Behind the Scenes: Bridgerton in the West End

In anticipation of the premiere of the third season of Bridgerton in Leicester Square - London’s home of film and entertainment. It’s got us thinking about the West End connection to Bridgerton. Spoilers incoming!

We peek behind the scenes to explore locations across London’s West End featured in the Bridgerton series.

Lancaster House

Bridgerton’s Queen Charlotte supposedly splits her time between Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace. Buckingham Palace was at the time ‘Buckingham House’ and the the filming locations were in fact, a mere hop, skip and jump from the real St James’s Palace in Lancaster House.

A grand Mansion house situated on The Mall, Lancaster House in St James’s became the set for Queen Charlotte’s parlour, drawing room, and opulent afternoon teas.

Royal Academy of Arts

In Bridgerton the second eldest Bridgerton brother, Benedict, shows great artistic interest and promise and in Season Two of the show, is accepted into the RA Schools. The Royal Academy of Arts Librarian, Adam Waterton has fact-checked the mentions of the RA Summer Exhibition and the Royal Academy Schools in the show.

Season Two sees Benedict accepted into the RA Schools but mentions that women were allegedly ‘banned’ from entering the schools. According to Waterton, the ban was unofficial as nothing featured in any of the rules or regulations, but the first female student wasn’t accepted until 1860, even though two of the founding members were female - one of which was Angelica Kauffman.

A moment of betrayal between the brothers (spoiler incoming!) was Benedict’s shock and outrage that his elder brother Anthony bought his brother’s place into the RA School, but this theory has been debunked by the RA Librarian, who stated ‘This sounds extremely unlikely to me.’ and that ‘Students were and always have been accepted purely on artistic merit’.

The course at the RA Schools is exceptionally unique, comprising of three, ten-week terms and is completely free today, as it would have been when the school first opened in 1768.

St James’s Church, Piccadilly

Behind the iron-cast gates on London’s Piccadilly sits St James’s Church.

The tumultuous wedding scene between the Viscount, Anthony Bridgerton and Miss Sharmer… was filmed in St James’s Church.

During filming, the church had a few stipulations that needed to be factored into the filming schedule. One of the parameters was that the Monday night meals that the church provide for people experiencing homelessness had to continue to be possible.

Filming took place throughout Covid, so was subject to strict daily testing was required. But for a short period the church was transformed into ‘Buckingham Chapel’. One of the surprisingly close connections to the church was actor Adjoa Andoh, who plays Lady Danbury- is a lay preacher and has spend time volunteering at the Caravan counselling project in the church gardens!

For fans of series, the wedding scene was a pivotal and gasp-inducing moment in Season Two. The doors to St James’s Church are open daily, so feel free to pop in and bask in the beautiful setting of one of the most high-tension Bridgerton scenes.

Bridgerton through film

Bridgerton Season 3 part two premiered in London’s Leicester Square. Complete with the cast from The Bridgerton family - Claudia Jessie, Luke Thompson, Hannah Dodd, Ruth Gemmell, Florence Hunt, Will Tilston and the newest Bridgerton family addition, Simone Ashley. Accompanied by The Fetherington sisters, actors Harriet Cains and Bessie Carter, the regal Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) and Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) alongside the raft of new love interests for Season 3. Leicester Square was positively abuzz with anticipation as attendees and excited fans were keen to see all that comes next for Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Fetherington.

From Shondaland and new showrunner Jess Brownell, Bridgerton returns with Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) taking centre stage. After overhearing Colin Bridgerton, played by Luke Newton speak disparagingly about her last season, Penelope has given up on her long-held crush. She now seeks a husband who will allow her the independence she needs to continue her secret life as Lady Whistledown, away from her overbearing family.

Meanwhile, Colin returns from his summer travels with a newfound swagger, Colin offers to mentor Penelope in confidence to help her secure a husband. As Penelope's confidence grows, Colin must confront his true feelings for her. Penelope's strained friendship with Eloise (Claudia Jessie) persists, which makes Penelope's efforts to keep her Lady Whistledown identity a secret much more difficult.

Bridgerton Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix from 13 June.