Julian Fellowes (August 17, 1949)

Oh, the hidden depths of this man. Julian Fellowes first came to my attention as an actor during the BBC TV series “Monarch of the Glen” (2000-2005). I didn’t know he was a writer, too, until Gosford Park, for which he won an Oscar in 2001 for writing the original screenplay. After that, there was no stopping him.

I had originally randomized Fellowes’ birth time, as no one knows exactly when he was born, including himself, I would imagine. But then I read the following in Wikipedia:

On 28 April 1990, Fellowes married Emma Joy Kitchener (born 1963), daughter of The Hon. Charles Kitchener (1920–1982) and a lady-in-waiting to Princess Michael of Kent. She is also a great-great-niece of Herbert, 1st Earl Kitchener. He proposed to her only 20 minutes after meeting her at a party, “having spent 19 minutes getting up the nerve”. On 15 October 1998 the Fellowes family changed its surname from Fellowes to Kitchener-Fellowes.

Two things came from that quote: he was 40 years old when he married (Venus in Virgo) and he has inside information about how the aristocracy works in Great Britain (Mercury conjunct Saturn in Virgo).

Sun Inconjunct Jupiter

This can be an extremely useful aspect, if you learn to have more self-control in what you do. Jupiter is always high-spirited, wanting to do and encounter everything and enjoy life thoroughly. Yet in some combinations, it means that you are unwilling to work for what you want. You may feel that you are such a fine person that you deserve to have everything done for you. Certainly you are worthwhile in your own way, but that doesn’t give you a right to be taken care of without contributing your share. As with all Sun-Jupiter energies, if you learn to support others, to make them feel good and happy in your presence, you will get their support as well. Then there will always be someone to help you when you need it. But if you act arrogant[ly] toward others, they may not stay around to support you.

Venus Inconjunct Ascendant

You often feel that you haven’t any right to ask much of those whom you love. You feel that you must do favors for them instead of asking for their help. For you, love is an act of service, not self-gratification. Also, through relationships with others, you try to learn more about your own and other people’s inner workings. For this reason your relationships are more deep and profound than most people’s. But they are somewhat difficult, too. Your close friends and loved ones discover that you are quite different in a close relationship than you appear at first. It is not that you are dishonest, but that you show a side of yourself to your friends that you usually keep hidden, often because you are not entirely confident in that role. You may feel unsure that others will like you or accept your affection. This is one reason why you express your love by doing nice things for people. You are trying to win them over.

He is Both “Upstairs and Downstairs”

Fellowes publicly expressed his dissatisfaction that the proposals to change the rules of royal succession were not extended to hereditary peerages, which had they been would have allowed his wife to succeed her uncle as Countess Kitchener in her own right. He said: “I find it ridiculous that, in 2011, a perfectly sentient adult woman has no rights of inheritance whatsoever when it comes to a hereditary title.” Instead, the title became extinct on her uncle’s death because there were no male heirs.

On 9 May 2012, the Queen issued a Royal Warrant of Precedence granting Lady Fellowes the same rank and style as the daughter of an Earl, as would have been due to her if her late father had survived his brother and therefore succeeded to the earldom.

Wikipedia

I always wondered why Fellowes made such a big deal about Lady Mary Crawley not inheriting her father’s estate in the first couple of seasons of “Downton Abbey”. But now it’s clear, at least to me.

I suppose Tom Branson (the chauffeur who married Lady Sybil and joined the Crawley family business) is a stand-in for Fellowes in the story line. He must know what it’s like to marry into the aristocracy. It’s fascinating that Fellowes became a Life Peer himself, more than 20 years later. He’s seen both sides of the divide, for sure. By the time the next Downton Abbey film is released in 2022, Tom may marry an heiress from within the Crawley extended family. (Talk about fiction following reality, eh?)

Oh, did I mention that we watched the first Downton Abbey film, last night?