Was Queen Charlotte Black? The claim that Queen Charlotte may have had African ancestry did not begin with Bridgerton. It dates back to early 20th-century writers and was later expanded in the 1990s by genealogist Mario de Valdes y Cocom. The theory traces her lineage through Portuguese nobility to a medieval woman sometimes described as a “Moor.” Supporters argue this could suggest distant North African ancestry many generations back. Critics respond that: • The lineage is extremely remote (ove