The Dowager Duchess of Yeovil (maiden name Pleydell-Bouverie) is an old friend of Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham.
Biography[]
1922[]
The Duchess was one of the attendees at a house party hosted by Lord and Lady Grantham at Downton Abbey in 1922. She made small talk with Tom Branson, who afterwards addressed her as "Your Grace". While she seemed unperturbed, after she left to talk to Lady Raven, Violet Crawley discreetly corrected Tom's usage of a form of address reserved "for a servant, or an official at a ceremony", and not for such a social occasion. Violet told him to instead call her "Duchess".
Later, when Rose MacClare brought down Matthew Crawley's old gramophone to play her jazz records, the Duchess expressed her love of dancing, although she remarked that "these days I haven't got a partner". Cora pushed Tom to dance with the duchess. While they were dancing, the Duchess told him she was very fond of Ireland. When Tom told her his hometown was Bray in County Wicklow, she started talking of her niece, Lady Powerscourt. Tom had never met the Powerscourts, and more than ever he felt he did not belong at Downton and never would fit in.
Before she left the following morning, she spoke kindly to Tom about his grief and loss of his wife, comparing it to her loss of her husband.
Appearances[]
| Appearances and Mentions | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series 4 | Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 Appears |
Episode 4 Appears |
Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8 | Christmas Special |
References[]
- ↑ Viscount Powerscourt, the Duchess of Yeovil's nephew-in-law, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Wicklow - where Tom is from - on 15 February 1910 and his father, the 7th Viscount Powerscourt, died in 1904.