Charlotte York

The character of Charlotte first appeared in Candace Bushnell's newspaper column "Sex and the City" as a recurring character and friend of Carrie, where she is introduced as an English journalist.[6]

The television version of Charlotte York is the daughter of Dr. Stephen Foster York[1] and Sandra Whitehead "Muffin" York.[1] She is an art dealer with a Connecticut blue-blooded upbringing. Charlotte graduated from Smith College with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and a minor in Finance; she lived in Haven-Wesley House and was a member of the College Republicans and Kappa Kappa Gamma (although in real life Smith has no sororities). She is the most conservative and traditional of the group, placing more emphasis on emotional love than lust, believing in many romantic ideals, and always searching for her "knight in shining armor." Presenting a more straightforward attitude about relationships, usually based upon "The Rules" of love and dating, she often scoffs at the lewder, more libertine antics that the show presents (primarily from Samantha).

Despite her conservative outlook, she has been known to make confessions that surprise even her sexually freer girlfriends (such as her level of dirty talk and oral sex). She gives up her career shortly after marrying her first husband, Trey MacDougal, but divorces him due to irreconcilable differences regarding having children, his dependent relationship with his mother and their incompatible sex life. She receives a Park Avenue apartment as part of the divorce settlement, although this is a battle fiercely fought by Trey's mother, Bunny. Charlotte subsequently marries her divorce lawyer, Harry Goldenblatt, a man who seems the antithesis of all of the qualities she had decided her perfect man would have (he is short, bald and has a very hairy back), but who actually ends up being a funny, devoted partner. She converts from Episcopalianism to Judaism in order to marry him, and models herself vaguely on Elizabeth Taylor in this aspect; Charlotte also decides to name her dog Elizabeth Taylor. In the series finale, Charlotte and Harry adopt a baby girl, Lily, from China. In the movie, Sex and the City, she and Harry have a biological baby girl, whom they name Rose.

In And Just Like That..., picking up over a decade later, Charlotte and Harry dote on their teen daughters—musically accomplished Lily and independent-minded Rose. She is distraught when Carrie's husband John dies of a heart attack, and Charlotte feels responsible, having pushed Carrie to attend Lily's recital when she otherwise would have been with him; Carrie assures Charlotte she is blameless. Stanford confronts Charlotte, saying she has never accepted him as part of the girls' inner circle. Anthony advises Charlotte after twelve-year-old Rose admits she does not feel like a girl. Charlotte goes into overdrive to make her and Harry's social circle more diverse. To that goal, she cultivates a friendship with Lisa and Herbert Wexley, a socially prominent African-American couple whose son attends Lily's school. Charlotte coordinates Carrie's post-operative care following hip surgery.

In a Zoom meeting with her mom-friends, Charlotte is shocked to learn that daughter Rose now identifies as non-binary and goes by the name, "Rock". After discussing Rock's gender identity with school personnel, Harry and Charlotte are left confused. Charlotte is dismayed when both Lily and Rock want to update their shared bedroom to reflect each one's individual tastes and ages. Charlotte panics after Lily walks in on her and Harry having oral sex. Charlotte then awkwardly claims she was just checking Harry for cancer, which upsets Lily. Charlotte has a frank talk with Lily after discovering her semi-sexy selfies posted on Instagram. After several rabbis cancel, Charlotte finds a trans rabbi to officiate Rock's "They Mitzvah". At the ceremony, Rock refuses to participate, claiming to not identify with any particular group, religion, gender, non-gender, or anything else. Charlotte, a Jewish convert who never had a Bat Mitzvah, takes Rock's place.

Charlotte is viewed by some to be the most naïve of the four characters, often showing signs of belief in the old-fashioned, "love conquers all" notion. This has earned her the nickname "Park Avenue Pollyanna," coined by Carrie Bradshaw in narrations. Yet, her friends are sometimes envious and even in awe of her overall optimism on love and life, leading Carrie to dedicate her book to Charlotte. Charlotte is fiercely optimistic, although often anxious to make sure everything goes right. She also possesses a supportive personality with regard to her friends, always "being there" for them. Due to her conservative outlook in relationships, however, she sometimes clashes with the sexually liberal Samantha, once asking, after Samantha has sex with Charlotte's brother, "Is your vagina in the New York City guide books? Because it should be; it's the hottest spot in town, it's always open!" Yet in this instance, she apologizes by baking Samantha a basket of muffins, demonstrating her classic graceful and sweet-natured style.

Her belief in romance leads her to decide to not have sex with fiancé Trey until the honeymoon. However, she is confronted by the problems of this when she discovers, the night before the wedding, when she tries to seduce Trey, that he is impotent. Later, she realizes he has problems sleeping with her and they do a lot of work to solve the issue. She is also very loyal to her friends (being uncharacteristically aggressive in cursing at Mr. Big after he abandons Carrie at the altar in the first film) and to her belief in the sanctity of marriage (she is the only friend to chastise and shame Carrie regarding her adulterous affair with Mr. Big). She also faces a comeuppance in her relationship with Harry Goldenblatt. She is not attracted to him but has sex with him and calls it "the best sex of my life". She tries to change him into her ideal man but stops when she sees how much that hurts Harry. Finally, she becomes hysterical after she converts to Judaism and prepares a perfect dinner for Harry, when he won't propose to her, and she insults him by telling him how unsuitable he is for her, which causes him to break up with her. Only when she finally agrees to accept Harry on his own terms, he does propose to her, and they, independent of any of Charlotte's machinations, end up having a relationship that fulfills all of the ideals of romanticism.

It is revealed throughout the series that Charlotte enjoyed much social acclaim in her younger life, such as being prom queen, varsity cheerleader, track and field captain, teen model, and equestrienne. She is occasionally described as a WASP, an identity she seems to have happily accepted before her conversion to Judaism.

The movie begins with Charlotte's life with her daughter Lily and husband Harry and they are perfectly happy living in New York. When Carrie's wedding to Big ends in a mess, Charlotte goes with Carrie (along with Samantha and Miranda) to where she was to have her honeymoon with Big. Charlotte is extremely careful in Mexico and refuses to eat any of the food there, instead bringing her own. The full liquid diet turns out to be a bad idea, as she becomes sick and gets diarrhea. Even though she and Harry had given up hoping for another baby, Charlotte unexpectedly discovers she is pregnant, much to her joy. At this moment, it seems that everything Charlotte has ever wanted is finally coming true, and Charlotte becomes "so happy, she's terrified." In the movie it is also revealed that Charlotte always believed Carrie and Big would end up together, and when she sees Big in the street she tells him, "I curse the day you were born." It is then that Charlotte goes into labour, and Big takes her to the hospital and waits until the baby is born. Charlotte and Harry are overjoyed when she gives birth to a baby girl they name Rose. The final scenes of the movie show Harry and Charlotte with their two daughters.

Charlotte is a wealthy museum docent with two children and live-in, full-time help. However, she becomes stressed with motherhood and feels incapable of being a good mother to her children, eventually becoming worried that Harry is sleeping with their nanny. Charlotte later escapes to Abu Dhabi with her friends where she is still unable to ease the stresses of motherhood.

Charlotte's conflicts are resolved when it is revealed that her children's nanny, Erin, is a lesbian, and her stress about motherhood is put to rest after confiding and receiving reassurances from Miranda while the two had a conversation in the private bar of their hotel room. From then on, she uses Carrie's old apartment as an occasional "break" from her family life.

• Archive of the original Sex and the City newspaper columns