Leeds actress Adjoa Andoh, who plays Bridgerton's straight-talking Lady Danbury, has told how she often felt singled out during her childhood after moving from the city.
The much-lauded actress says she now feels touched when she receives pictures from young black children dressed up in regency dresses inspired by the hit Netflix show. She is currently starring in spin-ff show Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story on the popular streaming platform.
Adjoa was raised in a farming community in Gloucestershire and was the only black girl for miles around, with a strong Yorkshire accent. The Mirror reports that often made her feel singled out.
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The 59-year-old is now proud to be part of Bridgerton's diverse family. She said: "I can’t tell you how touched I have been to see the little black girls posting photos of themselves in a Regency dress, dressed up like princesses."
Speaking before the second season of the hugely successful show launches on Friday, Adjoa said she is often sent pictures of girls and boys dressed as Lady Danbury.
"I think it is lovely," she said. "You kind of go, oh these children are going to grow up feeling like they have a place – not like they are being tolerated. It is very touching because I grew up in the 1960s in the English countryside in Gloucestershire."
The daughter of an English mother and Ghanian father, she moved to the farming community from Leeds as a child. "In a small West Country farming village, to be mixed race with a strong Leeds accent meant I was already a different order of gravy," she said.
Some of her family had Romany heritage and she says she often felt "as though I was not seen for myself, although that also meant I was more resilient."
"There were levels of familiarity, and people getting to know us. Having a strong Yorkshire accent was as much a part of that as my race," she said.
"Some people were like, ‘We can’t have that coloured girl in here – what would the neighbours think!’ But, similarly, there were other houses where I was enormously welcomed."
Adjoa, who has starred in Casualty, Silent Witness and the 2009 film Invictus, took the career path so nearly taken by her mother.
She won a place at drama school in the 60s but never took it up, becoming a choreographer and a history teacher instead. Adjoa sees similarities between Lady Danbury and her mum.
She says: "Lady Danbury is a lot of my mum. My mum has got a swagger to die for. She loves a good frock and she loves to wear a hat. "I get messages all the time from people saying, ‘You remind me of my mum, you remind me of my auntie or my big sister. I wish I had someone like you around to give me advice.’
"Others tell me, I wish I had Lady Danbury around to go party with – when you see her drinking and at gambling and having a fag."
Recently, Adjoa found herself in hot water for a comment she made during the King's Coronation earlier this month. During ITV's coverage, Adjoa made a comment about how the balcony appeared "terribly white" in reference to the royal family appearing to wave to the masses after King Charles' Coronation.
It attracted a record number of Ofcom complaints and forced Adjoa to explain her choice of wording. Speaking about her comments on Paddy O’Connell’s BBC Radio 4 programme, she explained: "I think I may have upset a few people yesterday. I was talking about the day and how marvellous it was and then looking at the balcony at the end and suddenly going, 'Oh it’s so white!' because the day had been so mixed and I didn’t mean to upset anybody."
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