As the wealthiest character in "Bridgerton," Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) can easily buy anything she wants — and she does. In season two of "Bridgerton," the monarch shows off her jewel collection and sits with her Pomeranians.
Queen Charlotte also comes up with ways to entertain herself, beyond tracking down Lady Whistledown and searching for gossip. In multiple scenes, Queen Charlotte leans over and snorts a crushed substance up her nose.
All of that powder led some viewers to assume that Charlotte is using cocaine — but that is not the substance Charlotte is imbibing.
In an interview with Decider, Rosheuvel assured her fans that her character is simply a big fan of tobacco. Yes, you read that right: tobacco.
Rosheuvel explained that the Queen is using snuff, an early form of tobacco ingested through the nose. The real Queen Charlotte's snuff habit earned her the nickname "Snuffy Charlotte."
According to historian Dr. Will Tullett, snuff was a popular way to use tobacco in Regency England, because it was considered improper to smoke pipes or cigars in public. In fact, pipe-smokers were relegated to "the status of persona non grata," Tullet wrote in “Smell in Eighteenth-Century England: A Social Sense."
For being relatively clean and scentless, snuff became a fashionable alternative to pipes.
“Shoving tobacco up your nose presented its own problems: it led to sneezing, grunting, and spitting. But, unlike smoking, it did not invade the personal space of others,” Dr. Tullet wrote.
But there was no snuff to be found on the set of “Bridgerton,” which was filmed at a number of historic homes in England. While acting as Queen Charlotte in the midst of her favorite habit, Rosheuvel inhaled a kind of sugar which looked like snuff.
“I think it’s like glucose stuff,” she said. “At the end of the day, I’m like, yeah, wild sugar rush. It’s harmless, it’s fine. Absolutely harmless.”