Goodness, LORD EDMUND AUGUSTUS BERKELEY has arrived in London. HE is 30, of the GLOUCESTER BERKELEYS. Though they are RETURNED to the Season, we can only describe them as CHARMING and ENGAGING, dear reader. Accompanied by HIS MOTHER AND YOUNGER SISTER, they have settled in and are accepting social calls. But be warned: they are known for their MOODINESS
i am beyond excited for this
Full Name: Edmund Augustus Berkeley
Nicknames: Berkeley, Ed, Teddy, Bunny (reserved for his mother+sister )Â
Skeleton: The DreamerÂ
Titles: Lord Berkeley, future Viscount SouthamÂ
Cast Position: Royalty | Nobility | GentryÂ
Birthdate: July 13th 1770
Birthplace: Berkeley Square, London
EDMUND, the heir to his fatherâs land and title, born to his parents as the eldest of what would turn out to be four children. His birth wiping that ever-present frown from his motherâs features, for she'd successfully done her duty, and simultaneously turning his parentâs marriage of convenience into what could almost be called a love match. His existence brought them together, closer than ever, and that sentiment was clear to observe in Edmundâs childhood. His parents didnât hire a nurse for the first four years of his life, until his first sibling came along, the little family living in bliss on their country estate. A couple years later the twins came along and that was it.
HE WAS exceptionally close to his father, still is to this day, Edmund is sure heâs his fatherâs favourite, secretly. Really, thereâs nothing much to report on his very early life, Edmund had been a free spirit from day one and his parents had let him, allowing him all the leniency that was usually only reserved for second sons - thatâs how much love there was present in the household. His father didnât start his âtrainingâ, preparing him for his duty, until Edmund was well out of leading strings, a boy of eleven. And even then he did it with so much kind regard for the boy, one couldâve thought he was teaching him of a distant life someone else would be leading once it was time, not Edmund himself.
PERHAPS it was this tender sentiment of his parentâs marriage that turned Edmund into the daydreamer he grew up to be. A kindhearted boy of soft temper, much unlike other firstborn sons. A childhood friend had stirred his interest in the arts and by the time he was fifteen, Edmund was found locking himself in his room and painting and sketching away all day. Heâs recently taken to prose, too, but ... thatâs a topic for another day (heâs awful at it ). But his passion for painting, music, it never subsided. Heâd begged and begged his father to attend an academy for the arts but was only allowed intensive lessons from private tutors - still, more liberty granted than most others in his position.
HIS VERY first season is several years behind him now, they had come to London when his eldest sister, four years younger than him, had come of age and made her debut. His mother had promised not to play matchmaker until the next season but she couldnât stop her meddeling and introducing him to some eligible young ladies - Edmundâs disdain for polite societyâs ways grew more severe every passing day but he powered through it, for his sister, yet always feeling their glances piercing into his back, heard them muttering about what a âsorry excuse for an heirâ he seemed to be. So he made his attendance at balls a rare occasion, preferred to hang about in gentleman clubs with his Oxford friends instead. This part of society, heâd come to reliaze, wasnât all that bad.
AND SO he returned for the season after that, too, if only for the sole purpose to spend time with old friends and dance with his sisters, point and laugh about eager mamas with his youngest brother. Edmund indulged himself, in every indulgence the ton had to offer, partying and painting away in his Bachelor lodgings.However, his youngest siblingâs wedding has proved a turning point for his endeavors - a strong worded letter from his parents, calling him back from his travels to the continent, demanding that he finally take on his role as the eldest siblings, heir to the title, and behave as such, find a spouse, favorably this very season. Edmund harbos some resentment for that rough wake up call, though he canât say he didnât have it coming. Now he must navigate the marriage market as his siblings have done before him, accompanied to London by his anxiously eager mother and his eldest sister, whoâs left her husband and small child behind in the country to help him in this endeavour.
Dark Past:Â Thereâs a reason some might consider Edmund a ârakeâ, there have been many young people swooning at the young Lordâs feet. One in particular he canât quite forget - an Austrian opera singer, whom he had met in a social club during his travels to Vienna. A passionate and extremly short romance, they were simply keeping one another warm in the harsh Austrian winter, all cut short when his younger brotherâs engagement was announced. Edmund had to excuse himself back to England, leave her behind - though he left two behind as he had been informed in a letter. Sheâd attached a miniature of their infant daughter in the envelope. She didnât ask for anything, just wanted him to know. Edmund sends money to Vienna every few months, still, and he keeps the miniature in his bedside drawer, gazes fondly upon it every day before he goes to sleep. If he wants to continue supporting his daughter and her mother from afar, he has to make sure her very existence remains a secret.
Edmund is a whimsical character, people look at him funny, the eldest son behaving like a second born. Heâs always got his head in the clouds, he canât seem to focus on the things that donât really interest him for long, sometimes it takes several utterances of âmy lord, are you quite well?â for him to snap back into reality.
All in all, Edmund is a kind soul, he likes to sit back and observe rather than participate straight away. Heâs an ambivert - once heâs painted himself a picture of his surroundings he does like to participate and indulge (sometimes to an inapproriate extent). He loves and loathes company, itâs a lottery with him, really.
Heâs a little short-tempered, perhaps, and quite good at saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. He doesnât feign interest for something he clearly doesnât care for - though heâs been advised to put up a stern front to be taken more serious as future Viscount.
Edmund doesnât care for religion much like he doesnât care for polite society, yet he indulges in both from time to time, he finds it thrilling to attend the odd seance in the worse part of town as well as bathing  in the stares of young marriage-minded folks while making a rare attendance at a ball. I suppose you could call him a little self-centered at times.
