Becoming Lady Darcy

by Sara Smallman

  Newly arrived from the coast, Percy Wyndham had stepped off the train at Lambton not knowing that she was at Pemberley, not knowing that the feelings he had buried deep within him would re-emerge when he saw her. He had married Flora knowing that it was wrong; hated how she pandered to him, never challenged him. When she died, he barely noticed her absence, and he had despised himself for that. Mabel had been lost to him, and when they had met at social engagements, he saw the sadness pass across her eyes for the future that they could have had.

  When news of her husband’s death had reached Norfolk, he was determined to find her again; but by the time he arrived in Yorkshire she had already left, and the house was shuttered until the teenage Earl was ready to take up his inheritance. Once again, she had slipped through his fingers but now, in the library of her childhood home, here they were.

  “Lady Fitzwilliam-Darcy,” he bowed a stiff awkward bow to the woman in the turquoise dress. “How delightful to find you here.”

  “Mr Wyndham, how are you?” She felt her voice raise an octave at the end. “It has been many years since we last saw each other, has it not?”

  “Indeed,” he moved slowly towards her, watched as she placed her book down on the table. “It has been a lifetime. Mabel…”.

  “Percy,” she glanced her fingertips across the top of his hand. “I have missed you.”

  “I think,” he turned his hand so that his palm lay flat in hers, “that I may have missed you the most.”

  Mabel Darcy was always brought up to remember who she was and the protocols of polite society, but right now, in this moment, she felt herself fall in to Percy Wyndham’s embrace. The scent of rose oil and cinnamon permeated his soul, and he knew that fate was finally batting for his team.

  “I never should have let you go,” he breathed into her curls, now peppered with grey. “I should have fought for us.”

  She took his face in her hands; he was older now, much altered to anyone else, but the only face she could see was that of the handsome boy who she had fallen in love with such a long time ago.

  “No,” she beamed, “can you not see? This is all as it was meant to be.” She pulled away from his embrace, walked over to the fireplace.

  “All of these years apart?”

  “All of these years becoming who we are now; imagine the stories we have to tell each other and the adventures we have already had. The adventures that are yet to come.”

  “I think I fail to understand your meaning.”

  “Mr Wyndham, if I recall correctly you once made me an offer of marriage a long time ago, and if I recall, I never gave you an answer.”

  “Do you have one now?”

  “I have considered your proposal most sincerely and I am inclined to accept it.”

  Mabel finally married Percy Wyndham at the age of fifty-four; they had eighteen blissful years together in the house at Cromer, where they sailed out to sea and ate crabs straight from the shell. In the three corridors of the bright gallery, the exhibition about her life told the story of a fearless woman who defied society’s conventions; on the walls hung the artefacts that she had brought back with her, the illustrations she had made of the places she had been to, the clothes she had worn and finally, in pride of place, the newly discovered atlas that had belonged to her father and where she had plotted and planned her journey in the library at Pemberley. Sometimes we need to travel to far flung places, reach the furthest corners of the world, to realise that everything we are looking for is waiting patiently for us to return to shore.

  Benn Williams on love, ‘Lilac’, lost family history, and leTting go of his inner demons.

  By Francesca O’Toole

  Benn Williams walks in looking every inch the Hollywood superstar you would expect, but I am genuinely surprised to note how different he looks. Gone is the tense, stretched out actor who used to appear for interviews looking like a coiled spring. We have met before, and the former Henry Jones has always been short and sharp; barking out answers to questions and sending through a list of demands before his arrival, but today he meets me in his local coffee shop, relaxed and amenable as he excitedly tells me all about his new role in the dark, twisting tale of Oscar Menzies, the brooding protagonist of the eagerly anticipated ‘Lilac’. Understandably we have to talk about his role as Mr Darcy in ‘Pride and Prejudice’, last year’s adaptation directed by Matthew Wickham. It was a sumptuous production which won Jenny Graves her first Leading Actress BAFTA for the role of Elizabeth Bennet, and saw Williams surpassing Colin Firth in the hot, regency hero stakes. “You always know that playing Darcy is a big thing,” he says, as we order Eggs Benedict and coffee, “but you never really understand it until you actually put the shirt on.” He, of course, referring to the ‘wet shirt’ scene which saw him reveal a cotton-covered glimpse of his MI6 super spy physique and which caused Miss Bennet to get suitably flustered. “Matthew wasn’t sure if we were going to use it, but it’s pretty much a given now that Mr Darcy gets damp,” he grins with a twinkle in his eye.

  Williams was on location for nearly six months despite Mr Darcy’s brief appearances in the film, ‘I was going through my divorce and it was a very difficult time.” He looks wistfully out of the window and his jaw clenches. I ask him if he is still friends with Madeleine Tennant, his former wife and mother of his daughters, Esther and Anya. ‘We plod on with it, we get along. It’s gone past the point where there is anger about it. Life is too short to hold onto that kind of animosity, so we don’t.’ Tennant, 42, is currently on hiatus from her role as Lady Rebecca in ITV’s ‘Haringey Place’, and due to give birth to her baby with new husband, French financier Antoine Pelletier, any day now. Benn attended the wedding. ‘It was an odd feeling, because when we got married, I honestly thought that we would be together forever – we spent enough money,’ he says, referring to the elaborate event that was featured in ‘Hello’ and saw both Tennant and Williams receive criticism from fans, despite the magazine fee being donated to various charities. ‘But Madeleine is happy, and Antoine really is a great guy,’ he pauses, and I realise that there is a full stop here. He isn’t prepared to reveal any more about this.

  Filming in LA for two months probably accounts for his tanned, relaxed look, despite Lilac being filmed on a shoestring budget. ‘There was absolutely no money for it whatsoever, I was working for scale and it didn’t even cover my expenses, but there is something so brutal about the way this story has been told, that I couldn’t not do it.’ The forty-three-year-old turned down the lead role in Jimin Jampol’s ‘Galaxy of Empires’ to star in the low-budget shoot. ‘Gainsma Quince is an iconic character, but there are twelve books in the series, and it would have been a massive commitment. I was away from home for nearly three years in total when I filmed Henry Jones, and it was bloody hard work. There is something about a job like that. It takes its toll on you, physically and mentally.’ We finish our breakfast and order more coffee, Williams flashes his famous smile at the waitress. ‘But Lilac was different.’

  The film, currently showing at Sundance, weaves the tale of Oscar and Janey, a brutal reworking of a classic Hemingway novel, repackaged and re-located to the frontline of the war in Afghanistan. There is no happy ending in ‘Lilac’, but Williams likes that. ‘There isn’t always a happy ending to stories, sometimes you are just left in the middle of a chapter wondering what happened, not sure how it should have ended, and I liked that about this story.’ And the sex scenes? There was an initial furore regarding the film due to the explicit storyline and Williams’ insistence on casting an age appropriate actress for the role of his lover, Janey. ‘It would have been easy to have chosen a brilliant, younger actress – because there are so many talented women out there – but Oscar and Janey are the same age, they are middle-aged, and it felt dishonest of me to show Oscar as this older, damaged man prancing about with a hot, young thing.’ The part of Janey went to Jemima Lancaster, 43. There is no doubting the chemistry between the old friends who are both veteran
s of the Cambridge Footlights. ‘It was great working with Jemima again and I feel that we bring a wonderful sense of honesty to the story. It’s very raw, very passionate, and it needed that because the story that Catherine [Lawson] has written is so brilliantly pure.’

  Currently in rehearsals for ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ at Manchester’s Royal Exchange, Benn will be playing Lady Bracknell, ‘who doesn’t want to screech ‘a handbag??’, he grins, “and I get to wear a bustle, how amazing is that?” Williams has been back ‘up north’ for other reasons too. His family tree has recently been researched for celebrity genealogy programme, ‘The Story of My Life’ and the team discovered a lot of hidden history. The episode is due to air in a few weeks’ time, and both Benn and the BBC are keeping details under wraps, although released promotional stills show Williams in the gardens at Pemberley. ‘It’s ridiculously interesting and revealed some amazing facts,’ he says, with a smile on his face. So, how did he get on with the famous Darcys during his time at the Derbyshire estate? ‘They are a surprisingly down to earth family,’ he says, and it is clear from Instagram posts shared by Harriet - daughter of Lady Elizabeth Darcy, bestselling author of ‘Most Ardently’, and Benn’s close friend, Matthew Wickham - that he spent a lot of time with them whilst there. ‘They are very private, but Harriet is like any other teenager. She is a lot of fun.’

  And what about Darcy wild child Lady Imogen? The troubled socialite has been out of the spotlight for the past year, but recently re-emerged on social media to raise mental health awareness. Her suicide attempt was well documented in the tabloids, despite the family’s attempts to keep it out of the press. ‘We were in the middle of filming when Lady Elizabeth received the phonecall. It was a harrowing time for all concerned, really touch and go.’ His relaxed mood shifts slightly, ‘but it can happen to any of us. We can all get to the point where we hit rock bottom.’ Williams reveals that he has been receiving treatment for alcoholism, ‘it got to the point where I hit rock bottom too, and I stayed there. I stayed there for a long time, until something happened that made me realise that I needed to stop. Well, two things actually.’ I ask him what he means, and he retreats slightly before emerging with confidence, ‘I nearly threw myself in front of a tube train and I was stopped by a stranger. He literally pulled me back onto the platform. I don’t know who he is, but I want to thank him.’ He takes a large mouthful of his flat white, ‘suicide is the biggest killer of men under forty-five in the UK, and I hope that by sharing this it might help someone else. Even if it is just one person.’ I realise, sitting there in a coffee shop in Manchester’s northern quarter, that it is taking a lot of nerve for Benn Williams to sit here and tell me this. ‘I am not immune to feeling as if there is no escape. A person very dear to me once said, ‘it’s never the answer, but it can sometimes be the question’ and that rings very true.’

  So, is he on the road to recovery now? ‘I’m getting there, slowly but surely. It’s not a sprint, it’s an endurance race, but I like the person who I am without alcohol. He’s actually quite nice.’ I wholeheartedly agree. ‘And I met someone too.’ He tries to be coy about this, but it just blurts out of his mouth. ‘She made me realise that what we do has a ripple effect, it’s not just about one person.’ Is this lucky lady the new woman in Benn Williams’ life? ‘I hope so,’ he smiles, ‘but I have to convince her that it’s not a completely terrible idea!’ He rises to leave, but not before giving me a massive hug. ‘Fingers crossed, Fran,’ he says, as he walks off.

  As I watch him disappear down Shudehill, I realise that I’m really rooting for him.

  The Importance of Being Earnest’ runs from 15 May – 27th July at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. ‘Lilac’ is released on the 24th June nationwide.

  HARRIET: Mum, you need to read The Guardian. Like now. Go online. Read it now.

  DEBS: Fuck me, did you see the interview? Did you read it? Fucking hell. Fuck fuck fuck. AMAZING.

  IMOHOHO: OMG LIZARD, WTF??? He loves you, he LOVES you!! Benn Williams is like 100% totally in love with you.

  MAGS: Lizzy. It is NOT A COMPLETELY TERRIBLE IDEA.

  MATT: What more does the man have to do??

  BENN: Hey you.

  Lizzy lay on the floor of the Saloon, above her the gold embellishments on the ceiling sparkled in the early morning light. She couldn’t sleep, had come downstairs the wrong way, sitting on the steps of the grand staircase until the sun began to rise, hoping that Hortense Holland wasn’t out for a ghostly stroll, and now she was here in Mr Darcy’s grand reception room as the sun appeared over the hills, the rays glinting off the lake.

  Over the fireplace, the picture of Mabel Darcy in her wedding gown looked down at her, strange to think that she was Benn’s great great great grandmother, that they were both leaves from the same tree. The wax cylinder recording crackled to life, looping on a timer that had been set too early and which nobody had fixed yet. Mabel’s voice, all at once eerie and firm, sounded out in the room where her wedding banquet had been held.

  “We are all islands alone, but that does not mean we cannot be traversed every now and then.”

  It was as if Mabel was reaching out to her through time, because she knew now what she needed to do.

  LIZZY: Hey.

  Thirty

  The Lady Darcy tour was due to start at twelve; an intimate guided tour around the house led by Elizabeth Darcy herself. Guests were guided down passageways and up staircases that they would probably never have known existed, before being led to the saloon and given the chance to step out onto the balcony as Darcy and Elizabeth would have done.

  The group moved down the corridor of the bright gallery, the vibration of twelve people moving all at once causing the glass cabinet to shudder and clink and then the lid of the Chinese spice jar to join in with the chorus. They moved to the bottom of the grand staircase and she went through her prepared spiel of how George Darcy had been marched down these stairs as he was arrested for treason, how Lady Hortense Darcy had met an untimely end at the foot of them, and how Mr Darcy himself had personally selected the carvings and embellishments.

  “And most recently,” she continued, “the house was the location for the filming of Pride and Prejudice and, if you’ve seen it, you will probably remember the staircase as being the centrepiece of the final scenes where the happy couple return to Pemberley after the wedding.”

  “Oh yes,” trilled a plump, enthusiastic woman stood at the front. “This was where Darcy took her by the hand and led her upstairs with the candle in his hand.”

  “That was so romantic,” swooned another less plump but more orange lady, who was pointing at a portrait of the real Fitzwilliam that hung on the staircase wall. “I recognise that picture!”

  “And he said, “Let me show you Mrs Darcy, that being Mistress of Pemberley might be something,” and then he kisses her!”

  “He kisses her right here next to the bannister!”

  The orange lady moved past Lizzy and a flustered woman wrangling two children and threw herself onto the staircase in the manner of the fictional Mrs Darcy.

  “And then she says… ‘Oh Mr Darcy, you are very fortunate indeed, for you appear to have wed the happiest and luckiest woman in England’,” they laughed in unison, both doing pitch perfect impressions of Jenny Graves.

  “I don’t remember that being in the book.”

  A voice piped up from the back of the crowd, pushing to the front Benn Williams seemed slightly dishevelled. He caught her eye, just for one quick, unsure second. But it was enough.

  “Oh, it should have been,” said the plump woman, who did a double take.

  There was a shriek from a few more of the ladies on the tour, and he was surrounded in a hubbub of noise, signing autographs and taking pictures. Lizzy watched as he smiled and charmed and made love to them all; and she found that she was smiling with them.

  She began her ascent up the stairs, slowly making her way past the people taking pictures. The tour paused
momentarily so that people could take pictures on the grand staircase or choose a regency bonnet or top hat from the selection. She stood to one side, out of the way.

  He walked up the stairs towards her, pausing slowly, hesitantly. He wasn’t sure how he was going to approach this, wasn’t sure how he could. But he knew he had to say something, knew he had to see her and ask, because if he didn’t then what would have been the point of it all.

  “Lizzy.”

  “Hello.”

  Her voice not as loud as usual, as if she had the wind knocked out of her. She wondered why he looked so unhappy and then she felt those familiar prickles again, couldn’t quite tell if they were good or bad - was he trying to tell her that really this wasn’t a good idea, that this was another false start, that this was all they would ever amount to.

  Benn knew what he wanted to say, but he couldn’t quite figure out how to get the words out of his head. So, he decided, amidst the noise and the rumble of a busy Pemberley day, that he would start at the beginning.

  “These last twelve months have been the worst months of my life,” he said, looking out of the window. “The best thing I can take from them was that morning with you.”