The Official Essex Sisters Companion Guide Read Online Free PDF Page B

right?
    Franzeca: In addition, he has to be something like Charles Essex, Earl of Nottingham, or wherever. He needs a place name with the title. On page 366, @ the Feltons’, Tess refers to him as the Earl of Essex, indicating Essex is both family name & title. This is also true if he is a Viscount, though he would be Charles Essex, Viscount Fig-Newton or whatever. I wouldn’t go so far back as having a title bestowed by William the Conqueror. The system, as we know it, didn’t really work that way then. I presume you want it to have great antiquity, but I wouldn’t take it any farther back than Edward I (my hero, tho’ cruel to the Scots). It’s 200+ years later than William the Conq, but still would be very impressive. Though I’m confused by the conversation on page 366, between Mrs. Felton & Tess. Who says “My father’s title was given to my great-great-grandfather by William the Conqueror”? It sounds like Tess, in context, and she repeats it in the next paragraph. So in addition, it’s exactly 750 yrs between 1066 and 1816, so Tesswould have to be more general, “a distant ancestor” rather than great-great-grandfather. Though, if you stay with William the Conq, it probably would have to be an earl or a duke, I don’t think they did much between baron and those then.
    Eloisa: OK, let’s make him Charles Essex, Viscount Brydone. His title can be granted by Edward I. Tess says that bit about William (must be wrongly assigned).
    Franzeca: Queen Elizabeth would simply be known as that; as she was the only one in Regency times, so she wasn’t known as “the First” until there became a “the Second.” Just as King John, being the one and only (and likely to remain so), is never referred to as King John the First. I’ll try to catch the page this is on.
    Re: Draven. If Draven’s mother married an earl, as she claimed, and Draven is the only child of that marriage, and the dad is dead, then Draven is an earl. At first, I thought he was the heir to an earl, some un-named individual who was a childless cousin or such, and he was next in line, though not directly involved. But if his dad was the earl, then he’s the man now. So he also needs a place name, Draven Maitland, Earl of Westover, or whatever.
    Eloisa: I don’t want Draven to be an earl—that makes him too great a catch. Something under an earl, say a baronet, as you put below. Lady Clarice can be the daughter of a duke, which keeps her Lady Clarice. I don’t mind her being in a lower place because I can add a sentence about her wanting to marry Rafe because she was the daughter of a duke and wants to get back to her natural spot in life.
    Franzeca: So that makes Lady Clarice’s title as Lady Westover, or Clarice, Countess of Westover. The fabulous url you sent me on titles doesn’t have a countess, or the relic of an Earl, addressed by Lady Clarice under any circumstance. If, however, LadyClarice was the daughter of a duke or an earl, and married someone whose title didn’t extend to his wife (such as a baronet), then she would be Lady Clarice because of her father, not because of her husband. I know this doesn’t square with her snobby, social-climbing tendencies. While that’s happening, her son could still be the heir of an earl, without being the man himself, as the title of baronet is not, if I recall, inheritable. Also, a baronet wouldn’t have a place name, but just be plain Sir Sammy Maitland, though whatever earldom Draven is heir to would still have a name, and he would perhaps have a courtesy title as the heir. I know this will necessitate changes that you were trying to avoid, but I hope it saves you letters later on. (Though ending up in a humbler spot on the social ladder might make her more intent on climbing up. Also, with Draven dead, then she has no chance of bettering her social stance. Another woe.)
    Eloisa: She’s not pregnant—and actually, I’ve pretty much decided to kill off Lady Clarice. I’m going to add