Dearest gentle readers: This article contains spoilers for Bridgerton

Many fans of Bridgerton took absolutely no time at all to whizz through the second batch of episodes after they finally dropped last week (13 June).

Now, while many of us period drama lovers lapped up every single second of the Netflix programme – it’s clear some of the more eagle-eyed viewers spotted some major issues.

The latest has left Bridgerton fans totally baffled over the alleged ‘inconsistencies’ in characters’ pregnancies in the third season.

OK, as we all know by now, the latest season focusses namely on friends-to-lovers Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington, played by Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan respectively.

And it’s clear that viewers of the ‘ton are clearly very invested in Colin’s storyline – most specifically about when Penelope will reveal her pregnancy.

One fan of the TV show took to Reddit to seek some answers, titling the post: “When does Pen get pregnant?”

Continuing, the Reddit user wrote: “As per the epilogue her baby is not newborn, and not very younger than the babies of Featherington sisters.

“So if Featherington sisters were pregnant before the carriage scene, does this mean Colin got Pen pregnant in their very first try? Why does she not tell him then?

Bridgerton fans were baffled by the Featherington sisters’ pregnancy ‘inconsistencies’. (Netflix)

“There were 3 weeks from mirror to wedding and Colin discovers Whistledown before the wedding, so is it possible that she knew she was pregnant but didn’t tell him as she wanted him to have the option of annulment?”

They finished up: “If that’s the case then poor pregnant Pen, she must have had to go through a lot. I hope Colin makes it up for this in the rest of the pregnancies.

“I’m sure she will have 10 babies at least…”

Another Redditor pointed to an ‘inconsistency’ in the storyline given that the sisters seemed to be pregnant for yonks, then all of a sudden Penelope has this baby at the end that looks the same age as the sisters’ babies who seemed to be pregnant for a lot longer than nine months.

However, a third disagreed, writing: “The sisters’ babies look to be a few months older than pen’s. They can hold their heads up, but Penelope’s child cannot.

“Pen and Colin got married a few months after conception of the Featherington sisters (they weren’t showing at the final ball). So I don’t think there is an inconsistency.”

Well, to help put all the speculation to bed, Bridgerton’s showrunner, Jess Brownell revealed to Vanity Fair that the steamy mirror scene is when Colin and Penelope’s baby boy was conceived.

When asked how much time had passed between the scene and the season three epilogue, in which Colin and Penelope have welcomed a child at roughly the same time as her two sisters, Jess explained: “The timeline is a little bit unclear.

“We do live in perpetual spring in the first three seasons of Bridgerton, so what is time? But in our minds, they probably got pregnant in the mirror scene. So when you get to season four and you see them, it won’t be so crazy that they already have their baby.”

That settles that then!

Bridgerton season three is currently available to stream on Netflix.