Lady Danbury is less than impressed with her surprise guest

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”.

And during episode seven Marcus reveals his intentions to get to know Lady Bridgerton and essentially begin a relationship with her, but she says while she does want to get to know him, she can’t until things are repaired between Marcus and his sister. Which brings us onto…

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 at 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.

She then spends much of episode six trying to get her brother to entertain other ladies of the ton rather than Violet Bridgerton.

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, but thankfully the end of episode six reveals why the pair do not get on.

After Violet gets upset at the Mondrichs’ ball, she leaves in tears, and Marcus follows her, however Lady Danbury stops him, telling him she will go after her friend. She then gets upset, asking Marcus: “Must you take everything from me?” Marcus then asks her what he has done to upset his sister so, guessing it was that he was their father’s favourite.

Instead, Lady Danbury reveals it is not her father’s favouritism that upsets her, but that her brother was the one who told their father she was trying to escape the night before her wedding to Lord Danbury and thus taking away her chance at happiness.

Marcus seems confused and calls her “Soma” which as Bridgerton readers will know is Lady Danbury’s maiden name in the book series.

Thankfully, in episode seven Marcus apologises to his sister, revealing that at 10 years old he didn’t know what his sister was running from and thought he was protecting her, as he had heard the outside world was dangerous for young women.

He added he wanted to prove himself to his older sister, complimenting her courage and expresses his regret at not standing up to their father.

Lady Danbury then questioned why he didn’t tell her this before, to which he replied: “Because I was not only in awe of you, I was afraid of you.”

She then revealed she was scared her brother would take away the joy in her life she has now created for herself and the pair make up.

We do love a happy ending.

Bridgerton season three is available on Netflix now