And thats what I aim to explain in this article. Maybe he'll die! 1 Comment. Pretend a different storyline, in which Robert has an heir, a married son. Does Cora call her mother in law Violet? And what is Thomas calling all is in-laws these days? What about young George? Of course, the season could move away from this. Sure, Mary endures tragedy, but Mary is also wealthy, chic, and constantly pursued by scores of handsome suitors. Im much more interested in the potential below-stairs courtship of Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes. Being American, I fear I have a rather limited understanding of the British system regarding the bestowing of titles. Unlucky in love, unlucky in life. A peeress may be addressed as Your Ladyship or Madam. She will never hold the title of Countess of Grantham, so what would her title be? If the Crawleys were richer they could have afforded ladys maids for all their daughters but since they cant, they settled with a senior house maid as an unofficial ladys maid for their eldest child. What is the grandson called? It might be better to take out the part about the two living daughters of the Earl and Countess of Grantham as that is quite a major spoiler for anyone who is in the middle of watching the show, as I am. Kois: The sight of Carson singing merrily to himself once he heard Mrs. Hughes was OK warmed my heart. Downton Place. OK, so if Robert Crawley, Seventh Earl of Grantham, had a son he would the the Viscount Downton. Does a Dog's Head Shape Predict How Smart It Is? When the servants are at the home of their Lord/Lady, the servants are addressed by their own surname, (e.g. As for Mary and Edith, they began to realize the importance of their bond as sisters. 4,321, This story has been shared 4,289 times. Good point, Ive highlighted your comment so everyone can see . Due to the familys commitment to avoiding any unpleasantness, the only thing that could mitigate this dynamic, the intervention of the parents, does not take place. Daisy evolvedfrom being adowntrodden kitchen maid to a talented chef and naturalleader. Stevenson: I cant seem to work up much excitement over Thomas and OBriens endless Spy vs. Spy battle. Such a tile does not make the person is a Lord nor would he be styled as such. When he became the estate agent he was an employee again and she said they could call him Branson again. I would like an explanation of the names used for the servants both at Downton and in Scotland. Also, you only mention two daughters. Mr. Bates). Over six seasons of Downton Abbey , she has faced an unusually high number of heartbreaks and obstacles for a woman of aristocratic means, despite her . Downton Pop-out Trailer.) Next we have the two living daughters of the Earl and Countess of Grantham, Mary Crawley andEdith Crawley. The rivalry between the two sisters is one of the most defining relationships for Mary throughout the series. Sorry I forgot to put this in the other posts but another aspect to consider is that a Marchioness, ranking so high, would probably be expected to dress better and overall put on a better impression than the unmarried middle daughter of an Earl. is never taken to task for the comments she makes putting her little sister down. Sadly, Sybil died giving birth to their daughter. Read up on all the merriment there. This was wonderful and very enjoyable. 1,546, This story has been shared 1,335 times. If not, why don't they? When Violet dies, custom dictates Cora then becomes known as the Dowager Countess of Grantham. NPRs Linda Holmes has suggested that, until recently, Ediths suffering was the direct result of allowing her life to be directed by the patriarchal society around her. Continue to watch and you will find out. Vikki Stark, M.S.W., M.F.T., is a family therapist and the director of the Sedona Counselling Centre of Montreal. As she married two gentlemen with no title she was Lady Mary Crawley and Lady Mary Talbot. It would be incorrect to refer to him as Lord Robert, however. I also feel bad for Lady Edith, who saw the one time things in that house were finally about her go terribly, terribly wrong, but Sir Anthony is a putz. Brush up on the best of them before the Downton Abbey movie hits theatersjust in case the whole miscarriage curse comes up. Anna had better watch out. I still dont understand where the name Grantham comes from. Tsk.). Until next week. But honestly I am not at all worried about the future. Titles cannot be passed through the mother only through the father. P.S. In Downton Abbey 2019, this caused a problem as King George wanted to send Bertie overseas, which would mean missing his own child's birth. But Lady Mary has taken over when the series ends, and Fellowes believes shed find savvy ways to keep her familys home in their hands. Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith, whose rather appalling luck seems destined to follow her. It is television fiction. Then she met a newspaper editor named Michael, who offered her a job writing (yay! Mary gets whatever she wantsan archbishop to perform her wedding, her husband to accept a legacy that makes him uncomfortable so that she can live in the house she wants to, despite its impracticalitywhile everyone else gets to decide whats right for her sister Edith. Another one suggests that Gregson was a British spy gathering intel on the insurgent Nazisand he might not have died at all. Editors note: For the benefit of American readers who havent yet seen Season 3 of Downton Abbey, please do your best to avoid spoilers when commenting. After that, Edith decided to start a little thing with a married farmer, but his wife found out, and it was adios to Old MacDonald. Have we ever heard Lady Grantham refer to the Dowager by any name? Psychology Today 2023 Sussex Publishers, LLC, If You Need to Pull an All-Nighter, This Should Be Your Diet, Mass Shootings Are a Symptom, Not the Root Problem. I can just imagine the googly eyes! And what about Mary? Then, Edith got engaged to Anthony, the same guy Mary drove off once before, after convincing him she loved him in spite of his war-torn arm. And so, Edith undid the informal arrangement and brought her baby back to Downton (while everyone else is away), and placed her with a local farmer and his family. Her mother-in-law is called Cora, Countess of Grantham. This theory all comes down to eyes. Lady Mary will always be the daughter of an Earl so she will always be known as the Lady Mary Crawley, unless she remarried, in which case shed assume her husbands styles and titles. Her only real sin in five seasons has been to vindictively reveal that Mr. Pamuk died in Lady Marys bed, and that action was born out of bitterness and resentment. After finding Edith in London, a plan is concocted whereby the daughter Marigold will be raised in the house with the other two grandchildren already there. Maybe Edith's lady's maid is new and she doesn't quite trust her to do her best when she's going to be seeing the King and Queen. Downton Abbey is, without doubt, one of the most consistently popular TV shows produced in recent times. But even that uncertainty has been taken care of. Why didnt the guards search his person when it wasnt in his bed as theyd expected? I still dont understand why she must stay at Downton. The present Countess of Grantham is Our Cora, wife to Robert. Edith (played superbly by Laura Carmichael) has always been the quiet rebel in the family--unlike the sprightly Lady Rose who was ready to marry a black man, partly to shock her mother--and we have been waiting for this all along since Lady Edith began her relationship with a married editor, Michael. Alas, no. It's mentioned in series 4 (IIRC) - Lady Mary ask Anna to look after Rose while they are in London because they can't take Madge away from Lady Edith who is staying at Downton Abbey. Anna and Baxter are Lady's Maids, Mrs Hughes is the housekeeper. . Bates and Anna, a lady's maid, have their budding relationship put on pause by Bates' wife, Vera, from whom Bates is estranged. They then called him Tom when he became part of the family although the dowager did so reluctantly. This line really embodies the cruelty that Mary expresses towards Edith on a daily basis. downtonabbey.fandom.com. Both Lord and Lady Grantham have blue eyes, but their eldest daughter, Mary, has brown eyes. However, if Crowborough was really being forced to seek an heiress in America, perhaps he was trying to cut his budget for staff and made do with a footman or butler who could do buttons and buckles when he was at home and borrowing his hosts' when he was visiting. But since shes a marchioness she would be expected to have a ladys maid to show her status and power. She was the Jan, as Brady Bunch viewers immediately recognized. When they travel to another household with their Lord/Lady, the servants are addressed using the title of their Lord/Lady, (e.g., Mr. Bates would be addressed as Mr. Grantham). She is persistently tormented by an unknown feeling, a sort of vague discomfort at the knowledge of a possibly sinister presence . Photograph courtesy of Carnival Film & Television Ltd. 2012 for Masterpiece. That would be nice, except it seems clear from the start of season five that Edith is sadder than ever. Perhaps Gregson will come back from the dead Germany and the family can be reunited at last. or when Anna (maid) became a ladys maid.. they asked if its OK to keep calling her Anna instead of Bates.I am so confused.Thank you for your time and help.All the best,Shirley. Also, one senses that perhaps Edith, who kept her daughter for a few months for the sake of the breastfeeding and therefore had likely formed a fairly fully developed bond with her, would rather she weren't quite so far away, and perhaps were even somewhere that Edith might occasionally see her. | There, at the insistence of Aunt Rosamund, Edith placed her child informally not legally with some very nice Swiss people, apparently, but she almost immediately began having second thoughts. 2,664, This story has been shared 2,161 times. Considering all this, it should come as no surprise that fans have developed similarly wacky theories about the show. Crawley is the familys surname, Grantham is their title. Brush up on the best of them before the Downton Abbey movie hits theatersjust in case the whole miscarriage curse comes up. Was that a correct form of address? It's hard out there for Lady Edith Crawley. At times, the story of Edith has seemed needlessly sadistic, in that one eventually wonders how many ways (foiled by beautiful sister, dumped at the altar, abandoned in mystery, foiled by wife, foiled by another wife) one woman can be thumped with the giant rubber mallet of life until even the little cartoon birds flying over her head are dizzy. But in time her sons wife could be. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. Stevenson: Youre right, Dan. They divorced. My mom emailed me last week to complain that we didnt catch a glimpse of Marys. Its a sad moment, but its also, Reddit claims, the source of the houses future misfortune. Mary would have held the title of Countess of Grantham had her first husband, Matthew, lived to succeed her father. Back to the Crawleys, but remember they arent real. Thank you for the explanation! I am a Canadian and I wish Canada will re-introduce some of the titles. Downton House. She is the author of Divorce: How to Tell the Kids, Runaway Husbands and My Sister, My Self. This would result in Edith taking over for Michael in his business (because that's what he arranged), and she could not bear the thought of not passing any of what he had on to the baby. Seth Stevenson: June, you are right that Lady Mary is approaching insufferable queen bee territory. I meant physically she might not know how to do all of the fancy hairstyles and thingsbut yes. Her proper title isThe Countess of Grantham and she, like Lord Grantham, can be addressed as Lady Grantham by equals andMiLady by servants. So before the 3 Crawley girls were married, Anna was a housemaid and looked after all 3 girls. Since Its never states the ages of Robert and Cora I assume that Cora is no longer able to have children but like a son if they had on George is Vicount Dowton. Trapped between beautiful Mary and adventurous Sybil, Edith was the sad one. Jan 13, 201310:14 PM. Applying the Bare-Minimum Monday Philosophy to Relationships, Mass Shooters and the Myth That Evil Is Obvious, Transforming Empathy Into Compassion: Why It Matters, New Years Eve Survival Guide for the Heartbroken. Edith finally decided to leave little Marigold with a local farmer, Mr. Drewe, whom she trusted with her beloved daughter. Julian Fellowes's historical drama about a family of aristocrats and their many servants could never resist a good shocker, and it deployed plenty of them over the course of six seasons. Edith's full title is The Most Honourable Lady Edith Pelham, Marchioness of Hexham (and any other subsidiary titles Bertie has). Is vulgarity something that one cultivates? One of the Crawley sisters got knocked up by her older married boyfriend, who promptly went missing. Mr. Carson is Lady Mary's father. At the head of the family is Lord Grantham,whos name is Robert Crawley (played by Hugh Bonneville). Maybethere is a silver lining to all of Edithsheartache. These fan theories include secret parentage, undercover spies, and, of course, poison. Sibling rivalries are fairly normal, but these two take it to a whole other level. Fellowes seems to have positioned her decision not as a bold move for feminism, but an opportunity to show once more that a womans greatest success is tied up in giving birth to a child and loving it. As days go by, the bell that connects Alice's room to Mrs. Brymptom's rings at night inexplicably, and Alice hears footsteps coming from the locked door across the hall from her - the former room of Emma Saxon. I explore that reality in my book, My Sister, My Self: The Surprising Ways That Being an Older, Middle, Younger, or Twin Shaped Your Life. (This is all leaving aside the fact that Edith's ideas about adoption seem odd, in that an adoptive family, of course, brings its own blessings, meaning the child's life is not simply devoid of joy because she cannot inherit from her birth father.). The son of a valet would not have any titles, nor would anyone care what he was called. You see, Edith may not be lucky, but she is not stupid, and she had come to understand that when one disappears into post-WWI Germany after being last seen with some disagreeable fellows in brown shirts, one may never be seen again. I sorta left some parts out: they get an official ladys maid when theyre married or reach a certain age. She writesthat Perhaps the lesson of all these stories of Edith being left and left and left again is nothing brings in misery like being entirely at the mercy of other peoples decisions to stay or leave, which is where Ediths father, well-meaning though he may be, has left her. Holmes sees the Marigold storyline as evidence that Edith is learning to take her destiny into her own hands. [Watch Downton Abbey]. If so, who are they? Finally, a clear explanation of where Grantham comes from when it isnt anyones name! The staff among themselves follow a hierarchy depending on their position in the household and their personal relationship with each other. Hers, too, it seemed. If Downton is the estate and Roberts last name and his fathers last name is Crawley, is Earl of Grantham the title itself awarded by a monarch as you described? The valet was suspected of murder (twice). Maybe you'll get pregnant! Robert open your eyes! Hello, 18,354, This story has been shared 11,875 times. The more senior staff are referred to as Mr/Miss or Mrs and sometimes by their first names if there is a more personal relationship between them. Cora refers to Violet as Mama pronounced in the English manner. Lady Ediths boss and lover Michael Gregson is the publisher of a London magazine, The Sketch. And yet, when Fellowes was interviewed about Edith, he claims that nothing could be further from the truth. By Dan Kois, Seth Stevenson, and June Thomas. Reviewed by Ekua Hagan. The fear you hear in Aileens story is similar to Ediths fear that Mary will learn the truth about her illegitimate child, Marigold, and shame her mercilessly. 1. Three generations easily distinguished. I imagined the rage within Lady E mutating until lasers shot out her googly eyes, incinerating Mary and Sibyl and burning Downton to the ground. Shared 11,875 times to all of Edithsheartache no surprise that fans have developed similarly theories! 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Without doubt, one of the Crawley sisters got knocked up by her older married boyfriend, who went.
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