The Chronicles of Downton Abbey: A New Era (29 page)

Although only introduced in 1894, bridge
established itself as the fashionable
after-dinner card game with remarkable
rapidity, replacing whist in the drawing
rooms of the British landed classes,
which Violet would have also played
when she was the Countess at Downton.
In 1904 the rules of the game were
refined to create ‘auction bridge’.
(The game in its modern form – ‘contract
bridge’ – was not developed until 1925.)

Violet
No bride wants to look tired at
her wedding. It either means she’s anxious
or been up to no good.

V
iolet gets all the best lines. Intransigent, intractable Violet is the definitive dowager. Largely based on Julian Fellowes’s own great-aunt, Isie Stephenson, ‘in whom there was a mix of severity and a kind heart’, Violet represents the last of an era; one of the few remaining Victorians who believed absolutely in the necessity of moral exactitude, the importance of family and the
oblige
of the
noblesse
. One peeress of the time wrote that the fashion for the upper and middle classes was to model themselves on Queen Victoria: ‘That is to say, they copied her more superficial characteristics, her dignity and her selfishness.’

In 1920, the world was looking very different from the one Violet and her generation had grown up in, and in which their Queen had reigned. It now featured motor cars in the street and planes in the air, women voting and cross-class marriages. To cope, Violet and her kind stiffened their spines even straighter and quashed as quickly as possible any notion that these absurd novelties would affect the way they themselves went about their business. Certainly, Violet would have taken her cue from the ruling monarchy, George V, and his wife, Queen Mary, who were both seen as stabilising influences after the war. Queen Mary was very conscious of the dignity of the royal family as well as being a great believer in order. She learned early on that in order to fulfil her role successfully, she should hide her emotions behind a very formal façade. This was considered by many to be absolutely the correct thing to do, in fact the only thing to do, in the face of so much tragedy during the war. That said, it was Queen Mary who, alone of all the distinguished figures gathered in Westminster Abbey for the burial of the ‘Unknown Warrior’ on 11 November 1920, broke down and wept almost uncontrollably during the singing of the hymn ‘God of Our Fathers’.

But while Violet may fancy herself to be the oil that is poured over troubled waters, others don’t quite see her that way. Her barbed remarks frequently sting, even if they also contain more than a measure of the truth. Dame Maggie Smith, who inimitably portrays Violet, believes her character is warmer-hearted than she lets on: ‘I think she’s been imperious from the age of two and I think she’s just about got the hang of it now. I also think – at least I like to think – that she’s got this façade and underneath she has a heart of pure custard. That’s my theory, anyway.’

Violet
I’m so looking forward to seeing
your mother again. When I’m with
her, I am reminded of the virtues
of the English.

Matthew
But isn’t she American?

Violet
Exactly.

When Cora’s mother, Martha Levinson, comes to stay, it’s clear that she is more than a match for Violet. Equally confident in their age, status and belief that their way is the right way, the two could easily quarrel. But Martha is more inclined to tease Violet, whom she sees as regrettably stuck in the old ways. ‘History and tradition took Europe into a world war, Violet,’ remarks her American opponent. ‘Maybe you should try letting go of its hand.’ Violet’s weakness is exposed, and she knows it. ‘She’s like a homing pigeon. She finds our underbelly every time,’ she says to Edith later, in a rare moment of self-pity.

But this world is hard for Violet. She felt the effects of the war as much as anybody; aside from her own troubles, a great many of her friends suffered the death of someone close to them. For all their privileges, life was not automatically easy for her generation as they lived through wars and the dismantling of their traditions. Julian’s great-aunt Isie married a man whose mother was originally a Rowan-Hamilton, one of the grandest families of Ireland, the last to have a right to a private army and who paid a rent for their castle in the form of a pair of spurs every year. Isie’s father-in-law was equally rich, but money was no help when she went to meet her husband off the ship at Southampton during the First World War, only for him to be carried down the gangplank dying, when she had thought he would run down and sweep her into his arms. She took him home and nursed him for several months as he died very slowly. Later, the family fortunes were lost during the Second World War and her only child was killed then, too. ‘So it was’, says Julian, ‘a pretty harsh life.’

By placing herself firmly at the epicentre of life at Downton Abbey, despite the fact that she is no longer the châtelaine, Violet does not win much favour with Cora (not that she cares), but it does allow her to develop strong relationships with her granddaughters. For Violet, family comes first, and she always has her eye on their long-term happiness, as hard as it is sometimes for them to believe. It is in these relationships that we come closer to understanding that Violet is not a blinkered snob: she knows that marriage is long and that the two people in it need to be sympathetic and share a spiritual kinship if they are to have a happy life together. Although Violet does not wish her granddaughter to end up a spinster, she worries about Edith’s keenness on the older, lame Sir Anthony Strallan. For Violet, money is no compensation for mere contentment. ‘Edith is beginning her life as an old man’s drudge,’ Violet remarks to Robert. ‘I should not have thought a large drawing room much compensation.’

Strallan
Edith’s the speed fiend.
She likes to go at a terrific lick.

Violet
And do you think you’ll be able
to keep up with her?

Similarly, once Sybil has made the extraordinary leap to be with Tom Branson, Violet’s main concern is that there is nothing for the village to gossip about – she sees it as imperative that the world believes he has been fully accepted into the family. But of her granddaughters it is Mary to whom she is closest; the two share something of the same temperament and they are united in their fervent belief that Downton Abbey must continue to stand as a home for the Crawleys.

One of Violet’s sworn enemies is the Prime Minister, Lloyd George. His welfare reforms and increasingly heavy taxation were seen as deliberately targeting landed families and their estates. It was also the fact that the state was increasingly busying itself with matters of social welfare provision. In Violet’s world it was the landowner who looked after his servants, tenants and villagers – not the state. We saw this when she tried to protect Mr Mason from losing his only son, the footman William, to the war. One butler then recalled: ‘The older generation certainly realised there was a responsibility towards us: you’d looked after them, and in return they looked after you in a different way. Hence the odd man; you’ve all heard of the village idiot, but there’s no reason why he shouldn’t work and have an income. They provided employment as it was needed, making a job for the people rather than the other way round.’ Lady Hyde Parker said of her own servants: ‘When staff retired they were given a cottage, but I don’t think most of them wanted to retire. They just did less and less work as they got older.’