When The Gilded Age first appeared on HBO, it promised more than pretty gowns and grand parties, conjuring a world of ambition, exclusion, and spectacle: a New York where fortunes rose and social standing meant everything.
Under creator Julian Fellowes’s direction, viewers are treated to sweeping mansions, tense encounters between old aristocracy and new wealth, and the rituals that defined belonging.
But how much of what we see on screen is rooted in truth? With careful comparison to historical records, the series shines both for its fidelity and for its dramatic licence.
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