MovieChat Forums > To the Manor Born (1982) Discussion > What's this 'the manor has been in my fa...

What's this 'the manor has been in my family . . . ' stuff?

posted 17 years ago by CateSmyth
10 replies | jump to latest

How is it that the Audrey continually refers to the manor being part of her family legacy for 400 years, yet she married into the family that owned it, correct?

Is it correct that when Richard finally proposes to her it's in front of a statue of either her husband or FIL, presumably the owners of the manor.

What does she really care about getting the manor back into her family as it had only been in her family since her marriage? And for that matter, why didn't the manor revert to one of the other male members of the family with the death of her hubby anyway? Isn't that how primogeniture works?

[–] brandy5 17 years ago

Ah! This worried me for a long time as she spoke as if she was a fforbes-Hamilton born. Well as a matter of fact she was. I had to buy the novelization to find this out as it's not explained in the series.
Apparently, she and Marton were first cousins so of course shared one side of the family in common so when she spoke of her childhood at Grantley and her grandfather she was also talking of Marton's grandfather, the owner of Grantley at that time. I'm surprised more people haven't questioned this.

[–] KatieScarlettButler 17 years ago

I used to get confused too, but she must have grown up there because in the episode where Richard is trying to change the layout of the estate, she talks about the tree she used to climb as a child. Also, she memorably played pooh-sticks at the brook and talked about playing that as a child too!

~:~J'ecouterais Audrey a mon droit, ou Vivien a mon gauche?~:~

[–] brandy5 17 years ago

She didn't necessarily have to have grown up, ie lived there. Perhaps she was a frequent visitor at her grandfather's home. I think I spent as much time at my paternal grandfather's home as I did my own. I was fascinated by the maze he had had built in his walled garden and used to get quite sick raiding the bramble (blackberry) bushes and strawberry patch. Listening to me people may well think I had grown up at my grandfather's house!!

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[–] brandy5 17 years ago

I only learned this by reading the novelization. It should have been made clear in the series.
Another thing that still bothers me is how Marton could 'leave' the Manor to his widow Audrey. Surely it should have gone to the next fforbes-Hamilton male in line and the widow Audrey gone to live in the Dower House. Of course at that time
we didn't know that Marton had a younger brother who had a son who was in The 25th Anniversary Special.
The scripwriters should really watch it but I don't suppose they would realize that we would be picking on these things nearly 40 years later.

[–] nicky-682-764451 12 years ago

Oh dear!

You're getting confused about titles and wealth...

If you're an Earl or other peer of the realm, your title has to pass to the next male heir etc etc (think Downton Abbey).

But assets do NOT have to pass to the male heirs. Only if there's an entail does this come into play, and I think they're pretty rare these days, they may even be abolished.

Believe me, wives do inherit from husbnds, so do daughters . Otherwise there would be no point in having a will would there? And even if a will left everything to someone else, the wife would have a claim on the estate (unless they were estranged).

[–] brandy5 12 years ago

Thanks Nicky. I don't know what I was thinking. The fForbes-Hamiltons were just rich and posh - not an hereditary titled family.

[–] zyggums 12 years ago

On the piolet richard asks the vicor if they were "titled" and the vicor says no. So they were rich commoners. I'm confused tho because in 1 episode I remember that audry is horrified to find her family crest has become a dcoration in a train station toilet and she steals it. Also wen she is looking for money to buy the manor she looks up realitives in "who's who". Don't have. To be titled to be in that book but its odd. Also, its true audry and her husband were cousines its said on the show not just the book because.I remember being shocked seeing nd hearing it.

[–] louiseculmer 10 years ago

You can be posh without being titled. the gentry, the class Audrey belongs to, are not titled, but are still old landed families, and would consider themselves as good as the aristocracy.