Margaret Colborne

Meg Colborne

Portrayed by Poppy Drayton
Full Name	Lady Margaret Eloise Colborne
Associated Noble House(s)	Dukedom of Rothbury
Date of Birth	21st November 1793
Father	Gregory Colborne
Father's Rank	Duke
Mother	Penelope Colborne (née Westfall)
Mother's Rank	Duchess
Town Residence	Rothbury House
Year of Debut	1812
Dowry	£50,000

Lady Margaret "Meg" Colborne is the youngest child only daughter of Gregory Colborne, the 11th Duke of Rothbury and his wife, Penelope, and sister to Sebastian Colborne, the Earl of Falstone, and Lord Raphael Colborne.

Now aged 17, Meg was a surprise to the whole family including the Duke and Duchess, who rather infamously despise one another. Neither of her parents were particularly interested in her as a child, so she grew up fairly isolated at the family estate in Northumberland. Meg tried to make herself accomplished in the hopes of getting their attention, and when realised that it wouldn't she stopped trying and spent her time on her own pursuits. As a result, she has grown in a somewhat socially awkward young who likes books and mathematics. Her mother has brought her to London to informally introduce her to society before her official debut next Season, and she has cajoled both of her brothers, with whom she has a close relationship, into participating in society with her.

Meg's parents haven't left her with the best impression of marriage, but she knows finding a husband is her best chance of getting away from them so she hopes to find a suitable husband soon - her only real criteria being to find someone she doesn't actively dislike.

Meg is played by Sarah.

Family

• Gregory Colborne, 11th Duke of Rothbury (born 1753) – father
• Penelope Colborne, née Westfall, Duchess of Rothbury (born 1763) – mother
• Sebastian Colborne, Earl of Falstone (born 1781) – brother
• Lord Raphael Colborne (born 1783) – brother

Background

Unexpected, and not particularly wanted, Meg was born nearly a decade after her older brothers to parents that quite infamously despised one another. The Duke of Rothbury had married the young Lady Penelope Westfall because he was utterly charmed by her beauty and she dazzled by his position and power, but it wasn’t long into the marriage that they found their personalities were almost comically ill-suited to one another. The passion they had initially felt soon became a very different kind of passion, and theirs became a relationship of furious insults, shouting matches and occasionally throwing things. After the Duchess gave birth to an heir and a spare they agreed to a truce that mostly involved them not living under the same roof. Occasionally, however, they are required to be in proximity to one another and their initial attraction resurfaces. One such occasion had the unintended result of their daughter.

Because of the Duke and Duchess’ estrangement, for the first few years of her life Meg was followed by whispers that she was not, in fact, the Duke’s legitimate daughter. As she grew and, fortunately, had an undeniable resemblance to both her unquestionably legitimate brothers, the rumours faded - but they have never disappeared completely. This bothered Meg far more when she was young, before she came to understand the kind of people were parents are; now in some ways she rather wishes she wasn’t related to either of them. Her mother turned her over to a wet-nurse as soon she was born, before disappearing back to London and her social life. Her father also showed little interest, so Meg grew up mostly alone in the family estate in Northumberland – a cold, lonely house that was far too big for one tiny girl, even if she was attended by an army of servants. Her father visited occasionally, to attend to the estate, but never for long and never spent above fifteen minutes with her at any one time. Her mother rarely came, preferring to avoid the place lest her husband be there.

Both of Meg’s brothers had been sent off to school by the time she was born and when they could spent holidays at their friends’ homes rather than with their own unhappy family, though they sent their sister occasional letters. When she was nearly eleven, her oldest brother, Sebastian, now twenty four and having graduated from Oxford, returned to the estate to take over its management for their father and, finally, seemed to take notice of Meg’s existence. Whether out of guilt or duty, she didn’t know, but he decided someone needed to take care of her – and Meg, starved of any kind of affection, immediately latched on to him. Perhaps encouraged by Sebastian, their other brother, Raphael, started visiting more often as well, and Meg has slowly developed a close bond with both of them.

Despite her parents’ lack of emotional investment, neither hesitated in throwing money at their daughter to make sure she had the best tutors. At first, Meg worked hard to excel in all the accomplishments a young lady – and especially a Duke’s daughter – was expected to possess, believing somehow that if she became a Diamond of the First Water that perhaps her parents would finally take notice of her. She couldn’t say she cared for such arts, but she was determined and by the time she was fourteen she could play the harp, recite poetry, speak French, Spanish and some Italian, and dance with grace. By that point, however, it was clear her parents would never pay attention to her and so she stopped practising everything. The only skill she kept up was horse-riding, often going for long rides with Sebastian in the wild Northumberland countryside surrounding their home.

In an attempt to avoid becoming any more accomplished than she already was, Meg instead buried herself in the one subject she had always loved: mathematics. Soon after moving back to their estate, Sebastian had seen that she had had a good head for numbers and, wanting to see happy, arranged for her to have a mathematics tutor to push her further. Mr Simmonds was the only tutor Meg ever liked, and thanks to him she has become quite the skilled mathematician.

Everything changed a few months after she turned seventeen, when her mother suddenly appeared to pack her daughter up and sweep her back to London – after all, as the Duchess said, next year would be her debut so it was time she got to know the capital. Penelope had already written shortly to her husband to inform them that when the time comes she expects to him to provide a dowry of £50,000. Admittedly curious to see London, Meg agreed to go, but was grateful when Sebastian decided to accompany them – and even more pleased that Rafe, who was already in London, agreed to spend time with them as well.

Meg no longer particularly cares about pleasing her mother, nor does she have any reason to think well of the institution of marriage, but she is more than willing to make a good match if it will get her away from her unhappy childhood home and give her a measure of freedom.

Personality

Having spent her formative years with only servants that did not like to gainsay or correct her for company, Meg has grown used to being open in her opinions – sometimes rather bluntly so, though there is never anything malicious or unfeeling in her speech, and she is astute enough to know where the line is and not to cross it. However, even when she is making an effort to be agreeable and charming, people in general still tend to make her feel uneasy. They are too complicated and unpredictable; having never understood why her parents are so indifferent to her, she has come to likes things that are logical and follow a pattern, such as mathematics, that she can rely to always be consistent and that she can predict.

Although the affection of her brothers has gone a long way towards healing the wounds of her childhood, because love was not something given readily and freely given to her for a long time, Meg does not really trust anyone to care for her for herself alone and not eventually grow tired or bored of her. As a result she is likely more susceptible to manipulation and being played with than she realises, because she craves love and acceptance.

It also for that reason that she is not materialistic, despite having grown up in luxury – she rightly sees the money and trinkets her parents would throw at her as thoughtless replacements for actual care, rather than gifts from the heart. She still, however, has the somewhat careless acceptance of youthful nobility that she can and will have whatever she might want – she simply doesn’t value it as much.

Thanks mostly to Rafe’s sociable nature she is acquainted with the sisters of some of his friends, young ladies her own age or not much older, but generally she either feels out of place with them; either intimidated by their accomplishments and femininity or frustrated because they do not understand her and her interests. Either feeling tends to make her withdraw into herself. On the rare occasion she does feel comfortable with someone, she can be light-hearted and teasing and seems suddenly much younger.

Maths and numbers are her favourite areas of study - wherever possible she tries to find an equation for understanding everything – but she is a generally a bright, intelligent girl and would be termed a bluestocking by wider society. In many ways she knows she would have been better off if she had been born a boy. She would have been encouraged in her studies rather than feeling her mind to be stifled, and could have been long gone from her home to university and pursue academics.

Meg is also fond of reading in general; novels provided her first escape from her loneliness, and gave her first insight into what relationships could be and the fact that there was an entire world outside of her family estate.

Marriage interests her for one reason and one reason only: it will take her away from the estate she was so miserable in. She believes holding out for love will just disappoint her, so has only promised herself not to repeat her parents’ mistakes and to make sure she has a full and complete understanding of the other person’s character before she marries them. She does not expect affection, or even friendship, but would be content with respect and cordiality, so that at the very least she can be sure she and her husband will not make each other entirely miserable.

Thread Tracking

Tuesday 21st May

• The one with violets in her lap: Meg meets Rosanna Devereux when she and her mother call on the Duchess [1]

Friday 24th May

• A Season of Sisters: Rafe and Jean-Laurent d'Aubin arrange an outing in the park so Meg can meet Jeannot's sister, Lunete [2]

Saturday 25th May

• Busy thinking 'bout boys: Meg admires the players at the cricket match along with Lunete d'Aubin, Natalie Relmsey, Clementine Worthing and Emily Grey [3]
• When the sun shines we'll shine together: Meg converses with Sophia Lazenby at the cricket match in Hyde Park [4]

Monday 27th May

• If everybody minded their own business, the world would go round a great deal faster than it does: Meg meets Julia Hissop when she calls on the Duchess [5]
• Ladies, let's get in formation: Meg greets the guests as they arrive at her afternoon tea party [6]
• Tea, a drink with jam and bread: Meg converses with Sophia Lazenby and Elizabeth Dunford at her afternoon tea party [7]
• Oh brothers! I don't care for brothers: Meg talks with Natalie at the tea party following the interruption by Rafe, Jeannot and Monty [8]

Thursday 30th May

• Let's pretend, oh let's make believe: Meg and Seb run into Constance Cole while out walking in Hyde Park [9]

Saturday 1st June

• Ladies who brunch: Meg attends a brunch hosted by Natalie Relmsey, along with Lunete d'Aubin, Clementine Worthing and Pippa Agnew, and with a brief unpleasant appearance from Louis Agnew [10]
• I hate to turn up out of the blue: Seb escorts Meg home from the brunch, and their find their father has unexpectedly arrived in town [11]

Monday 3rd June

• Never let them see you sweat: Fortune Sidney, Maria Sidney, Peace Sidney and the Dowager Lady Sidney join Meg and her mother for tea at Rothbury House [12]

Monday 10th June

• We're a society of lovelorn lads: After a shopping excursion with her mother, Meg meets Seb and the Duke of Henley on the way home from their club [13]