5 Bridgerton Romances That Definitely Wouldn't Last In Real Life

Benedict (Luke Thompson) may be a fan-favorite male lead, but long before he found true love and settled down in Bridgerton season 4, the second son was struggling to simply find his place in the world. Consequently, throughout the drama’s first season, Benedict often ended up mingling with the demimonde on the fringes of society, constantly surrounding himself with free spirits, libertines, and artists with decidedly non-monogamous marriages.

Chief among the sundry crew was Sir Henry Granville (Julian Ovenden), a talented painter who introduces Benedict to his outrageous “parties”— and, in turn, to his wife, Lucy (Sandra Teles). Yet, Benedict doesn’t realize Lucy and Henry are married until the pair show up arm-in-arm at a high society function. When Benedict asks about his dalliance with Lucy— and Henry’s blatant affair with another man— the artist explains that their relationship is “happier” than most, offering them the protection of marriage but the freedom to freely explore their love (and lust) with other members of the Ton.

If the Granvilles were merely polyamorous, it wouldn’t immediately be a death sentence to their relationship. Sadly, it’s clear that their match is nothing more than a Lavender marriage, since Henry wouldn’t be able to maintain his prestigious art career if he lived out and proud as a gay man in Regency Era London. Thankfully, in the modern world, the two could be friends rather than legal spouses and enjoy hosting wild parties without fear of social retribution.

Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen) is far from the most beloved character in Bridgerton’s ensemble cast. In season 1, she’s the protagonist’s direct competitor; in season 2, she’s vicious but largely unremarkable; and in season 3, she’s a full-blown villain who almost ruins the Bridgerton family by exposing Penelope’s (Nicola Coughlan) secret life as Lady Whistledown. Regardless, she maintains a modicum of sympathy because of her father’s callousness and her mother’s complicity.

As such, when she was shipped off to Wales at the end of season 3, many fans thought it was the last we’d see of the antagonist. Of course, a character as pivotal as Cressida couldn’t disappear overnight. She returned in season 4 as Cressida Gun, revealing she married the Earl of Penwood and secured a way back into society. She was still, for all intents and purposes, a pariah, but she was back in all her ostentatious glory.

Within the show’s canon, Cressida’s marriage already seems fairly loveless, but in the real world— whether 2026 or the actual Regency Era— it’s unlikely the former debutante would find such a pleasant, albeit absent, husband. Being shunned by the Queen would make her prospects dismal in the 19th century, while she would never have needed to marry at all in the modern age to gain her independence. Further, a titled man with such a prominent estate wouldn’t realistically marry London’s biggest outcast.

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