Basset or Bridgerton? Clip Reveals a New Baby for the Family

In a recent clip released by Bridgerton for the upcoming Queen Charlotte show, Violet Bridgerton is shown with two babies. One, on the left, is clearly Augie, the son of the Duke and Duchess of Hastings. The baby she holds, however, is still a bit of a mystery, and begs quite a few questions about when the Regency Era scenes of Queen Charlotte will be taking place.

There really are only two people the baby could be, reasonably. They’re either baby No. 2 for the Bassets, or baby No. 1 for the Viscount and Viscountess. So, what do we think?

Visually, I think just guessing at which parent the kid looks most like is out. There’s just no way to tell with any kind of certainty, and I’ve seen people who think they see a stronger resemblance to both sides. For what it’s worth, there was a casting call a while back from the company that works with Bridgerton for a South Asian baby, but we aren’t even sure if that’s for the Bridgerverse. That’s tenuous at the absolute best.

Further, I don’t think we can tell the sex of the baby either. The Regency didn’t have the same genderization of clothing for babies as we do, and we see Augie in similar gown-like attire early on in Season 2. Even if we could tell the gender, it probably wouldn’t give us any more to go on. We know that in the books, Simon and Daphne’s second child is a girl while Kate and Anthony’s first is a boy. That very well could not hold, however, as in the books, the first Hastings child was a girl, and a son didn’t come until much later. So that’s all up in the air.

Another clue some have pointed to is the letter “E” block out in front of them in this clip. At first blush, I thought that was a really good clue that this was likely Edmund, Kate and Anthony’s first child. However, as I dug more in and discussed further, several other theories cropped up. It could just as easily signal that Edmund, Violet’s deceased husband, is there with them in spirit. That seems like it would be particularly relevant in the show Queen Charlotte, from which this clip comes, because it’s more focused on Violet and her experiences. It could also be a hint that Kate is pregnant with little baby “E.”

One of the biggest things that makes me assume it’s Simon and Daphne’s second child is that I doubt they would introduce a character the fans care about so much and will be so emotionally resonant for Anthony in Queen Charlotte. It seems wrong not to introduce him in his parents’ arms, especially since they will be back this upcoming season. So if they are going to have a baby, it would be odd to put him in almost in the background of the spinoff.

Still, I think identity is hard to come up with a definitive answer on. What’s even more perplexing and possibly even harder to figure, is what year the Queen Charlotte’s “modern” scenes will be taking place in. Many have speculated it will be in the honeymoon time Kate and Anthony spent away, but generally the consensus is that it will take place before Season 3’s timeline picks up in the 1815 season. If that’s the case, then Kate and Anthony wouldn’t have time to have another baby, but then again, neither would the Duke and Duchess as we don’t see Daphne pregnant or with a new baby anywhere in Season 2.

Bridgerton is notorious for fiddling with timelines to make their stories work, however, so really anything is possible. It might even be the case that the Queen Charlotte Regency scenes take place post-season 3 in the timeline. However, from the way it’s been described by people like older Brimsley’s actor, that seems less likely. In any case, it will be fascinating to see how this second baby plays into the story and what their identity is.

UPDATE: We know from an ET article I literally just read that the timeline for QC’s Regency scenes is right after S2, so that clears that up, but not how we end up with a baby? But I think that almost guarantees it has to be Daphne as in the epilogue, she could theoretically have just had a baby we didn’t see. It all stretched credulity a bit, but that one a bit less than any other explanation as far as I can see.