I have to ask, dear readers: Is this show really about Queen Charlotte as it claims? It increasingly feels like the writers are struggling with what to do with her, and are placing more and more of the burden of this story on Lady Danbury’s shoulders. I feel like I should be sad about this, but this is easily my favorite episode of the series, so instead I feel conflicted.
The problem with Charlotte is that her story can only be as interesting as the people who drift in and out of her orbit. And no one really drifts in her orbit because, you know, she’s the queen. Plus, there’s no George in this episode because he’s locked in the torture chamber in the basement. While I sympathize with their struggles, there’s not much to say! So let’s flip the script and focus on a woman who deserves it!
After Lord Danbury’s funeral (and some inappropriate but still heated eye contact with Lord Ledger), Lady Danbury finds herself unable to sleep in the early morning, wandering around and trying to drink port. Not that she misses her husband because, well, how could anyone miss being treated that way? But she was betrothed to him when she was three years old and spent her entire life being raised to be his wife.
His favorite color was her favorite color, and his favorite foods were her favorite foods—even the wine she drinks while wandering around the house is his favorite wine. She doesn’t even like wine! As Sondheim might say, “How can you know who you are / Until you know what you want?” This is the freedom Lady Danbury has always wanted, but it’s unthinkable to have to do it on her own at four in the morning, slightly drunk on a wine she hates. This is a lovely bit of acting from Arsema Thomas, who shines as always.
The next day, quite a few of the newly knighted class are gathered around Lady Danbury’s drawing room, and they all have the same question: What now? Lord Danbury is the first of their group to die, and the succession laws are still unclear.
Does this mean that Lady Danbury’s four-year-old son is now Lord Danbury? I was glad to see this detail included, as the ability to inherit is what will allow these newly knighted families to continue to build wealth and power. Since she is a real person, Lady Danbury gets to work, only slightly confused by the possibility that her late husband’s lawyer won’t come to her, a woman. She’ll just sign like a brute and screw him over! A perfect plan.
Lady Danbury decides to indulge in one of the favorite pastimes of widows the world over—to wander the grounds of her estate. And who else would she run into while out in the woods but Lord Ledger? He is “wandering,” which is better than walking because it sounds more poetic and therefore less crazy; it seems their properties are next door to each other. Oh, I bet they are, sir.
I bet they are! How sweet, Lord Ledger mused, about the chattering of starlings (top of the best collective nouns for animals) and the enjoyment of nature. Again, I have to ring the alarm bells about chemistry! There is such a surprising sweetness in this couple that I find it sorely lacking everywhere else. Which makes it easy to root for Lady Danbury to sleep with this man, who—I cannot stress this enough—is the father of her future friend. They almost kiss after confessing their relative misfortune. Like, their faces are only inches apart before he jumps up to go home. BOOOOOO! Kiss her!!
As if not kissing wasn’t enough, the lawyer drops by to deal Lady Danbury a real double blow: He doesn’t know if her late husband’s title has passed to her son, but he suspects it. Oh, and what’s more? Lord Danbury has overspent, and she may be penniless.
Better luck next time, dear, he says, then disappears from her life, leaving Lady Danbury with no choice but to take her anger out on the furniture. After her rage subsides, she gathers her son (you’ll be forgiven if you forget she has a child, like I did), dresses him in his finest, and takes him to see the Princess Dowager.
“I think it is time, Your Highness, for you to meet my son, Lord Danbury.” With a touch of respect in her eyes, Princess Augusta almost accepted until the hateful Lord Bute reminded her that the matter of succession was still unresolved and she refused the pair. Lady Danbury was still sober enough to give her son a speech worthy of a kinder Pope: “You come from
