Rhiannon Osgood
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| Portrayed by Elise Chappell | |
| Full Name | Lady Felicity Rhiannon Osgood |
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| Associated Noble House(s) | Dukedom of Pevensey |
| Date of Birth | 26th February 1794 |
| Father | Arthur Osgood |
| Father's Rank | Duke of Pevensey |
| Mother | Ava Osgood (née Werlington) |
| Mother's Rank | Duchess of Pevensey |
| Town Residence | Branksea Castle |
| Year of Debut | 1811 |
| Dowry | |
Felicity Rhiannon Osgood is the youngest daughter of the Duke of Pevensey and his late wife. She grew up in Dorset with the rest of her siblings, and as the baby of the family is very sheltered, naive and somewhat spoiled, but she is also sunny and happy-go-lucky. She has come with the rest of her family to London to greet her brother Emanuel's ship when it docks.
Felicity is played by Sarah
Family
- Arthur Osgood, 9th Duke of Pevensey (born 1768) – father
- Ava Osgood, née Werlington, Duchess of Pevensey (born 1763, died 1798) – mother
- George Emanuel Osgood, Marquess of Brookwood (born 1788) – brother
- Lady Harriet Nerys Osgood (born 1789) – sister
- Lord Henry Carwyn Osgood (born 1792) - brother, in actuality a half-brother, but this is unknown to Rhiannon
Background
The youngest of the four Osgood children, Felicity, known as Rhiannon to her family, is possibly also the most content of all of them. Only four when her mother died, she has too few memories of the Duchess to grieve in the same way as her father and siblings and although she sometimes feels the absence of a mother in her life, she has been sheltered and cosseted enough by the rest of the family that those moments are few and far between.
Branksea Castle and Dorset are thus all Rhiannon really knows of life, and inevitable family squabbles aside she has never had cause to be truly unhappy. She knows next to nothing of the estrangement that once existed between her parents and her family have by and large protected her from the rumours regarding her older brother, Carwyn; as far as she is concerned it may be a little odd that he is so fair where the rest of them are dark, but it is simply a quirk and nothing to fret about.
After a childhood spent playing in the grounds with her brothers and sister and the family dog, Rhiannon was put into the charge of the same governess as Nerys and took to her lessons with reasonable aptitude. She speaks conversational French and German, embroiders neatly, and plays the cello well enough to be considered proficient but is by no means a virtuoso.
Where she really shone, though, was in drawing and painting. When her sister would drag her siblings into theatrical performances, Rhiannon was far more interested in painting scenery for their productions and sketching out her favourite moments from the plays, to the point that she always seemed to have paint smudges somewhere on her fingers. She has sketchbooks full of little portraits of her family at leisure, and has happily spent days with an easel, canvas and a box of watercolour paints in the grounds at Pevensey or in the Dorset countryside.
Still very young both in age and at heart, Rhiannon had never thought of going to London or entering Society until Emanuel’s letter arrived – but to a well-loved and content girl, it seemed the perfect alignment of fate that her father should decide to bring them all to Town when she is of an age to come Out in Society and perhaps to think of marriage. Given that Emanuel is very clearly alive and writing under his own power, she has no conception of anything very dreadful having happened.
She thus looks on this trip to London quite as her own little fairytale and is fully ready to experience all the fun and excitement the capital has to offer.
Personality
From an early age Rhiannon has been pampered and cared for by all her family; growing up she had them all fairly wrapped around her finger and it is fortunate that nature has blessed her with a temper sweet enough to just about make up for her being so spoiled. While perhaps not quite a brat, however, she does have the heedless selfishness and self-absorption of an adored youngest child, and which has in some ways only been encouraged by her family’s desired to keep her sheltered and protected from unpalatable truths.
Rhiannon is a dreamer, with a creative mind, who likes to see the world as a beautiful place regardless of what it may truly be like underneath. She would call it optimistic - others might say she is very good at stubbornly ignoring what she does not what to see. Energetic, but somewhat flighty, she can be very restless and impatient and like to be constantly on the move or occupied with some task or another. The exception to this is when she is painting, the only time when she really falls into a state of calmness.
Close to all her siblings, she is happy enough to let herself be ordered and bossed around by them, in good part because she knows if there is ever anything she truly wants they will not deny her. She also adores her father, not having the known the same distance from him that her siblings have. Of late, as she has started blossoming from a girl into a young woman, she has started feeling an urge for some sort of independence and has made noises about not wishing to be treated like a child any more – but truthfully if her family stopped indulging her it would come as a great shock and she would be utterly at a loss as to what to do.
Although she has not been raised with a great deal of society, she is a bright, vivacious girl keen to make friends and meet people. A naturally optimistic mind combined with a great deal of naivety has left her confident in the way of both rank and youth that any social faux pas she may make will be easily forgiven.
Though on an intellectual level she knows the unexpected can happen and things don’t always work out well, in her heart Rhiannon believes firmly that for her life will just fall into place – that she will fall in love, be swept off her feet, and have a perfect happily ever after. Coming to London is just the beginning of the story. What else could possibly happen?
Thread Tracking
Thursday 23rd May
- A house is not a home: The Osgood family settle into their rented lodgings in Park Street, but when Arthur isn't looking Rhiannon, Nerys and Carwyn slip out to visit their old home in St James, meeting neighbour Frederica Haverleigh and her brother Peregrine Bexley [1]
Saturday 25th May
- If you're one of us, then roll with us: Rhiannon and her siblings meet Bluebirds Frances Howard, Marietta Lovejoy and Virginia Lang at the cricket match in Hyde Park [2]
Monday 27th May
- You look greatest when you feel like a damn queen: Rhiannon and Nerys attend a modiste and order new dresses [3]
- Every dog has his day: Rhiannon and Carwyn take Mitts, the family dog for a walk and meet Mary Harpole [4]
Tuesday 28th May
- You kiss by the book: Rhiannon attends a performance of Romeo and Juliet with her family and meets Sasha Mamontov when she loses her reticule [5]
Wednesday 29th May
- Worth a thousand words: Rhiannon runs into Sasha again when she and Carwyn visit an art shop on Bond Street [6]
Thursday 30th May
- Sugar and spice and all things nice: The Osgoods attend dinner with Louis and Philippa Agnew and the ladies talk together afterwards [7]
Sunday 2nd June
- Good fences...: When Mitts invades her neighbour's garden in pursuit of a squirrel, Rhiannon meets Natalie Relmsey