Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Bridgerton Season 3.
Dearest gentle reader, the third season ofBridgertonhas given audiences quite a stir as the hitNetflixseries spotlights the love story between Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton). Although the two friends turned lovers gettheir happily ever after together, their future is initially threatened by Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) in her pursuit of Lady Whistledown, voiced byJulie Andrews. As we wait forSeason 4andthe future of Lady Whistledown’s role in the ton, now is a good time to look at the financial stakes that were at play in the third season and break downwhat Queen Charlotte’s £5,000 reward is really worthin today’s economy. As it turns out, Penelope’s writing enterprise has been making her a lot more money than we all initially thought.
Bridgerton
Set in the glamorous world of Regency London, the Bridgerton family maneuvers through the opulent and treacherous landscape of high society. Daphne Bridgerton, the family’s eldest daughter, enters the marriage market, sparking a whirlwind romance with the enigmatic Duke of Hastings.
Queen Charlotte’s Reward Is Worth Over Half a Million Pounds in Today’s Economy
Penelope does not initially step into the light and reveal herself to the ton willingly, as Queen Charlotte forces her hand by offering a £5,000 reward to whoever will reveal information regarding Lady Whistledown’s identity. Queen Charlotte has been obsessed with discovering Lady Whistledown’s identity since Season 1, and finally, in the third season, she begins to use royal funds to speed up the process. By today’s standards, £5,000 (or roughly $6,340) is a low, and frankly insulting, amount to pay for the identity of London’s premier gossip queen. Well, it turns out that £5,000 during this time period is nothing to scoff at. Adjusting for inflation, £5,000 in 1815,the year Season 3 took place, isworth about £558,000 today; in U.S. dollars, that’s almost $708,000, well more than half a million dollars.
This kind of sum could change a person’s life, which is why Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen) jumped at the chance to declare herself as Lady Whistledown and claim the reward for herself. When Penelope comes out of hiding to publish another Lady Whistledown pamphlet, it proves Cressida is a liar. However, once she discovers Lady Whistledown’s true identity, Cressida blackmails Penelope for double the queen’s reward in order to start her new life away from Mayfair. With today’s economy in mind, that meansCressida attempted to extort over £1.1 million, which is about $1.4 million. With that type of money, Cressida could leave the continent and still live a comfortable lifestyle. With today’s economy in mind, £5,000 and £10,000 is nothing to turn your nose at.
Lady Whistledown Made Penelope a Regency Mogul in ‘Bridgerton’
Adjusting Queen Charlotte’s reward for its worth today not only changes the audience’s perception of the stir it causes in theton but also the audience’s perception of Penelope herself. Once you put these numbers into perspective, the figures reveal thatPenelope has turned her gossip column into a gold mine.
After Penelope tells both her husband, Colin, and her best friend, Eloise (Claudia Jessie), about Cressida’s threat, they begin to fret about how they’ll go about paying her off. The Bridgerton family is wealthy and could have paid Cressida, but not without permission from Benedict (Luke Thompson), who has been looking over the books while Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) has been away. However, Penelope surprises them, as well as her mother, Portia Featherington (Polly Walker), that she can pay Cressida’s demand with no problem. That’s right — with a little over three years in business,Lady Whistledown made Penelope a millionaire. When compared to Queen Charlotte’s £5,000 reward, the Lady Whistledown enterprise completely dwarfs the queen’s financial incentives.
Despite the ransom for its riches, Lady Whistledown’s financial portfolio couldn’t be brought down by blackmail, nor could its influence. Even though Penelope diffuses Cressida’s threats by revealing Lady Whistledown on her own terms, Penelope still uses her Lady Whistledown fortune as an alibi for Portia’s financial discrepancies with the royal solicitor. Penelope gets to keep her well-earned money and ensure that her family will always be supported financially for the rest of their days. The Lady Whistledown business has beena source of influence and powerin Queen Charlotte’s dominion. The net profit of Lady Whistledown is a testament to Penelope’s achievements as her own mogul, able to succeed in a society that teaches women that they can have husbands, not dreams.
