At the recent London Fashion Week catwalk shows, British actor Golda Rosheuvel struck as regal a presence off screen as her Bridgerton character Queen Charlotte exudes on it.
At SS Daley, she simmered in a feathery sleeved black crepe Huishan Zhang gown (aptly named Reign), sat in the front row alongside Harry Styles, her fringe styled into a Forties quiff.
And belted in a champagne satin trench at Patrick McDowell, with Princess Leia-style plaited bunches, Rosheuvel was every bit as bewitching as the pursed-lipped, steely-stared, bewigged and bejewelled celluloid Queen.
“I wouldn’t say that I wake up every day thinking I’m going to be a fashion icon today, that’s what I’m going to do,” she laughs when asked about becoming the thinking 50-something woman’s inspirational, glamorous pinup girl.
And yet, there she is, gracing the pages of fashion magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Tatler, Vingt Sept and Rose & Ivy, dressed head to toe in avant-garde labels (Roskanda, Molly Goddard, R.L.E., Jacqueline Loekito, Harris Reed) and high fashion (Valentino, Emilio Pucci, Dior and Prada).
“It’s a wonderful day for me when I can get everybody enthused and excited,” she says of opportunities to get dressed up, whether it’s walking the red carpet at the BAFTAs or appearing on Hollywood star Jennifer Hudson’s talk show. “That’s the buzz I love – when everyone turns up, everybody’s chatting, there’s music on and there is a sense of community where everybody is focused on a particular look for a specific project or event.”
This sense of collaboration – and community – resonates throughout Rosheuvel’s life and work. On a recent production in Scotland, filming Sky Original’s family comedy Grow, the actor made the most of playing the lead by setting the bar for how she wanted the cast and crew to work together. “I was like, we have 10 weeks to shoot this movie, let’s make every day great, let’s celebrate each other, each other’s creativity. But when the work has to happen, let’s get down and do it.”
Rosheuvel deployed the same enthusiasm two and a half years ago when she and her cousin and chef Tonatiuh (Tona) Erreguin, opened Imma’s (Hebrew for mother), an award-winning artisan bakery in Oxfordshire.
The idea came to them, “as most ideas do, around the dinner table,” says the actor. Rosheuvel was bowled over by Erreguin’s drive to “give an experience to people through something they have every day – the simple act of breaking and sharing bread – so I knew I wanted to get on board this with her.”
