Edwina Week

For @edwinaweek I thought I'd share my headcanon for Edwina and Matthew Bagwell's children as part of my Bridgerton: The Next Generation series.

Jeremy Bagwell is born the day before his cousin Edmund's first birthday, and throughout their childhood the Bridgerton and Bagwell families would celebrate the birthdays together at Aubrey Hall, which was always an anticipated highlight of Jeremy's year. He was a very easy baby and rather quiet much to his parents curious disbelief, especially in comparison to the energetic chaos his cousins wreaked on a daily basis. But as he grew, it became apparent that Jeremy was simply a boy of a quieter nature, who was more than content with his own company and much preferred the peace and tranquility of his parents' library than the rough and tumble of the great outdoors. His favourite pastime was being read to by his parents, an activity which he didn't want to limit to just bedtime alone and he would eagerly run up to either parent throughout the day with books in hand requesting to be read to. When he was old enough to read himself he permanently had his head buried in a book, and he could often be found alongside his father in the library as they separately studied their favoured texts. Much like is father, Jeremy would go on to be a scholar, but instead of philosophy, Jeremy opted to become a professor of his lifelong passion; history. So engrossed was he with his educational role, he never showed much interest in settling down or even courting any of the eligible young ladies of the Ton. He never much cared for balls and parties, with the only social events he ever made an effort to attend being those hosted by his Aunt Kate. While he tended to stick close to his relatives, at one particular ball he slipped away to the library of Bridgerton House in search of a textbook he hadn't reread in several years; only to find the season's diamond tucked away reading the exact book he was after. Miss Theodosia Barrington was a reluctant diamond and had been shocked to named as the season's incomparable, especially when she hadn't wanted to take her bow in society in the first place. Much to his surprise Jeremy felt an instant bond with her, and then to his even greater surprise by the end of the season he had married a diamond of the first water, just like his father had before him.

Three years after their first, Edwina and Matthew welcomed baby number two, Francis, into the world. From very early on Francis was an incredibly smiley baby who adored every show of affection he was spoiled with. While his brother was happy to be independent and do his own thing, Francis loved being surrounded by others and would trail after his Mama, Papa, his brother Jem, the household staff, and any guests that came to visit. Someone he adored in particular was his dear Grandmama Mary, who he always ecstatically greeted with a great big hug and whose lap was his most favourite seat. In turn (as much as she claimed not to have favourites among her grandchildren), Mary couldn't help but possess a special fondness for Francis, not just in the way he loved her abundantly, but how his smile and shining eyes were the most reminiscent of her late husband out of her four grandsons. Francis thoroughly enjoyed his stays at Aubrey Hall throughout the years and loved running after his older cousins Edmund and Miles, as well as his cousins' cousins too, happily integrating himself among them as they played games together and hurtled around from one end of the estate to the other. His outgoing and personable nature carried on into adulthood, making plenty of friends along the way during his years abroad, as well as befriending perfect strangers in any ballroom and assembly room he stepped foot into. As delightfully affable and pleasing as Francis was, there were two weaknesses he possessed; pretty girls and suggestibility. With the former he often tended to fall hard and fast for ladies with winsome smiles and sweet temperaments, and had ended up suffering from a string of heartbreaks as a result. The latter was arguably the bigger flaw for him because as confident a young man as he was, he still relied on the approval of those in his life who he looked up to the most and would end up swaying to agree with whatever his role models advised of him in spite of his own thoughts and feelings on the respective matter at hand.

Ooooh, let's see . . .

She's a very tactile person, very free with her affections when she feels close to someone and needing physical reassurance when she's upset.

She inherited her love of reading from her father - when she was small she would curl up in his lap while he was reading and he would read out loud to her, often weighty histories and philosophy that she was young too to understand at the time but loved because he loved them.

When she got older she reread them herself and loved them for their own sake.

She often hums to herself as she's going about her day.

She's very good at embroidery and sewing, and often remade her own gowns growing up to be economical.

Much as she loves Newton, she's more of a cat person herself and gets a beautiful calico kitten that she calls Lalla, after Lalleshwari

She's an excellent chess player, and takes advantage of the fact that her opponents always underestimate her.

She's very good with babies and small children, and can entertain them for hours with retellings of the fairytales and folk stories her father used to tell her.

So much of her identity was based on pleasing other people and not being A Problem (it was the only thing she could really do help her mother and Kate after her father died, being good and making sure they didn't need to worry about her) that after the disaster of 1814 she has to put the pieces of herself back together and rediscover who she is and what she actually likes and wants and a lot of it surprises her.

Like that although she wears a lot of pink, it's not actually her favourite colour - she likes it, but she wears it so much because she was told she looked pretty and like a proper English lady in it. Her actual favourite colours are greens, blues and yellows.

Or that she doesn't mind opera, but she prefers plays and the drama of the theatre, particularly Shakespeare but she's also partial to Aphra Behn.

She loves lemon flavoured things.

She learned to sing and play the piano because it would be expected of an accomplished lady, but prefers not to perform.

(When she meets him, Friedrich will occasionally persuade her to give him a private performance, which is usually paid for in kisses.)

Diwali is her favourite holiday, and she and Kate always make sure they celebrate together.

When she finally agrees to marry Friedrich and they have to start planning the wedding, she starts getting panic attacks at the thoughts of another hugely public ceremony and everyone watching to see what will go wrong this time.

They can't elope because of Friedrich's status, but a few nights before he takes her to a small chapel where he's arranged for them to have a private ceremony - so she can relax knowing the the big wedding is just for appearances' sake and they're already married.

She has a ring that belonged to her father's mother that she wears as a good luck charm.

She makes Anthony call her 'Your Highness' for the longest time just because she can.

She tried writing her own poetry once but it was not good.

Of her sister's many Bridgerton in-laws, she likes Benedict and Francesca the best.

Friedrich tells her he loves her before he returns to the continent to fight Napoleon, and it's almost an apology because he knows she isn't ready to say it back.

(She feels it, but she's still afraid, still can't quite trust herself.)

But one day a few months later, when he's in Paris negotiating the post-war treaty, he gets a letter that says only, "I love you, too".

And what you hear is not silence It's just the trees waiting to hear what next you'll hum And what you see is not the dark It's just the gods upturning ink pots 'cause they know what you'll become 'inkpot gods' by the amazing devil

I like to think pink is one of her favourite colours but I wouldn't be surprised if it was something like yellow or pale blue. The pinks and colours she wears are bolder than the other debutantes because she is from a different country and so doesn't believe in boring pastels lol.

I think, more than all her grace and skills and intellect, that scene with the King right after she has just had her world in shambles truly showed the diamond that is her heart. That made her Incomparable for me.

That's what makes her Incomparable! Her kindness even when she is having the worst day!

Our last day😭

Free choice

share with us:

what kind of projects would you like to see Charithra next?

whatever you want to share about Edwina

some suggestions:

crackships

weirdly specific headcanons (canon)

Alternative universes

If I was Charithra Chandran's agent:

Honestly, I'm still bitter about Artemis Fowl, so I would redo that and have Chandran cast as Holly Short.

(Honestly, she won't have to do an Irish accent, but the rest of the cast should be because it's set in Ireland.)

Day One: The Diamond

Day Two: Didi & Bon

Day Three: Appa & Amma

Day Four: Friendships

Day Five: Love

Day Six: Choices

Day Seven: Free

Day 6! Choices🤔

Life is full of choices so

share with us:

favorite Edwina's choice (book or series)

favorite Charithra project outside Bridgerton

stories, fics, headcanons about Edwina being 'the master' of her destiny

Charithra Chandran has been in two podcast productions, unfortunately only one is available.

The other, Camille is no longer available for some reason:

Still, I'm here to promote podcasts. Whatever this actress works on in the future, I hope it's all for the best.

Day Five - word prompt 'notebook'

Edwina and Friedrich being adorable and reflect on childhood.