Anghraine

An anon said:

I just reread Subsequent Connections on AO3, and was wondering in that universe, what the Fitzwilliam family reaction would be to a Darcy/Elizabeth relationship? If they had any ambitions for Darcy's marriage, I guess there would be some disappointment with Elizabeth, but at the same time she is family, and the coming back from the dead thing makes it hard to begrudge her I guess! And I'm curious about Lady Catherine's reaction to her daughter being jilted for her favourite niece this time...

I replied:

Yeah, that’s pretty spot-on, I think. One of Lady Catherine’s objections to canon Elizabeth is that she’s unallied to the family at large, which wouldn’t be an issue here, even while they certainly had higher ambitions for Darcy than a quasi-poor relation. But SC!Elizabeth is still a Fitzwilliam and they already love her, so it’s easier.

Also, I imagine that some of the Fitzwilliams would guess what was going on before Elizabeth did herself, lol. Eleanor, certainly James, and oddly enough, probably Milton. Cecily would like to see it but can’t quite associate Darcy with romance. Lord Ancaster is completely oblivious, as is (in a sadder way) Lady Ancaster. And Lady Catherine, of course.

It would definitely be hardest for Lady Catherine, both because of her plans for Anne and Darcy, and because she’s genuinely fond of Elizabeth and has planned for her advancement. I think she’d be less angry, but more upset, if that makes sense (there would still be a Scene) but come around much more quickly when the usurper is an actual Fitzwilliam.

An anon asked:

I'm curious what you think Colonel Fitzwilliam's reaction to Darcy's 1st proposal would be, if he ever heard of it (I think Darcy's too private to have shared what happened at Hunsford). Fanon always has him as the voice of reason who thinks Darcy's reservations about the marriage are ridiculous, but CF has very fixed notions on where it is acceptable to marry, and saw no issue with Darcy separating Bingly from a mesalliance, so I can see him not seeing the issue with the way Darcy proposed.

I replied:

I basically agree! I think he might well have quibbles about how Darcy presented his concerns, so in that sense he could see the issue, but I think it is quite possible that he would be reasonably sympathetic to Darcy’s concerns.

As a tangent, this kind of reminds me of a fic I wrote a longggg time ago, in response to this exact trend. In the fic, Darcy does tell someone about the proposal—an OC, Colonel Fitzwilliam’s sister—and far from objecting or ridiculing him, she completely agrees, so forcefully that it leads to him realizing how he must have sounded to Elizabeth. Even back then, I didn’t think he’d actually tell anyone (emphatic agreement there!); it came more from a general frustration with the treatment of the Fitzwilliams, especially Colonel Fitzwilliam, as these wholly sympathetic and right-thinking people who gave rise to Darcy and Lady Catherine by complete coincidence.

But yes, I think it’s possible to take a less rosy view of Colonel Fitzwilliam’s … umm, prudential approach to marriage and cheerful sympathy with Darcy’s interference in Bingley’s life (and IMO with Fitzwilliam's belated hint to Elizabeth) than many people do. And if you do, it’s very possible that Colonel Fitzwilliam could think that, well, maybe don’t play it up in the proposal, but those are real, valid concerns that are going to have to be dealt with.

Even looking at Fitzwilliam with a friendlier eye than mine, though, I still think it’s really improbable that Colonel Fitzwilliam’s response would be the same as ours or Elizabeth’s. Like, he’s the son of an earl in ~1795 or ~1812, and an earl who seems likely to be an allusion to a very powerful and influential RL one; classist pride isn’t going to be that outlandish to him.

It’s true that he’s willing to mock Darcy’s personal pride. But given what we see of his own approach, I think social/class/political issues might well be much more complicated for him, and he might easily see where Darcy is coming from.

Tagged: #few things have made me feel more out of sync with fandom than being ambivalent about fitzwilliam #so i really appreciated getting this!