The Second Wind of Widowhood

Black silk and second chances…

I STILL have Bridgerton on my mind, so I’m marking the occasion with Regency-inspired content across all our platforms. This week, we’re tackling the careful balancing act of widowhood.

When Lady Bridgerton, dutiful mother, widow of 15 years, and matriarch of the eponymous Bridgerton family, develops a tender relationship with a gentleman, she finds herself flustered and uncertain as she endearingly asks her trusted housekeeper the proper way for one to invite a man to stay for ‘tea’. The implication is clear, the tone is sweet, and the vulnerability of a woman looking to get back on the horse (sorry!) after so many years alone is deeply relatable.

While Bridgerton is set in the Regency era, widowhood in the Gilded Age carried similar emotional, social, and practical complexities. A widow was no longer a wife, but she was no longer a maiden either. Instead, she occupied a liminal space that could be heavy with grief yet unexpectedly rich with possibility. A second act, if you will.

So what was it really like to be a Gilded Age widow in Britain and the United States?