Downton Abbey filled with Calgary connections, historian says
Rachel Ward | CBC News | Posted: July 31, 2018 1:00 AM | Last Updated: July 31, 2018
Popular period drama hints at Canada's founding, Alberta's naming and a royal love affair
When the popular English drama Downton Abbey returns as a movie, an Alberta historian will be watching for Calgary connections.
Doug Coats is "completely hooked" on the series, which he checked out from the library after many recommendations from friends.
"It's funny, I didn't even watch the show when it was on," he told the Calgary Eyeopener on Monday.
Now he's a fan — and he's been tracking the multitude of Calgary-related scenes in the period drama, which tracks the Crawley family as they govern their struggling English estate in the countryside.
Coats is presenting on those connections as part of Historic Calgary Week. His talk is on Tuesday at the John Dutton Theatre in the Central Library (616 Macleod Tr. S.E.). It starts at 7 p.m.
Even if you're not a die-hard fan of the show, he promises you'll enjoy this run-through of Calgary's historical highlights, told through the lens of Downton Abbey.
In Season 4, character Lady Rose travels to London to be presented to society in front of King George and Queen Mary.
"In the background was their son, named David in the show. Later he became King Edward VIII, the infamous one who abdicated to marry the woman he loved," Coats said.
King Edward was "sort of the Prince William of his day," Coats said, and travelled across Canada. Then the Prince of Wales, he laid the corner stone for the Peace Tower in Ottawa. When he stopped in Calgary, he fell in love with the area and bought a ranch outside the city.
E.P. Ranch, or Edward Prince Ranch, is now a registered Alberta historic place.
Drama sent to Calgary
While in England, an earlier love affair by the prince made waves in Alberta. He had a mistress, Freda Dudley Ward, who was married to parliamentarian William Dudley Ward.
"David-slash-Edward had to get him out of the picture somehow," Coats said.
Ward was made the custodian of the royal's Alberta properties. To this day, an old sandstone building on Stephen Avenue in Calgary is still known as the Glanville/Ward Block, which had been the site of Ward's offices. He was later buried in Calgary's Union Cemetery.
Start of a country
Two castles also play a large role in Downton Abbey, as well as Alberta's history. The abbey, which is actually Highclere Castle, was one of the key places that led to Canada's confederation and it's the key setting in Downton Abbey.
In 1866, the soon-to-be first Canadian prime minister, John A. Macdonald, was invited with George-Étienne Cartier to Highclere Castle, then home to the colonial secretary known as Lord Carnavon.
"The provinces, kind of typically like they would today, went from almost unanimous agreement in Quebec to total disagreement in London, each one trying to get the best deal for themselves," Coats said.
The secretary had hoped he could hammer out a deal that would eventually be presented to the British Parliament.
Watch for more about how this English castle played in the eventual birth of a new country:
A modern day Lady Carnavon found a diary in which Macdonald called the castle a "swell place."
So when main characters Mary and Matthew Crawley walk the castle's halls and sit in the lounge, know the country's first prime minister had been there first, Coats said.
The connection that really struck Coats was in Season 3, when the Crawley family goes on a shooting holiday to Scotland to stay with an old friend named Shrimpie in Duneagle Castle.
"Well, there is no Duneagle Castle. The real castle's called Inveraray Castle," Coats said. "Little boy grew up there, his name was John Campbell. He later had the good sense to marry one of Queen Victoria's daughters, Princess Louise Caroline Alberta."
Campbell became Governor General of Canada, came west without his wife and enjoyed the landscape around Fort Calgary. He had dinner with the first documented European settler family in the area, the Glenns in Fish Creek, Coats said, and sketched the settlement for publication overseas.
"They gave him the honour of naming this area, this district of the Northwest Territory," Coats said. "Like any smart man would, he named it after his wife, and since there was already a Louisiana, she decided to go with Alberta, which also covered her father, Prince Albert."
The new Downton Abbey movie — with the primary cast members set to return — is being filmed this summer. It's likely to be released sometime next year.
Listen to more from Doug Coats on Downton Abbey's Alberta connections:
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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.
Corrections:- An earlier version of this story said John A. Macdonald's meeting was in 1886. In fact, it was in 1866. July 31, 2018 2:07 PM