Bridgerton: 52 seconds into the first episode, Lady Whistledown already reveals her true identity!

In 2020, Netflix subscribers met the Bridgerton family and watched their evolution in English society. If we’re most drawn to the romantic stories in this series, there’s one character who stirs the conversation more than any other: Lady Whistledown, who shakes up royalty with her sometimes murderous antics.

Viewers didn’t have to wait long for her true identity: in the last episode, we learned that she was actually Penelope Fetherington, Heloise Bridgerton’s best friend. If this revelation came as a shock to some, her interpreter Nicola Coughlan made sure to get clear about her paper alter ego from the very first scene.

To do this, you need to stop in about 52 seconds. As her sister tightens her corset before entering the public, we see Penelope in the background. The latter holds a huge feather in his hand. Actor on Twitter revealed :

“I chose a very specific accessory when we first see Penelope. A giant animal feather that looks… like a writing pad.”

A nod to the fact that Lady Whistledown writes her chronicles in ink before they are printed in bulk. However, according to his interpreter, there are other hints hidden in the first season…

Lady Whistledown, Woman of Mystery

Obviously, the character’s name could also be a clue: “pen” for a pen and “feather” for a feather, but that’s more likely than not. Indeed, Julia Quinn, author of the Bridgerton Chronicles novels, explained that she did not know who Lady Whistledown really was at least at first.

While fans of the Netflix series only had to wait until the end of Season 1 for this big reveal, readers had to wait until Volume 4. And there is a reason for this: in books, the reviewer is not the narrator and has only a secondary role…

Bridgerton’s writers gave her a much bigger role, and they did well: they made her a decidedly modernized and feminist character, especially in Season 3 when she refuses to stop her chronicles, much to the chagrin of her future husband.

The first three seasons of The Bridgertons are available on Netflix.