By publishing three gossip sheets a week throughout the social season, the face behind Lady Whistledown made a pretty penny.

She might have been identified as Lady Whistledown in the third season of Bridgerton, but one thing that the Netflix series never quite delves into is just how much money Penelope Featherington, played by Nicola Coughlan, made as the ton’s resident gossip.

Given that Lady Whistledown was publishing around three gossip sheets a week, it’s needless to say that Penelope was making a pretty penny from being the brains behind the brand, but in order to find out how much money Penelope actually made we harked back to Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton books.

In Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, which is the fourth novel in Quinn’s Bridgerton series, Penelope mentions that she has exactly £8,426 in her bank account, as Cressida Cowper is trying to blackmail her and threatens to expose her identity unless Penelope pays to keep her quiet. At this point though, Penelope had been posing as Lady Whistledown for over a decade, which fans on Reddit have surmised would’ve netted her £325 per year, plus interest.

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So in the novels she has made at least £8426 over a decade of Lady Whistledown-ing, while in the series we know Penelope makes £10 per issue but she only publishes during the social season, which lasts for three months overall. All things considered, over the several seasons and two years that the show has been following her so far she could have made a few thousand pounds.

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While that may not sound like an awful lot in today’s currency, one Reddit thread is dedicated to converting Bridgerton money into today’s money, with one user declaring that the amount Penelope would have today taking inflation into consideration would be roughly £750,000.