Bridgerton is a period drama. Think 19th century London. It’s based on Julia Quinn’s bestsellers. The show follows rich Bridgerton family and their high-society pals. They deal with love, relationships and lots of scandal. Costumes? Check. Stunning sets? Double check. Diverse cast? You bet. Since 2020, it has taken over culture like a new dance craze. Who needs reality when you have this much drama?

Meet the ladies from Bridgerton

Daphne Bridgerton

Daphne is the picture-perfect heroine but also kind of secretly weird about household plants? She’s gracious, clever in a very polite way, and somehow manages to be charming without trying too hard (even when she absolutely is trying). Protective of her family, loves ballroom drama but hates the actual scandal — which is ironic because she causes a fair bit of it. She’s diplomatic and stubborn in equal measures, like a silk-gloved fist, and I swear she has a stash of emergency compliment phrases for any awkward dinner.

Lady Violet Bridgerton

Lady Violet is the quintessential head of the family — warm, smothering in the best possible way, and annoyingly right about everyone’s romantic disasters. She’s fiercely maternal but also eerily practical, like she could run a country and frost cakes at the same time; no one brings up finances around her unless they want a lecture. Obsessed with propriety but also sneaking gossip into morning tea (don’t tell), and she has that secret twinkle when she thinks she’s quietly manipulating events. She’s soft but strategic and loves arranging marriages the way some people collect recipes, which is adorable and slightly terrifying.

Hyacinth Bridgerton

Hyacinth is the adorable chaos child who will break your heart with one loud squeal and then steal your pocket watch (not really, but maybe). She’s precocious, sings at the oddest times, and has this ferocious loyalty to her siblings that makes her tiny fists legendary. Kind of a firecracker, but also the sort who hides in a potted fern when grown-ups argue — so brave and so dramatic, simultaneously. Honestly, she’s the family’s secret engine of mischief and cliff-jump energy, even if she looks like a porcelain doll most of the time.

Eloise Bridgerton

Eloise is my favorite chaotic brain; she’s snarky, book-obsessed, and allergic to tradition unless it comes with interesting snacks. She questions everything (and everyone), runs off to places she was never invited to, and writes letters that should be preserved in a museum of sass. A total tomboy-ish spirit who adores cleverness and hates corsets but then also inexplicably loves a good hat — contradictory, I know. She’s fiercely loyal under her grumpy exterior and would absolutely start a revolution if it meant better tea breaks.

Francesca Bridgerton

Francesca is like the soft spacer sibling who floats through scenes with a dreamy smile and possibly a new hobby every week (flower pressing today, obscure poetry tomorrow). She’s calm, kind, and occasionally disappears into the garden for a day and returns with a mysterious serene expression, like she’s been communing with actual birds. Not as loudly dramatic as some of the others but quietly steady, the kind who makes a terrible situation less awful by simply existing. Also — possibly the person you’d want on your picnic team; she remembers to bring napkins.

Penelope Featherington

Penelope is complicated and wonderful; painfully shy in public but dazzlingly sharp in secret (she collects secrets like some people collect jewelry). She’s painfully observant, which makes her both a brilliant friend and quietly dangerous if crossed — also she writes in secret, which is my favorite thing about her. She acts awkward, mostly on purpose, and then will drop a perfectly timed comment that leaves everyone stunned. There’s this sadness mixed with fierce hope in her that makes her feel real, messy, and utterly human (and she has a weird obsession with hats, I think).

Philipa Featherington

Philipa (yes that spelling, she’ll correct you politely then forget) is all the dramatics — a hopeless romantic in frilly sleeves who reads poetry out loud like a public service. She flounces through conversations with enthusiasm and a tendency to faint at mild inconveniences (or at least pretend), but she’s also oddly tenacious when it comes to social climbing. Endlessly hopeful and kind of scatterbrained, she’ll plan a whole ball-theme on a whim and somehow make it work — with sequins. Quirky detail: collects ribbons and possibly keeps them in her teacups, which sounds impractical but somehow charming.

Prudence Featherington

Prudence is the practical sister who tries very hard to be sensible and sometimes fails spectacularly — like, very loudly. She’s sharp, a little bossy in the best way, and convinced that organization can fix emotional problems (which is both comforting and wrong). She’s also unexpectedly romantic when she’s not pretending to be the sensible one, and has a soft spot for children’s riddles or tiny dogs, I can’t remember which. Sometimes she says blunt things that bruise, but honestly she means well and would pack your trunk for you without asking.

Portia Featherington

Portia is the quietly exhausted glue of the Featherington clan — forever trying to manage the chaos with a tired smile and a hidden stash of emergency biscuits. She’s practical, motherly, and has the kind of patience that should be illegal; also she’s a little resentful sometimes which makes her extremely relatable. Not flashy, but secretly clever in how she keeps the family afloat, balancing social ambitions and the occasional eye-roll. Also, she bakes a mean tart when the mood strikes her, which is both surprising and exactly what you’d want in a small-town crisis.

Marina Thompson

Marina is a classic social climber wrapped in a dainty dress and an unfortunate knack for bad decisions — bless her. She’s eager, bubbly, and desperately wants to belong so hard that she sometimes clings to the wrong people (and then wonders why everything goes sideways). She’s sweeter than she is cunning, with a naïveté that’s somehow both endearing and exasperating; also she likes horses maybe, or at least mentions them a lot. Honestly, she’s tragic and comic at once, the kind of character you want to scold and hug simultaneously.

Lady Danbury

Lady Danbury is the world’s sharpest elderly queen of sass — she hits you with one liner and your life is changed forever. She’s blunt, fiercely loyal to those she loves, and has a delightfully intimidating presence (also she smokes, which is iconic, and gives perfect advice at the worst possible moments). She’s both a mentor and an instigator, will drag you into a plan and make it look like you had the idea, and then judge your shoes mercilessly. Secret tender side? Yes, buried under layers of sarcasm and silk, and it makes her all the more dangerous and lovable.