Your Name: Liz
Age: 20
Where'd You Find Us: I made the board.
____________________
Name: Julianne Theodora Grafton
Nickname (if applicable): Jules
Age: 19
Date of Birth: February 14, 1792
Title: Lady
FAMILY
Thomas Grafton, 2nd Marquess of Raulings (father, born 1753)
Theodora Grafton, Marchioness of Raulings (neé Lady Theodora Dillard) (mother, born 1764)
William Grafton, Earl of Bridgeton (half-brother, born September 1782)
John Quinn, Duke of Wycombe - half-brother, born April 1784, married Lady Penelope Beckett
--Lady Genevieve Quinn (born 1809)
Lord Henry Grafton and Lord Richard Grafton (elder brothers, twins, born January 1786)
Lord Thomas Grafton (stillborn, March 1787)
Katharine Steele, Countess of Carrington (elder sister, born February 18, 1789)
Lady Theodora Grafton (deceased as infant, born April 1790)
BACKGROUND
The youngest of the Quinn-Grafton clan, Julianne was born on a cold, but clear, February morning in 1792. The product of a second marriage on both her parents' sides, she was raised in a loving environment full of laughter and fun. In contrast to her older sister Katharine, Julianne preferred to spend her days at a healthy distance from her brothers. As a result, they tended to tease and pull pranks on her, something that often brought Lady Raulings' wrath down upon them.
Julianne was always small and very delicate. A few health scares, including a nasty bout of scarlet fever in the fall of 1799, were all it took to ensure that all members of the family treated, and to this day still treat, Julianne as a semi-invalid, despite the fact that she is now fully recovered and as healthy as any debutante. As a result of her frequent illnesses as a girl, she was often forced to miss out of family outings.
While Kate was out with the boys, Julianne stayed indoors with her cat. The two girls were, however, educated together by private tutors at Raulings Park. Julianne is well versed in French and German, as well as music, watercolors, and embroidery. Her brothers have likened her singing voice to a dying crow, though she has a fair talent with the pianoforte.
With a fortune of £30,000 and connections to a duke, a marquess, and an earl (through her half-brother's wife), Julianne and her mother are confident that she will have no difficulties securing an appropriate spouse by the end of the Season.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Julianne shares her mother and sister's red hair, though hers is more of a reddish gold rather than the fiery color of her sister. It's wavier than it is curly, though it does take a curl well. She has light blue eyes and stands at 5'1" tall. Very slender, with mediocre curves, Julianne has the appearance of a lifesized child's doll.
Julianne tends to favor pale blue or mint green dresses, as she believes they enhance the color of her eyes. Her signature piece of jewelry is a double-stranded golden pearl necklace. She also has a well-known penchant for feathers, though her mother disapproves of such an embellishment.
PERSONALITY
Julianne Grafton is a Society mama's dream. She is petite, attractive, well read, a talented pianist, and a charming conversationalist. She's loyal to her friends, her manners are impeccable, and her fashion sense is admirable. She also likes babies (or at least the idea of babies), which bodes well for her future as a mother.
She's also demanding, selfish, competitive, manipulative, and spoiled. Indulged and treated as her family's darling for her entire life, she sees no reason that this treatment should end now that she is grown. She has always been the center of her family's world, and she now expects to be the center of Society's world as well. She is quick to judge without knowing all the facts and tends to take Society's gossip as God's truth. If everyone says it, it must be true. She is also loathe to admit any wrongdoing on her part. In truth, she would be far more likely to attempt to convince others that she was, in fact, with justification rather than accept that she made an error.
Julianne is a planner. Currently on her mind is her (presumably) upcoming wedding. She has selected a church, chosen the flowers, and has settled on mint green silk with Belgian lace for her wedding gown. Now all she needs is the groom. Julianne's plans don't stop after the vows, however. She has concocted what she expects to be the perfect formula for the perfect life. After her wedding this year, she will produce her husband's heir within 18 months. He will be named for his father and be followed within 24 months by Julianne's second son. After all, she wouldn't dream of producing anything less than two sons, for all peers must have at least two (and Julianne would never settle for less than a peer). Following her second son's birth, Julianne has decided to indulge herself with a little girl, to be named Virginie, after her maternal grandmother, within three years of her second son's birth. After that, she will return to her rightful place as a Society hostess and planner of spectacular social events. Marriage, son, son, daughter, hostess.
When things go according to her carefully laid plans, Julianne is sweet, even-tempered, and likable. When her world is beautiful, she wants to make everyone else's beautiful too. The converse of this is, of course, when her world is
not beautiful, no one else's should dare be. She enjoys conversing with like minded people, though she is quick to dismiss anyone whose opinions do not fall in line with her own. She loves to make little jokes and admires those with excellent wit. Parties are one of Julianne's greatest joys in life, for they combine all that she loves: beautiful clothes, excellent food, handsome gentlemen, and entertaining conversation.
That being said, Julianne is also intensely competitive. She desperately wants to be the best at everything she attempts.
Julianne is a natural flirt, most likely stemming from the fact that she was the prettiest and wealthiest girl in her neighborhood. Boys fawned over her, and the young Julianne quickly realized that she could get men to do things for her without actually having to do anything. The trick was making them
think that she might. When she left for London last month, she left several broken hearts behind her. Julianne is not a cruel girl; she has simply never had anyone break her heart and thus thinks little of the consequences of her actions. Though she likes to portray herself as worldly and sophisticated, Julianne has led a rather sheltered life. Beyond giving kisses to the local gentry's sons in exchange for running little errands for her, she has little experience with men and Society as a whole. Her experience with the male species is limited to
boys, rather than men.
Her frequent illnesses as a young girl resulted in her often being required to stay indoors, but luckily that is her preference. While her sister and brothers would have been deliriously happy fishing at the Grafton Park, Julianne finds the outdoors to be dirty and...rugged. Besides, everyone knows that redheads freckle dreadfully if exposed to excessive sun, which in Julianne's opinion amounts to more than one hour a day in a bonnet with a parasol or more than twenty minutes a day without either. No, she would much prefer to sit in the library, petting her cat and reading one of Minerva Press' latest novels.
Her days indoors may have lead to one of Julianne's more unexpected quirks. She has a love of travel books, and in fact dreams of one day embarking upon a Grand Tour of sorts, exploring sophisticated France, untamed Germany, romantic Italy, and mysterious Spain. She would be embarrassed to admit her passion for travel, and indeed, few outside of her immediate family know of it. They, of course, treat it as a silly young girl's fancy, but Julianne is truly quite passionate about it and would take great offense were anyone to dismiss it out of hand.
Julianne is very aware of both her family's expectations of her and what Society expects from a lady of her position. She does not take well to those who do step beyond the bounds of propriety. In fact, though she loves her sister very deeply, she is sometimes ashamed of her situation. Though family means a great deal to Julianne, it might be fair to say that her social standing means more.
