Downton Abbey Season 4..... SPOILER ALERT!

There must be some folks who are not hooked on the comings and goings of PBS’s Masterpiece Theater presentation, Downton Abbey. Some folks. Somewhere.  But they are not friends of mine, and this missive is not intended for them. And since the rest of you know the story well, I’ll not waste your time setting the scene.

You know what you know.  Season 3 has been finished for two weeks now and many, many viewers were left perplexed, shocked and disappointed when the handsome Matthew Crawley, played by Dan Stevens, was off’d in an auto accident as the credits rolled. The heir to Downton Abbey was dead.  But alas, he had just been introduced to his own male heir so surely the line will go unbroken if they can keep the little child safe….. oh, dear, what will happen to Lady Mary? 

Let me say, right off, that I don’t know these characters by name. To me, there’s the butler, the gay footman and the skinny kitchen maid. Carson, Thomas and Daisy are character names I have researched to help my readers – those who are quick enough to know their names - appreciate this essay. Let’s plow on….  

I am a Count of some repute and as such know the Crawley family well. We used to summer on the Isle of Tybee together. I can tell you now with some authority that the funeral of dear Matthew during Episode One of next season will not be the end of the lineage discussion, nor the money troubles.  Why are these issues inclined to run together? 

As we know, Lord Grantham tended to be a spendthrift and an absentee landlord enjoying the Edwardian splendor of Downton and its grand rooms, fertile hunting lands and fine reputation, already living on the fortune from his American wife Cora. But it was the more modern blond guy (Matthew) who was the future of the Estate and his early managerial moves were making headway. What we did not know, unless we were paying very, very close attention, is that the heir issue, only now front and center, had actually been resolved in a previous season. 

Don’t expect me to name the exact episode, but in Season 2 did we all just think it a generous send off when the Lord gave a sack full of money to the former maid, a Miss Ethel Parks?  It was fleeting and I know I thought nothing of it. She had been involved with a Major Bryant during the war and some may have presumed her pregnancy was his doing.

But, this same Ethel Parks turns up a season later having fallen far and fast and now practicing the art of solicitation in the guise of a dirty street walking prostitute around London’s West End. How far she had fallen, and how near impossible for her to be resurrected. But the obtuse Mrs. Crawley, the old lady living on the property who is dead Matthew’s mother (keep up!), she picked this sad creature out of the gutter and brought her back to Downton and did her best to make a maid and cook of her. How very generous.

But what did Ethel have to do before she was brought back to Downton? What did she give up to the kindly Mr. and Mrs. Bryant, her former lover's parents, in the York driveway? What could she possibly walk away from that would cause her so much heartache?  Drumroll please....It was Lord Grantham’s bastard son, Charlie!

That’s right folks, you heard it here first. Lord Grantham and the maid Ethel had a tryst in some back stairwell, resulting in a child. The maid was sent off with a handshake and a few shillings, but in fact she does not disappear.  She prostitutes
herself in order to feed her child and by happenstance finds her way back to
Downton and the drama shall begin.  The baby born to Mary is not the heir to Downton Abbey as they want you to believe, but rather is the third in line behind young Charlie, the only male child of Lord Grantham.

Oh won’t this be sweet?  I can hardly wait.  Downstairs will be abuzz……………..