How is Queen Elizabeth Related to Queen Charlotte, Explained

At the beginning of the new Bridgerton spin-off, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, we see the titular character bemoaning the fact that none of her offspring have any surviving children and that their father's royal line is at risk of coming to an end.

But she needn't have worried. That royal line did indeed go on. In fact, Queen Charlotte is actually related to the late Queen Elizabeth II – and newly crowned King Charles III.

Here's how.

It's worth noting at this point that Queen Charlotte and King George III's sons had children – but they were all illegitimate. Their only legitimate grandchild, Princess Charlotte of Wales, died in 1817 at the age of 21.

And it was two years later that their fourth son, Edward Duke of Kent and Strathearn fathered a legitimate heir by his wife Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After their marriage, the couple moved to Germany where the cost of living was lower, but they returned to England a month before the birth as they wanted their child to be born in England.

Their daughter, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent, was born on 24th May 1819 and would go on to become Queen Victoria (of 'We are not amused' fame) in 1837.

So, we're into the realms of modern history and people we know. But how is Queen Victoria related to King Charles III and his mother?

Well, Queen Victoria was famously married to Prince Albert, and they had 9 children. Upon Victoria's death in 1901, their oldest son (and second child), Albert Edward, became King Edward VII. His wife was Alexandra of Denmark. Their eldest child, Prince Albert Victor, was heir to the throne until he died of pneumonia aged 28 in 1892.

This made his younger brother George heir to the throne and, when King Edward VII died in 1910, he was crowned King George V.

King George V, was the grandfather to Queen Elizabeth II. But the Queen's father was not his eldest son. In fact, the then Princess Elizabeth was never really destined to become monarch. King George V's eldest brother Edward became king when his father died in 1936. But his reign would last less than a year, as he abdicated the throne in December 1936 in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

As Edward had no children, the crown was passed to his brother George, father of Princess Elizabeth. Following George VI's death in 1952, his daughter became Queen Elizabeth II and went on to have the longest reign of any monarch.

So, in a nutshell, Queen Elizabeth II was the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Queen Charlotte.