Diana Osbourne

Diana Osbourne

Portrayed by Holliday Grainger
Full Name	Diana Hester Osbourne
Associated Noble House(s)	N/A
Date of Birth	21st December 1789
Father	Harold Osbourne
Father's Rank	Gentleman
Mother	Helen Osbourne (née Deakin)
Mother's Rank	Gentleman's daughter
Town Residence	18 Russell Square
Year of Debut	1811 (delayed)
Dowry	£20,000

Miss Diana Osbourne is the only daughter of the late Harold and Helen Osbourne and the twin sister of James Osbourne. She has been brought up in seclusion at Thorncliffe Manor in Wales to believe herself the most important person in the universe, never travelling further than the local town until the previous year when her father died. At twenty-one, she is in control of her fortune and has come to London with her brother in order to spend it, but finds herself daunted by society.

Diana is a former character who was played by Rose.

Family

Harold Osbourne - Father
Helen Osbourne - Mother

James Osbourne - Brother

Background

Once upon a time a pair of twins were born to a stern father and his lovely lady wife. They were from good, ancient though untitled stock, their estate located in a beautiful but remote part of Wales and despite the lack of entail this little family is all that remains of a long line of Osbournes.

Mr. and Mrs. Osbourne were generally unsuited to each other. Mr. Osbourne had once fancied himself a scholar and liked nothing more than retreating to his library to pour over impenetrable texts which he enjoyed more for the air of intelligence that this pursuit gave him than for any true appreciation of philosophy. His wife, much younger than him and the result of a misguided fling with Bath society, enjoyed fashion and parties. With the birth of James and Diana, Mrs. Osbourne had at least something to focus her rather vacant mind on other than wishing the Osbournes' social circle was wider and ruling over what society there was among neighbouring families. Now, she could dote on her angelic, golden-haired babies and parade them proudly in front of those who did not have the good fortune to be an Osbourne of Thorncliffe Manor and mother to two such darling infants.

James was a boy and after infancy, he went his own way to be as active and tempestuous as boys can and should be. Diana, however, was her mother's darling, her pet, her pride and joy, and from the earliest age was treated with doll-like care. Dressed in the prettiest clothes and indulged in everything, she was to become a miniature version of her mother to be paraded around the various local families. Mrs. Osbourne supervised her young daughter's education, teaching her to play the pianoforte and to draw as well as reading, writing and arithmetic. Considering herself perfectly qualified to reproduce her own brilliance in her daughter, there was clearly no need to employ a governess, even assuming one could be persuaded to venture so far from the bright lights of Bath and Bristol.

When Diana was ten, her mother died unexpectedly after a cold caught at a winter house party developed into pneumonia. The loss of the liveliest member of the household affected the survivors differently. The widower became more reclusive than ever, mistrusting society even more than he had before as he blamed it for his wife's death. Spoiled son, James, threw tantrums but there was not enough room for two drama queens in the family and Diana was forced to grow up quickly. Where James was wild and sulky, Diana retreated into herself. The little imitation of her mother soon found that she had to continue the charade on her own and entered adolescence as the mistress of Thorncliffe as well as the miniature voice of reason to her brother, the only person who had any success at curbing his excesses.

While James had more freedom as a boy, Diana grew up largely left to her own devices, for her distant yet over-protective father saw no reason to introduce a strange woman into the household now when he had not in the past. She had been given the basics of an education and now she was left to build on them by herself. She taught herself to play her mother's pianoforte but had no opportunity to buy new music nor anyone of taste to listen to her and correct her mistakes. She worked on her drawing and here discovered something of a talent for sketching and watercolours. She painted the glorious surrounding countryside, she painted screens, she painted portraits of the servants and became really quite good. Better than she was at the music anyway. She read her way through her mother's small library of essays and French novels, though nothing more recent than what was published in the 1790s and having finished them, started unchecked on her father's library. Through reading the Bible, she taught herself Greek and Latin and turned her mind to whatever philosophy and history she found.

It should be pointed out that her acquisition of book learning was not attended by any particularly scholastic interest but simply derived from boredom. There were no young people of a suitable rank other than her brother to make friends with, her father was distant and she was too proud of her station to associate with those below her class. Reading difficult books was an obvious solution to the necessity of filling time so she read the books to which she had access. The logical aspect of the ancient languages appealed to her as a time-consuming puzzle but it would be difficult to say whether her mind was truly improved by what she read for she had no discrimination and no guide to help her understand her reading. James, who at least had the advantage of a tutor, was willing to talk to her about what she read but his own interest was not great and his understanding immature.

So passed Diana's adolescence. There were few families with whom the Osbournes had been accustomed to socialise and Diana maintained the acquaintances as befitted her as the mistress of the principal estate in the neighbourhood. As a child she had been petted and held up as something prodigious and she continued to expect the same treatment as she grew up, having known nothing different. A young and increasingly beautiful young lady is a fine thing for any neighbourhood and her will went as unchecked as she could desire. As Diana grew older, however, she began to long to show off her charms to a wider audience and to sigh over her father's obstinacy and mistrust of the outside world, especially once James went to university and she was left completely alone. She had one correspondent, an old friend of her mother's, who still wrote to her from time to time and, when she was seventeen, generously volunteered to take Diana to London and bring her out. This request was categorically denied by Mr. Osbourne and though it was half-heartedly repeated every year subsequently, the answer was always the same. Diana was disappointed by this check to her desires but her father was skilled at persuading her that she was too important to him and to the neighbourhood to think of allowing her to stir far from home. Her vanity satisfied, she would put up with seclusion for yet another year.

The death of Mr. Osbourne was far more of an opportunity than a tragedy to Diana though she did feel regret and genuine sadness at his demise. He had, after all, been her most constant companion for ten years. Reunited with her brother, however, their father's body had hardly been lowered into the family plot before they were planning their escape. At first this was made up of short trips to local spas and watering places where they might go while still in mourning without being guilty of too much impropriety. But soon this was not enough and they began to plan their most daring coup. Over twenty-one, with a fortune of £20,000 completely at her disposal, and answering to nobody but themselves, they flung off their mourning at the earliest possible opportunity and made London and the pleasures of the London season their destination.

Relationships

Friends

• Lady Eastborough: A friend of her mother's whom Diana has met in London

Enemies

• Sir Peregrine Bexley: an oafish baronet who did not recommend himself to Diana
• Mr. Carlisle: almost as bad as Sir Peregrine

Thread Tracking

Thursday 9th May

• We're Anything but Ordinary[1]: Ventures out to Bond Street with James

Friday 10th May

• Hat Trick[2]: With Emma Vickery in the milliner's
• A fine day for literary criticism[3]: With Edward Tolson in Decker's

Saturday 11th May

• The Age of Innocence[4]: With Lord Foxford at the Middleton Ball

Sunday 12th May

• Sunday Sinners[5]: Skipping church with James

Monday 13th May

• Any Way the Wind Blows[6]: James needs help moving a dead body

Tuesday 14th May

• Let no man steal your thyme[7]: Meeting Perry when out in the park
• Hello, little girl[8]: Diana's Ridotto trip is a bust when she spends most of the evening babysitting Eleanor along with Thomas

Wednesday 15th May (Haverleigh Party)

• The Lady of the House[9]: Arrivals
• A truth universally acknowledged[10]: Diana ends up with Perry, Kit, Frederica and Natalie. Awkwardness ensues
• Well, this is a bit awkward[11]: Meeting Adrian
• May I have the honour?[12]: Dancing with Adrian and introduced to Blanche
• Mother knows best[13]: Charlie introduces Diana to the Montgomeries