Katharine Steele

Katharine Steele

Portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard
Full Name	Katharine Elaine Grafton Steele
Associated Noble House(s)	Marquessate of Raulings, Earldom of Carrington, Duchy of Wycombe
Date of Birth	February 18, 1789
Father	Thomas Grafton
Father's Rank	Marquess of Raulings
Mother	Theodora Grafton
Mother's Rank	Marchioness of Raulings
Town Residence	{{{residence}}}
Year of Debut	1807
Dowry	£30,000
Year of Marriage	1807
Spouse	Gregory Steele
Spouse's Rank	Earl of Carrington
Year of Widowhood	1810
Issue	None

Katharine, Countess of Carrington, born Lady Katharine Grafton, is the widow of Gregory Steele, the late Earl of Carrington and sister to debutante Lady Julianne Grafton. She is played by Liz.

Early Life

Katharine Elaine Steele was born the first daughter of Thomas Grafton, 2nd Marquess of Raulings and his second wife, Theodora Grafton. She was born at Raulings Park in Leicestershire on February 18, 1789. She is the couple's fourth child, with older brothers Henry and Richard (twins born January 1786) and an infant brother Lord Thomas Grafton (stillborn, March 6, 1787) preceding her. She was followed by two sisters, Lady Theodora Grafton (born April 19, 1790 and died June 2, 1790) and Julianne (born February 14, 1792). The couple each had a son from a previous marriage: William Grafton, Earl of Bridgeton, from her father's first marriage and John Quinn, Duke of Wycombe, from her mother's first marriage.

Her parents hired tutors for her and her younger sister. Lord and Lady Raulings saw to it that their daughters had some of the best education available, sending for an Austrian tutor to teach them how to play a pianoforte, a Paris-educated French tutor, and a Flemish watercolorist, just to name a few.

For their part, Kate's four older brothers viewed their sister as yet another brother. True, she wore dresses and used a funny saddle, but she could keep up with them on fox hunts and footraces at Raulings Park. This resulted in her being viewed as an entirely separate species than the youngest Grafton child (Julianne) and Kate always felt closer to her brothers than her only sister.

London Debut

As time passed, however, Kate's interests began to fall more inline with those more appropriate to a young noblewoman. She began to enjoy staying inside and working on samplers with her sister. She began passing up opportunities to go riding with her brothers for staying in and accepting callers with her sister and mother. By the time she turned eighteen and debuted in London in 1807, Kate had morphed into a veritable diamond of the first water.

She was declared a hit by the granddames and had her fair share of suitors, receiving no less than five marriage proposals in her first two months on the scene. However it was not a dashing young dandy that caught her eye, but rather the much older Earl of Carrington. Nearly twenty years her senior, Lord Carrington was intelligent, mature, and attentive (at first). He never made Kate feel silly for not knowing things her education neglected and seemed to appreciate her strengths. The pair was married in a lavish July ceremony in 1807 in Westminster Abbey . He was 37; she was 18.

Married Life

The earl showered Kate with gifts of jewelry and gave her free rein to redecorate his townhouse in London as she saw fit. In return, the earl had a beautiful young woman on his arm and in his bed. Carrington's father had died of a weak heart; the new countess proved to everyone that this Earl of Carrington was healthy as a horse.

The first few months of her marriage were the happiest of her life, and Kate fell deeply in love with her husband. Kate occasionally worried over him, having heard of her late father-in-law's health problems and feeling certain that staying out late and carousing then returning to her nearly every night couldn't be good for him, but Carrington always waved away her concerns.

Six months into her marriage, a friend saw fit to inform Kate that Carrington had not dismissed his mistress, a French opera singer, as he had initially promised her. When she confronted him, she was informed in no uncertain terms that he would always be discreet, but he was not going to dismiss Mademoiselle Moreau. Kate was deeply hurt, for this was the first time she realized that she was more in love with her husband than he was with her. Over time, however, she came to realize that her relationship with her husband would never be perfect and that she could live with that, as long as she still had Carrington. Mistresses would come and go, her friends told her, but wives were forever. Despite their troubles, the earl and his countess continued to present an amicable face to Society, throwing lavish dinner parties and balls. Most importantly, he never embarrassed her publicly, something Kate never could have tolerated.

"The Scandal" and Its Aftermath

At the beginning of the Season of 1810, however, all that changed. Whilst in the middle of a passionate meeting with Mademoiselle Moreau in a carriage one summer afternoon, the earl suffered an apparent heart attack. In the midst of his death throes, he presumably flailed around the carriage so much that he landed forcefully on the door, which flew open and dumped the half-naked earl in the middle of Grosvenor Square. The incident quickly became fodder for the gossip sheets, having been witnessed by many of Society's most prominent members.

Kate was devastated by the scandal and retreated to the country, after being forced to return to London for the funeral by her parents. Since then, many of her friends have abandoned her and taken to whispering about her at parties, occasionally with Kate in the room. At the urging of her family and the upcoming debut of her younger sister, Katharine returned to London in hopes of restoring her social standing, though she doubted there would be anyone who would be able to overlook what she now thinks of as "The Scandal".

Present Day

Kate has been pleasantly surprised by her reception by Society. While there are those who seem to delight in her fall from grace, such as the Duchess of Pennington, it seems that Kate's own popularity has been buoyed by that of her sister. She is also slowly discovering that a widow may do many more things than a debutante or even a married lady.

On April 6th, she escorted her sister to Decker's, where she made the acquaintance of another of Society's outcasts, Lady Newburry. Following Decker's, the two joined their mother at Madame Lambert's for the final fitting of Julianne's dress for her debut at Almack's where they made the acquaintance of Lord and Lady Louth.