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What Bridgerton gets wrong about love, marriage and having kids

What Bridgerton gets wrong about love, marriage and having kids

Bridgerton is pure romantic escapism – but from love and weddings to childbirth and parenting, it sometimes plays fast and loose with reality. Here’s what it embellishes (and why we adore it anyway).

Hollie Bond

Published: January 28, 2026 at 1:47 PM

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With Netflix's much-anticipated Bridgerton series four (part one) finally hitting our screens on 29 January, it’s safe to say we’re all more than ready to disappear back into the glossy world of stunning silk gowns, smouldering glances and orchestral Taylor Swift.

Shondaland’s glossy take on the Regency era has never pretended to be a history lesson – and that's a huge part of the charm, because the past doesn't always make for the most enjoyable viewing. This is escapism at its finest: lavish, romantic and joyfully indulgent.

That said, once you scratch beneath the corsets and candlelight, Bridgerton does take some generous liberties with the realities of love, marriage and family life in the early 1800s.

From whirlwind courtships and super short engagements to picture-perfect white weddings and childbirth that’s far more chaotic and public than it should be – not to mention parenting that seems to happen mostly off-screen – the show often opts for fantasy over fact.

“It draws on what we know to be historical reality, but also asks the audience to think more carefully about their expectations of what a period drama should look like, and also what it might be like if history was slightly different,” Hannah Greig, historical advisor to the show told HistoryExtra in 2023.

So as we settle in for another season, we’re taking a closer look at what Bridgerton gets "wrong" about romance, weddings, childbirth and raising children in the Regency period – while happily admitting that it never meant to get them right.

After all, half the joy of Bridgerton is the way it blends the best bits of the past with modern attitudes and fashions, big emotions and stories that still feel deliciously relatable today.

Love, romance and courting etiquette inaccuracies in Bridgerton

The frequency of love match marriages – Violet Bridgerton is obsessed with love matches and it's no secret that she wants all 8 of her children to marry for love like she did. It is true that the idea of romanticism and love matches were increasingly popular in the early 1800s, however this was more usual amongst the middle or lower classes who had a bit more freedom to choose partners. In the upper classes financial stability was still key and marrying well a priority.

As Jane Austen specialist and author Hazel Jones writes in Jane Austen & Marriage, "Money, character and connections were crucial concerns for both parties, as Jane Austen and other writers stressed in novels, letter ad the conduct literature of the day. Popular sentimental fiction may have glamorised love matches, with or without parental sanction, but not many men or women could afford to ignore the absolute necessity of an adequate income."1

Quickly forgotten scandals – Thanks to Lady Whistledown, the families in Bridgerton have had more than their fair share of reputational scandals revealed to the ton. While scandals like these did happen, and were revealed to society via the press and gossip sheets, it's unrealistic how quickly characters in Bridgerton recover from them and are accepted back into society.

“It’s not always quite as thrilling as Bridgerton sometimes is, but there was certainly the opportunity for scandal to break a family,” Hannah Greig, historical advisor to the show told HistoryExtra. “If [a scandal] hit the press, then quite often it would lead to a woman having to remove herself from society to take a period in exile. The press had significant power in terms of people's reputation management in Regency society.”

The ton was unforgiving in its strict enforcement of hierarchy, and its members came from royalty, aristocracy and the gentry.

Historian Catherine Curzon

Part of our obsession with the Regency period, which was extremely short, but so often immortalised in books and on TV, is that the rules were so strict, but a few people were starting to flout them. However, even so, if a woman had been caught sleeping with a man before her marriage (think Miss Sharma in season 2) or kissing a duke in a garden (like Daphne in season 1) they would have faced social censure and a lot more reputation loss than Bridgerton sometimes portrays.

"The ton was unforgiving in its strict enforcement of hierarchy, and its members came from royalty, aristocracy and the gentry," writes historian Catherine Curzon in Inside the World of Bridgerton: True Stories of Regency High Society. "Money, ancestry, and even manners played their part, and to break the established, unspoken rules of the ton could spell social death."

Dancing for more than two sets – In Bridgerton once a couple are infatuated with each other they are often shown only dancing with each other throughout the course of a ball. However, this would have been very unusual as it was considered improper for a couple to dance more than two sets (or two pairs of dances) with the same person in one evening.

Of course, Bridgerton only shows snapshots of balls so we could presume that in-between the dances shown our favourite characters are indeed dancing with other suitors!

Unmarried women alone with unmarried men – One rule that Bridgerton gets less and less preoccupied with as the seasons progress is that unmarried women would always be chaperoned if they were in the company of a man who wasn't a member of their close family. In season 1 the show makes a big deal of Daphne's unchaperoned meeting with Simon in the garden, but by season 3 Colin and Penelope are getting very intimate together inside her carriage, without any concern from servants who are driving her home!

"Young women would be chaperoned in public at all times in order to preserve their reputation. A family’s fortunes relied on women making ‘good’ (lucrative) matches, and their virtue had to be protected," says Professor Sarah Richardson, research historian at the University of Warwick

Not knowing about sex at all – While there was no formal "sex education" or discussion of sex amongst Regency women, the idea that Daphne and the Featherington sisters would not have known how to make a baby once married is a little extreme. Before marriage, an upper class woman needed to be as innocent as possible, so not knowing about sex was indeed possible, however once married, an affectionate mother like Violet or Portia (Lady Featherington) may have offered some counsel and advice.

The romantic notion of a rake – Bridgerton often refers to very handsome, desirable and promiscuous men in the series as "rakes" and make light of the term, almost giving it an affectionate, modern take. However, in reality, rake was a derogatory term in Regency England and a rake was held in low regard by society.

"In the era, a rake was an unmarried gentleman over 30 who had been blackballed by society for not settling down, as well as anyone below 30 who behaved admonishingly or immorally," says historical author Paulette Golden. "Once blackballed, the man would never be allowed to attend social events, much less have access to young ladies for seduction or love, hence the end of his life as a marriageable bachelor and gentleman."

The show definitely does portray that there were double standards for men versus women when it comes to sex though, with upper class women expected to be pure and untouched while men could go to brothels! However, Bridgerton shows these lower class women in a much nicer light than they would be for example there aren't any portrayals of illegitimate children or the sexual diseases that would have been rife at the time.

Women going out without a bonnet – The Bridgerton costume department have a lot of fun with their designs and often stray outside the era for inspiration. This is definitely the case when it comes to headwear and hairstyles. Penelope's gorgeous tumbling curls are pure 1940s Hollywood glamour and Daphne's half up half down styles would not have been seen on women in the ton. Instead, their hair would have been covered by a bonnet when out and about to protect their modesty.

The Queen didn't pick a diamond – This is simply a lovely narrative device used in Bridgerton to pick out the main character for the season and didn't actually happen at Queen Charlotte's balls. "While the phrase ‘diamond of the first water’ was never used to single out any one young woman who would top the season, historian Hannah Greig told HistoryExtra, "it is true that certain women were marked by the press of the day as great beauties."

Marriage inaccuracies in Bridgerton

The speed of the weddings – While finding a match was often quite a fairly speedy affair due to the nature of the "season", the time from engagement to the wedding itself often took a bit longer than Bridgerton shows. While this is often explained away with a request for a "special licence" to avoid a scandal, in reality most engagements were more than the few days or weeks the show sometimes portrays, often lasting a month or longer.

Most marriages of this time required banns to be read on three consecutive Sundays before the wedding, with seven days notice to be given to the minster beforehand – making the shortest realistic engagement length at least four weeks.2

Wedding dress customs – White wedding dresses only really became a trend for brides in 1840 after Queen Victoria popularised the look, although some London modistes were making white wedding dresses as early as 1820, with the "inventor" of the white wedding dresses often being credited as modiste Mrs Gill in 1816. As Bridgerton Season 1 is set in 1813 however and season 2 in 1814, Daphne's and Edwina's gorgeous white dresses aren't what you'd expect to see.

Marriage pairings – There's no doubt Daphne did well to bag herself a Duke, considering his title is several rungs up the British peerage hierarchy. However, the plot line when the Queen attempts to set her up with her nephew, a European Prince, is quite unrealistic. Royals almost always married other royals in this period.

And with the trailer for season 4 hinting at the fact that Benedict may end up with a servant – the Bridgerton pairings may get even more outrageous yet!

Childbirth and parenting inaccuracies in Bridgerton

Confinement after having a baby – You've got to laugh at how babies just pop up like magic in Bridgerton, especially at the end of season 3 with the Featherington sisters all happily cuddling newborns. The show doesn't dwell on the dangerous or boring side of birth or make any mention of the fact that women observed a "lying-in" period after the birth of their child, which was usually 3 or 4 weeks of rest and recovery.

What the birthing room looked like – The flashback to Violet's final birth shows a busy chaotic room with many people milling around, but in reality upper class births were much more private affairs, following a period of confinement. It's also unrealistic that Anthony would have been consulted on whether to save his mother or new sibling.

The lack of governesses and schools – Ever wondered how Francesca became so proficient on the piano or how Colin is such an eloquent writer? In a real aristocratic Regency household there would have been governesses and tutors for a range of subjects and the boys would probably have attended a prestigious boarding school like Eton. Instead the Bridgertons and Featheringtons seem to spend a lot of time socialising and sitting around with mothers who are much more involved than was often the case.

So while some things might be exaggerated or a little creative with the facts, but that's the beauty of Bridgerton. Roll on season 4, we say!

References:

1. Jones, Hazel. Jane Austen and marriage. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009

2. Control over Marriage in England and Wales, 1753–1823: The Clandestine Marriages Act of 1753 in Context, R Probert, 2010

Authors

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Hollie BondSenior Digital Journalist

Hollie is Senior Digital Journalist at MadeForMums. She writes articles about pregnancy, parenting, child health and getting pregnant. She has written for a number of national lifestyle magazines and websites over the past 12 years including Family History Monthly, You and Your Wedding and Muddy Stilettos. She has two children aged 5 and 8 and hasn't slept since 2017!