Let’s be honest, part of the reason why we watch Bridgerton is for the spicy sex scenes but how realistic actually are they? Well, if you’ve wondered whether couples would actually have sneaky romps in a carriage before getting married or if condoms even existed then wonder no more. Historian Lesley A Hall has revealed how accurate the sex scenes in Bridgerton are compared to what intimacy would have actually been like during that time period.

Lesley explained that whilst there were certainly love marriages during the 1800s Bridgerton definitely took a more romanticised approach to relationships but that there were increasing ideas in historical times that women were actually more lustful than men, despite appearing “purer.”

Lesley explained to The Independent: “There are all sorts of compromises going on within elite aristocratic circles, where people recognize that you’ve got to marry for financial reasons and not necessarily for love or for a certain kind of affection.” Eligible young women such as Penelope and Francesca would be expected to ” be virginal and pure.”

She continued: “They’ve got to be because producing an heir to the right husband, they are not meant to be knocked up before marriage by somebody else. There was also a whole lot of superstition about if they’ve even had another man, that might convey some kind of effect on them. There was a shift going on from the idea that both men and women have equal lust, and even that women are possibly more lustful than men.

“There was an increasing idea that women are more pure, but they actually have to contain the dangerous powers of sexuality; that women need to have orgasms to conceive; that sexual pleasure for both sexes is necessary for reproduction. Whether, of course, it was being discussed in these elite circles, as opposed to a more radical, lower middle class is a whole different thing. There were all sorts of communities within elite circles who were mingling with intellectuals and radicals, so you can’t say these ideas aren’t percolating.”

In Bridgerton a lot of the sex scenes feature brothels, with all three of the older brothers participating in slightly salacious activities, it was exactly the same in the Regency era. Lesley reveals: “Men were very free to have mistresses, go to brothels, seduce other men’s wives.” And the all-important question we’ve all been wondering is whether Regency couples were having to faff about with contraception, and whilst they did have condoms they were rather grossly made out of sheep guts.

The historian adds: “Sheep-gut condoms from about the early 19th century would have probably been used as a protective against venereal disease at that period. We could hope that the young men were practising safe sex, but they were probably rather more reckless.” I’ll stick with Durex thanks.