We are still over a year away from our next look at a debutante ball when Bridgerton season 4 returns to Netflix in 2026, but that doesn’t mean we can’t binge the first three seasons and its prequel Queen Charlotte as we cosy up over the festive season.
Of course, one of the most exciting parts of sitting down with a new batch of episodes of the show is watching the debutant ball and finding out who will be the Diamond of the Season (unless you’re impatient and have read the books to get ahead of the programme).
And celebrity children are getting in on the action, too, as earlier this month Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s daughter Apple was presented at a debutante ball in Paris.
The 20-year-old was one of 20 young women who were presented at the prestigious Le Bal des Débutantes held at the Shangri-La.
Apple's 'consciously uncoupled' parents proudly watched from the sidelines as Apple dances with eligible bachelor Count Leo Henckel von Donnersmarck, the son of film director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
But Queen Charlotte can’t be at every debutant ball – so what actually are they and what really goes down at one?
Debutante balls date back to the 18th century and started as a way for fathers to present their daughters as prospective wives for high-society men.
The first debutante ball took place in the UK in 1780 by King George III, in honour of his wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
The debutantes would take part in their first season at the age of 17 or 18 and, much like in Bridgerton, would be introduced to the monarch and attend a ball filled with high-profile men looking to marry.
The late Queen Elizabeth II put an end to formal debutante balls at Buckingham Palace in 1958 – six years after she took the throne, with she and husband Prince Philip viewing the practice as ‘silly and archaic’.
The Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, famously said the balls needed to stop as ‘every tart in London was getting in’.
However, former debutante Jennie Hallam-Peel revived the format in 2009 through her high society company The London Season.
Held every year in honour of Queen Charlotte’s birthday, instead of a Diamond of the Season, the most eligible debutante is crowned Debutante of the Year and curtsies to a birthday cake before cutting it with a ceremonial sword.
The London Season’s website says of the balls, ‘The evening consists of a Formal Receiving Line, premier cru champagne and canapé reception, Formal Procession of the Debutantes presented by fathers to The Honourable Lady Roche MBE, one of the last aristocratic debutantes to be presented to Her Majesty The Queen in 1958 and a long term supporter of the London Season. The evening continues with a four-course dinner with accompanying fine wines and dancing and reeling to a live band.’
Debutantes aged 16 to 21 are selected by patrons of the London Season and then invited to pay the £500 fee to join, while ‘carefully chosen boys from appropriate backgrounds’ are invited to escort the debutantes on the evening of the ball. Only 150 guests are invited to attend the ball and tickets do not go on sale to the general public.
Debutants are typically given a full schedule for the pre-ball week, which includes attending The Berkely Dress Show at the House of Lords, a private dinner at Syon House, and a private cocktail party in the former Chairman’s suites at Harrods.
A spokesperson for the event previously said, ‘Seventy per cent of the girls who take part in the ball are bright Oxbridge students who have worked so incredibly hard for our charity The Smile Train.
'They are accepted into the London Season through application form, curriculum vitae and personal interview and we choose girls who are aspirational.’
The debutantes of this year’s ball, held at One Whitehall Place in London in September, were dressed by Josephine Scott – who has celebrity fans in Holly Willoughby and Christine Lampard – and wore diamond jewellery lent to them by Suzanne Kalan at Harrods.
Although you are not guaranteed a husband at today’s debutante balls, tens of thousands of pounds is raised for charity each year.
So, although Bridgerton is set in the Regency era of the 1800s, there is still hope for us all to find our own Lord straight out of a Netflix drama.
Samuel McManus is a senior content creator for Bauer Media, writing celebrity news and features across five of the company’s brands – heat, Closer, Grazia, Bella and Yours. Samuel has worked at Bauer Media since November 2024.