Earl Harcourt (Netflix)

## Earl Harcourt

**Earl Harcourt** is a political advisor to King George III.

## History

### Finding a Queen

To strengthen the monarchy, it was decided that King George III had to marry. Lord Bute, Earl Harcourt, and Princess Augusta chose Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and signed the betrothal contracts.�

### King George's Wedding

When Charlotte arrived in London from Germany to marry King George III, Earl Harcourt and Lord Bute were present as Princess Augusta assessed her. Princess Augusta and Lord Bute were surprised at how dark her skin was. Earl Harcourt reminded them that he had said she had moor blood. Lord Bute worried that people would talk, but they couldn't back out of the wedding as the trade deals had already been made. Princess Augusta maintained that it couldn't be a problem unless the kind had a problem with it, so they needed to make it clear that the king's choice was intentional. This involved expanding the guest list and the queen's court to add more people who looked like her, even though only six hours remained before the wedding.

Following the wedding, Lord Bute told Princess Augusta that parliament was calling the union of the two sides of society The Great Experiment. He was concerned, saying it had to be successful. Princess Augusta told him it would be. He also expressed concern that the marriage between Queen Charlotte and King George might not have been consummated, putting the whole thing in jeopardy. Both Queen Charlotte's valet, Brimsley, and King George's, Reynolds, were called to meet with them. Lord Bute asked them if the marriage had been consummated and Reynolds assured them it had been.

### First Ball

When Lady Danbury sent out invitations to the first ball of the year, Lord Bute and Earl Harcourt had concerns. They told Princess Augusta that the ton might not attend, which would put the Great Experiment in jeopardy. She tried to say that she couldn't just ask Lady Danbury to rescind the invitations, but they worried about losing their authority and pressured her to do it.

Despite this, the ball went forward and Earl Harcourt and Lord Bute both attended. There was concern initially when the two sides didn't mix, but that was solved when the king and queen arrived and danced together.

### New Titles

When Lord Herman Danbury died, the first of the newly-titled gentlemen to do so, Earl Harcourt and Lord Bute advised Princess Augusta not to address his son as Lord Danbury, as it would have implications and they hadn't yet established if the new titles would be inherited.

Lord Bute and Earl Harcourt were pleased with the news of an heir. Princess Augusta assured them that the baby was fine, so Lord Bute said he'd arrange to have King George address parliament.

The king attempted to address parliament, but wasn't able to leave his carriage when he arrived, leaving his status in jeopardy.

When the king and queen announced that they were throwing a ball to introduce the new prince, Lord Bute and Earl Harcourt went to Princess Augusta, who admitted that she knew King George was ill. If he couldn't perform his duties at the ball, they said they'd start talking about removing him.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Crown Jewels, 1x06 (QC)
2. ↑ Holding the King, 1x04 (QC)
3. ↑ Queen to Be, 1x01 (QC)
4. ↑ Honeymoon Bliss, 1x02 (QC)
5. ↑ Even Days, 1x03 (QC)
6. ↑ Gardens in Bloom, 1x05 (QC)