Tea at Trianon: The Downton Abbey Movie is Coming Soon!

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, August 24, 2019

The Downton Abbey Movie is Coming Soon!

Kate Phillips (left) who plays Princess Mary, Simon Jones, who plays King George V and Geraldine James, who plays Queen Mary

Harewood House

From The Daily Mail:

Princess Mary will be a character in the new Downton Abbey movie that will make a star of her home Harewood House. The princess, daughter of George V and Queen Mary, will be played by Kate Phillips in the feature-length adaptation written by the TV show's creator Julian Fellowes. Phillips, who starred in War and Peace, The Crown and as Jane Seymour in Wolf Hall, will play Princess Mary as she moves to the West Yorkshire mansion to marry the 6th Earl and be visited by her parents for a lavish ball. Curators hope the new movie will bring on a 'Downton effect,' The Telegraph reported, which should bring many thousands to Harewood House. The news comes as Princess Mary's personal archive was revealed for the first time, including correspondence, diaries, clothing and personal effects, all handed to the National Trust. (Read more.)

Lessons from Lady Mary Crawley. From Verily:

In the second-to-last episode of the series (spoilers ahead!), Lady Mary and Thomas Barrow have a heart-to-heart after his suicide attempt. “I’ve done and said things—I don’t know why—I can’t stop myself,” says Barrow. “Now I’m paying the price.” Mary says, “Strange. I could say the same.” Mary has just ruined Edith’s engagement to Bertie Pelham and has faced the comeuppance of her brother-in-law Tom Branson’s completely justified rage: “You can’t stop ruining things. For Edith, for yourself—you’d pull in the sky if you could! Anything to make you feel less frightened and alone. . . . You’re a coward, Mary. Like all bullies, you’re a coward.”

It’s no wonder that Mary feels the same way Barrow does. Like him, she struggles to overcome her own fears and selfishness that tend to flare up into cruelty toward others. Her visit to Barrow when he is recovering from his attempted suicide is the beginning of Mary’s renewed effort to be a good person, and eventually, she will arrange to bring Edith and Bertie back together. It’s not easy for Mary to be kind—her vindictive and spiteful tendencies tend to win out. But I love that the series does portray her making these good choices, reminding us that no matter how unkind we’ve been or how much we’ve affected someone else’s life for the worse, there’s always time to turn around. (Read more.)

From The Tatler:

The Savile Club in Mayfair, pictured above, was used as the fictional Lotus Club, which the Crawleys frequently visit. In opposition to the traditional Victorian clublands and their stuffy rules, a group of like-minded young spirits created the private Savile Members Club in 1868. Originally called ‘The New Club’ it changed its name to ‘The Savile Club’ after relocating from Trafalgar Square to Mayfair. The club has been at the same spot since the 1920s and is still going strong today with its Louis XVI rococo ballroom and imperial staircase. (Read more.)