I saw someone doing this for bridgerton and wanted to do it also! I hope you like it :)
I cannot wait to FINALLY have a pictures of Philoise together to add them to that I think by S8 all couples will look so lovely 😍
As much as I loved the scene in which Francesca mourns John's passing. Hannah did an amazing job in the scene. I always cry when her mother comforts her. I can't help but wish they had killed off John in S5. At least let Victor be in the season that was supposed to be 1/2 of their romance. I would keep the same scene of Fran breaking down over John's death ... but have John die at the end of the first episode of S5, then pick up his loss in episode 2. That way, episodes 2-8 shift to focus on Michaela.
Does anyone else want Daphne in Season 5? I loveddd season 4 but the only miss for me was that Daphne wasn’t there, and I feel like she’s a lot more needed next season given that she was the last Bridgerton lady to to marry before Francesca and Francesca could do with a sister like Daphne right? they’re both clueless in terms of sex. We haven’t seen them interact and it would be interesting to see the similarities/differences between them. I also would’ve preferred her to be back instead of the little side plots, like the Mondriches etc I felt like it was so unnecessary.
Is there any way we can get them to bring back Phoebe Dynevor for it because she was just amazing lmao
Introduction
Pointing out that Bridgerton is not always historically accurate (nor does it aspire to be) is easy. What I find far more intriguing is examining how and why certain historical inaccuracies arise. If you share that curiosity, consider this post an invitation to a small historical detective story. By the end, you’ll understand why Sophie’s journey in a Royal Mail Coach seems to defy both time and space. You’ll also leave with more knowledge about Royal Mail Coaches and how they are dated than you ever expected to find on a Bridgerton subreddit – all, of course, with plenty of affection for the production design team. Are you ready to begin our little trip through time and space?
1. Travelling across England
Travel in Regency England was, for the most part, undertaken by carriage. Without a private vehicle, one had the choice of travelling by Stage Coach or Mail Coach.
Stage Coaches primarily transported passengers. They halted frequently at numerous places and – like private carriages – paused often to pass tollgates, rest or change tired horses, and allow travellers meals and overnight stays.
Royal Mail Coaches, by contrast, were run with speed as the overriding priority. Passenger comfort was of little concern, as the chief purpose was the punctual delivery of the postal items. Mail Coaches were exempt from tolls and travelled continuously, day and night. Horses were changed roughly every fifteen miles, and the coachmen were granted only a few minutes for ‘a brief call of nature’. Passengers were permitted to board and alight, but pauses for comfort or human needs were denied to them.
2. Routes and route guides
To determine which coach would take you to your desired destination, travellers consulted route guides such as ‘Cary’s New Itinerary’ (Image 03). This work mapped the entire road network of England and Wales. Royal Mail Coaches used the same roads as Stage Coaches. The Royal Mail’s stages (cities and market towns) were printed in capital letters in ‘Cary’s New Itinerary’. Stages with a post station (post towns) were additionally marked with ‘P. O.’ for ‘Post Office’.
In smaller places, the Mail Coach often did not stop at all. Instead, the Mail Coach guard would fling the mailbag to the local postmaster as the coach sped past, catching the new bag the postmaster hurled back at him in return.
3. Sophie’s Mail Coach journey
In Episode 4x02, Sophie travels to the countryside, where she eventually finds employment with the Cavenders. The following section examines the Royal Mail Coach in which Sophie undertakes this journey (Image 01).
3.1. Sophie’s potential destination: Wiltshire in 1817
According to Julia Quinn’s novel ‘An Offer From a Gentleman’, Sophie’s journey takes her to Wiltshire (Image 02a).
A look at ‘Cary’s New Itinerary’ (Image 03) shows that the central Royal Mail stage in Wiltshire at the time was the New Council House in Salisbury (Image 02b).
The postal route from London to Salisbury was the one leading to Exeter and Falmouth (Image 04). After Plymouth Dock was renamed Devonport in 1824, the route itself was renamed London to Devonport, though its course remained unchanged.
A postal route was served by several Royal Mail Coaches with different numbers. One of the Mail Coaches travelling from London to Exeter and Falmouth in 1816/17 – precisely the period in which Season 4 is set – was Coach No. 94 (Image 05). It gained unfortunate fame when, on the night of 20 October 1816, it was attacked by an escaped lioness.
Royal Mail Coaches can be dated by various features. For models running until the mid-1820s – such as No. 94 – several characteristic details are known, which you can see in Image 05.
3.2. Sophie’s potential destinations: Wiltshire and Manchester in 1828
After the London–Exeter–Falmouth route became the London–Devonport route in the mid-1820s, the Royal Mail introduced an additional express service along this route in the late 1820s, thanks to improved roads and a new coach model (the Quicksilver): the Quicksilver Mail. The most famous of these Quicksilver coaches was Coach No. 209 (Image 06). Built in 1828, it displays several features that clearly identify it as a Royal Mail Coach of the late 1820s. These can be seen in Image 06.
The Royal Mail Coach in which Sophie travels in Episode 4x02 shows features that are neither chronologically nor geographically accurate (Image 07). Sophie’s journey in the TV series takes place in 1817, yet the style of the Mail Coach unmistakably matches a model from the second half of the 1820s.
Moreover, the implied route is contradictory: coach number 209 refers to the Quicksilver on the London–Devonport route, which – if not chronologically, then at least geographically – would suit Wiltshire. However, the door displays Manchester as the Mail Coach’s destination, a route on which No. 209 did not run.
The reason for these inconsistencies is purely practical: Bridgerton rents its carriages from Steve Dent Stunts (SDS) – by their own account ‘the UK’s leading supplier of horses and carriages for film & TV’. The Royal Mail Coach used for Sophie’s journey is a typical replica. Because Coach No. 209 was famed in its day for its extraordinary speed, its coach number was often applied to restored or reconstructed Mail Coaches long after the Royal Mail era, irrespective of historical accuracy. As SDS owns only one Royal Mail Coach, the production simply had to work with the model available.
Bridgerton’s Mail Coach is therefore a vehicle of the late 1820s that, in 1817, appears to be travelling simultaneously to Wiltshire and Manchester (for Manchester’s location, see Image 08).
3.3. Sophie’s potential destination: Buckinghamshire
The geographical confusion deepens when considering the film location for the Cavender property (Image 09).
It is Denham Place, a manor house in Buckinghamshire, which lies neither near Wiltshire nor near Manchester (Image 10).
Conclusion
Due to logistical constraints such as available equipment and suitable film locations, Sophie travels not only across England but also roughly ten years into the future. A charming example of how production realities ultimately triumph over historical logic – turning a simple carriage ride into a small journey through time and space for the attentive viewer.
Image references
01, 09 Screenshots: Bridgerton 4x02 [cropped and annotated]. Copyright: Netflix / Shondaland. Included as image quotations for reference purposes only; must not be (re)used outside this specific context.
02a Julia Quinn, An Offer From a Gentleman (HarperCollins e-books), chap. 6. Included as image quotation for reference purposes only; must not be (re)used outside this specific context.
02b Salisbury, New Council House [cropped and annotated], by Francis Jukes, 1798. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1977.14.11415. Public Domain. https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:30980
03 Great and direct roads measured from Hyde Park Corner to the Land’s End, Cornwall [annotated]. John Cary, Cary’s new itinerary (6th ed., 1815), p. 55. Public Domain. https://archive.org/details/carysnewitinerar00cary/page/n227/mode/2up
04, 08, 10 Map of England and Wales [cropped and annotated]. John Walker, The Universal Gazetteer (enl. and improved by B. P. Capper, 6th ed., 1815), p. 226. Public Domain. https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/11003191256/
05 Lioness attacking the Exeter Mail Coach [cropped and annotated], by James Pollard, 1816/1817. Physical object: Private collection. Public Domain. Digital image: Meisterdrucke, Image ID 839742. Copyright: Christie’s. Included as image quotation for reference purposes only. Must not be (re)used outside this specific context. https://www.meisterdrucke.uk/fine-art-prints/James-Pollard/839742/Unknown-Image.html
06 Photograph: Royal Mail Coach No. 209 ‘Quicksilver’ [cropped and annotated], coachwork by John Vidler, ca. 1828. Copyright: Bonhams Cars, LOT 153, 2015-12-10. Included as image quotation for reference purposes only. Must not be (re)used outside this specific context. https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/22705/lot/153/royal-mail-coach-quicksilver/
07 Photograph: Carriage #46 [cropped and annotated]. Copyright: SDS – Steve Dent Stunts, ‘UK’s leading supplier of horses and carriages for film & TV’. Included as image quotation for reference purposes only. Must not be (re)used outside this specific context. https://www.stevedentstunts.uk/carriages
The season 1 ended on a family moment them saying goodbye to Colin I think?
Season 2 ended on a pall mall game with the family and Kanthony kissing
Season 3 ended with a family scene between Polin and their families with 3 new babies
Season 4 ended with Benophie's wedding and the portrait finished of Sophie.
So how do you think S5 will end? I think they might keep the focus on the couple more like they did in S4, I do not think it will end on their wedding- it would be too repetitive i think, their wedding will happen somewhere at the end of episode 8 but not at the very end I think.
I think I would love just a domestic scene of Franchaela. Like them waking up in bed after their wedding and just smiling and kissing happy to finally be each other spouse.
But really I would love any romantic scene between them. Even just a family gathering where they are all cuddly and touchy with each other.
What do you think? What would you want?
Bringing it way back, and I’m newer to this sub, so sorry if this has been discussed. But I’m rewatching S1 and this scene has always bugged me: Marina calls Madame Delacroix out for her ruse in French. We obviously know that MD’s not French, and yet, she can understand Marina, just not respond. This has always puzzled me.
If we assume that Madame Delacroix learned French to work with her fabric vendors, then she could’ve just as easily spoken back to French in Marina and feigned ignorance. What is Marina going to do, dox her? Just because Marina’s mother is French doesn’t mean she would know everyone in France, so Madame Delacroix could’ve just easily grown up there. Also, Marina wouldn’t know every French accent, it’s not like she’s been out in the world at all, let alone to every region of France. On top of that, the writing is odd because they make it out that Genevieve can understand her, but can’t respond. She would either have studied up on French and been conversational enough to respond, or else not know what Marina is even saying and thus not be swayed by her threats. Is MD just giving in because she doesn’t understand what Marina is saying at all? Seems a risky game to pretend to be French and not taken any time whatsoever to learn even a remedial level of the language in case a designer/French person walked into your shop.
And why doesn’t Portia understand either? Surely being in society, Portia would’ve learned French at some point, no? Even if she didn’t learn it growing up, she would’ve picked some up from her own daughter’s lessons or being around high society, she would’ve taken it upon herself to learn.
Idk, it’s bizarre to me that the ruse isn’t really a ruse if Madame Delacroix speaks French anyways, and it’s her word/reputation against an insignificant younger woman from out of town.
Hi everyone!, we wanted to invite you to the new Philoise sub that we, Philoises, have created three months ago.
If you're a fan of Eloise Bridgerton and Sir Phillip Crane and their love story, come join us in r/PhiloiseHQ.
A dedicated space for all things Philoise: actors, memes, theories, edits, fanfiction, music, book and show discussions.
We have a lot of things going around:
- a "Choose your own adventure" fanfic already in chapter 3 ...
- a detail analysis of Philoise in season 1 and season 2 is coming soon.
- a Timeline of speculations and crumbs for season 6.
- What has been said so far for season 5 and 6, regarding Philoise.
The latest update from production and leaks.
And a lot of games, debates, fanfics rec and art from the fandom.
We also have a new Autum theme, so come have a look !
We would love to see you there and hang out!
With Love, the Mod team!🌻.
