Bridgerton’s Simone Ashley Would Return to Season 5

Produced by Shonda Rhimes, the multitalented mastermind behind shows like Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder, Bridgerton has been celebrated for its diverse casting. For instance, on the show, Guyanese-British actress Golda Rosheuvel plays Queen Charlotte of England, who was a real person. Some historians believe the wife of King George III was a descendant of a Portuguese royal family with African ancestry, according to PBS.

“When I researched Queen Charlotte and found out that she was of African descent, it gave me so much more scope to create her beautiful looks,” the show’s makeup and hair designer Marc Pilcher told Vogue. “I used the silhouettes of the period but in a celebration of her ethnicity, I used locks, braids and Afro-textured styles. Her giant Afro was in the shape of a Gainsborough wig, but influenced by Beyoncé as Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers in Goldmember.“

Pilcher echoed his comments to Essence, saying, “I saw Beyoncé Knowles in Austin Powers Goldmember and that’s when I thought, ‘That’s what I want.’ I wanted the biggest afro someone had ever seen. That wig in particular was actually four or five wigs all placed together. So we had the wigs for the ringlets and then the we bought afros and then straightened them out and reset them on curls sticks and brushed them through so that we would get the best volume of afro, then sewed them on top of each other just to get that beautiful shape.”