed race, whose mother was a black African woman, Maria Belle and whose father was Rear Admiral Sir John Lindsay, nephew of the 1st Earl of Mansfield.
When she was orphaned at six-years-old, her father claimed her as his own and beseeched his uncle, the Earl of Mansfield, to take the child into his care. She was raised alongside her cousin and enjoyed a luxurious aristocratic lifestyle of that area.
She was educated and was praised for her keen intelligence while doing secretarial work for her uncle, the Earl. It’s suggested that Dido helped influence the Earl in his abolitionist sympathies. In his will, her uncle made her an heiress.
