Warning: Spoilers ahead for Bridgerton season 2.

Bridgerton season 2 brings Eloise into the world of Theo Sharpe and “political radicals” of the Regency era — here is the true story behind what was actually going on in 1814. For the most part, Bridgerton has stayed out of any major politics. After all, the Netflix series is set in an imaginary world that draws its influences from the Regency period, but exists solely to deliver a fantastical world filled with romance and drama without any external complications (outside of the ton, of course).

Bridgerton season 1 touched a bit on class differences, primarily as it came to Anthony Bridgerton and opera singer Siena Rosso, whose relationship was kept private because Anthony had a duty to his family and Siena would not be accepted in the ton’s social circles. While they both lived in London, there was a clear difference in hierarchy and status. This is further, and better, explored in Bridgerton season 2 with the introduction of Theo, a working class printer’s assistant who publishes pamphlets on feminism, encouraging Eloise to attend an underground meeting about women’s rights. There are a lot of like-minded people as Theo, though they all exist within the working class rather than the ton, whose members enjoy a lot more privilege.

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Because Bridgerton merely draws influence from the Regency era, it isn’t particularly faithful to certain elements of the time. However, the political radicals in the show seem to be based, loosely, on the Radical movement in England. Beginning in the late 18th century, the Radicals wanted political and democratic reform. Crucially, working and middle class citizens pushed for the general right to vote, lower taxes, and other things such as freedom of press. When Eloise goes to the underground meeting, there is a woman on stage who is discussing the rights of women, and is likely inspired by Mary Wollstonecraft, an 18th century feminist who wrote the book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. She died in 1797, though her work is considered to be one of the foundations for feminist text because she argued that women should receive an education and the same basic rights that men enjoyed.

bridgerton season 2 theo political radicals eloise

Again, Bridgerton is not a true reflection of the Regency era so much as it is inspired by it, and much of the major waves of change and radicalism didn Theo’s pamphlets and associations with political radicals in the Netflix series is certainly reminiscent of the increasing agitation from the working and middle classes of the era, who wanted more rights and freedoms for themselves than their society afforded at the time. Similarly, Eloise’s ideas about women’s rights in Bridgerton may seem frivolous to the ton, but there was a rising tension that was making its way through society, even though women’s suffrage, in particular, didn’t get a major push in England until the 1850s. The Radicals was a movement that pushed for more progressive ideas and reform within parliament.

To that end, at least, Bridgerton season 2 gets the spirit behind the movement even if it isn’t particularly accurate in its depiction (and that’s fine, it’s not that kind of show anyway). Ultimately, Bridgerton’s aims aren’t to lift events directly from real life, but Theo and Eloise’s subplot in season shows there was a lot more going on in the country at the time. Theo’s willingness to embrace Eloise’s own thoughts about women’s rights and shaking up societal norms in that era speaks to the world outside London's gossiping ton, and it’s something that could continue being a focus in Bridgerton season 3.

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