After two desperately long years away, Bridgerton is finally back on our screens for season three. And with it comes the return of one our favourite characters Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh). While often seen scheming and helping the queen with the marriage match ups of the season, this series Lady Danbury has an added storyline, as her brother is in town. And she doesn't look too happy to see him.
Introduced in episode three, Lord Anderson (Daniel Francis) is a widower, who seems to have taken an interest in Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell). But while Violet may be pleased to have met him at the ball, Lady Danbury is less than thrilled with his arrival. So what's their relationship? And why is she not happy to see her brother? Here's what you need to know.
Who is Lady Danbury's brother Lord Anderson?
We get our first hint of Lord Anderson's arrival at the end of episode two when Lady Danbury receives a letter and informs her staff they will be expecting a visitor.
Who this mysterious visitor is, is then revealed towards the end of episode three, when Lord Anderson introduces himself to Violet at the ball. He reveals all his children have left home and is then interrupted by Lady Danbury who introduces him to Violet (and viewers) as Marcus, her brother.
He tells his sister in episode four he has returned to London as he is lonely in his country estate. Marcus later reveals more about his wife, telling Violet it was not a love match but they grew fond of each other and they were happy until her death. He then drops a hint that he is hoping for a love match in his "second act".
Why do Lady Danbury and Lord Anderson not get on?
Ok so from the get go it seems all is not right in the relationship between Marcus and Lady Danbury. When he is first introduced to Violet, she reveals she didn't even know Agatha had a brother, which should be indication enough they don't get on.
And later while speaking to Violet in a ball in episode four, Marcus shows how little he knows his sister when he finds out she enjoys meddling in town affairs.
The tension between them becomes more solidified towards the end of episode four when Marcus asks for his sister's help in finding a match and scathingly tells him, "I ask that you leave me out of your raking about town. I am not interested."
While he assures his sister his intentions are of "pure heart", Lady Danbury replies: "And is your heart located in your breeches?" Savage.
So why isn't Lady Danbury a fan of her brother? Well, Marcus isn't a character in the original Bridgerton books by Julia Quinn, so we unfortunately can't go looking there for answers.
Given her hints about his breeches and leaving her out of his rakish behaviour, we could assume Lord Anderson was less than well behaved in his youth and Lady Danbury is worrying about a potential scandal ruining the family name. There's also the possibility, given her protective energy towards Violet, Lord Anderson could have hurt one of her friends in the past, and she doesn't wish to see it unfold again.
Or it could potentially not be as twisted as that, and maybe there's just a good dose of sibling rivalry between them.
Daniel Francis, who plays Marcus, said while speaking to New York Live, the tension between them comes from their positions in the family tree.
"There is a bit of rivalry there," he explained. "He's the first-born son and so at that time he's the heir to the empire. The heir to wealth and so he was the favourite.
"From Marcus's perspective he loves his big sister. That's his big sister so he doesn't actually know why there's so much tension with his sister but we find out."
Annoyingly, we won't be finding out what the exact cause of this tension is until the second part of Bridgerton season three drops on Netflix on 13th June.
Bridgerton season three, part one, is available on Netflix now
Lydia Venn is Cosmopolitan UK’s Senior Entertainment and Lifestyle Writer. She covers everything from TV and film, to the latest celebrity news. She also writes across our work/life section regularly creating quizzes, covering exciting new food releases and sharing the latest interior must-haves. In her role she’s interviewed everyone from Margot Robbie to Niall Horan, and her work has appeared on an episode of The Kardashians. After completing a degree in English at the University of Exeter, Lydia moved into fashion journalism, writing for the Daily Express, before working as Features Editor at The Tab, where she spoke on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and Talk Radio. She has an encyclopedic knowledge of Gilmore Girls and 00s teen movies, and in her free time can be found with a margarita in hand watching the Real Housewives on repeat. Find her on LinkedIn.
