A London museum is facing backlash after it was revealed that a special ‘LGBTQ audio guide’ it is providing to visitors claims that the wife of King George III was mixed race.
The audio guide is being used in the Queen’s House in Greenwich, a publicly funded part of Royal Museums Greenwich.
A section of the guide references a large golden sculpture of Queen Charlotte, claiming: “Queen Charlotte, the nation’s first royal person of colour.”
The guide then states “Yep, you heard me. The insecure white boys writing history conveniently forget to mention that bit, because… well, structural racism.”
A London museum is facing backlash due to an ‘LGBTQ audio guide’ (AUDIO BELOW) it is providing to visitors claiming that the wife of King George III was "a person of colour" and that it was covered up by racist historians. Report: https://t.co/XeP2nmTi8h pic.twitter.com/2Pczdq1tBj
— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) April 20, 2024
There is no evidence at all that the queen, who was of German ancestry, was of any other heritage than white European.
Indeed, it appears that one basis for the claim may be that the Netflix series Bridgerton and its spin off show Queen Charlotte have a mixed-race actor playing the role of the queen.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is a 2023 🎥 Media Progress Moment 🎥 award winner!Created by @shondarhimes for @netflix, Queen Charlotte challenges conventional historical narratives with its portrayal of the first black British Queen.#EthnicityAwards pic.twitter.com/KLVM2FI1wx
— Ethnicity Awards / Investing in Ethnicity (@EthnicityInvest) November 2, 2023
New from Netflix: Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton StoryQueen Charlotte was born in a castle in the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (in present-day Germany) as the daughter of a Duke and a Princess, it's obvious that she was black. pic.twitter.com/D2ggulQTff
— Henrik Palmgren 🇸🇪 ᛟ (@Henrik_Palmgren) May 8, 2023
The guide was created as part of a ‘LGBTQ history trail’ by a drag performer called Christian Adore, self described as a “homosexual historian” dedicated to unveiling “deliciously gay stories” from history.
Clearly, there weren’t that many of those stories to relate on a tour of a royal residence dating back to the 1600s.
The guide also claims that King James I was bisexual and claims that Charles II had a “progressive, genuinely modern understanding of relationships in the 1660s” because he had a string of mistresses.
The report also notes that in one section of the audio guide, a “migrant goddess” lectures Lord Nelson about “moving over” and sharing his legacy of bravery with boat migrants, who are “unsung heroes of the sea.”
When asked for an explanation, the Museum stated that the guide was “delivered by a number of performance artists, during LGBTQ+ History Month,” and intended to be “light-hearted entertainment.”
It added that the guide was originally part of an event called ‘Fierce Queens’ in which “we had a black performer playing Queen Charlotte, which is why this segment was included.”
