Highclere Castle, the setting for Downton Abbey (Wikimedia Commons) Are you a Downton Abbey fan? I am, and I’m impatient for Season 4 to begin here in the U.S. Waiting for the new shows gives me plenty of time to consider how the world of Downton Abbey resembles the Regency era. Here are just a few of the similarities the two worlds share: A class-ridden society at their core The Regency had its "beau monde," the roughly 10,000 or so aristocrats in the upper tier of society whom the working classes (the majority of the population) served. The class divide at Downton Abbey is illustrated by how hard the servants who live downstairs must labor to keep the household running while Lord Grantham and his family enjoy a busy social schedule of lavish dinners, balls and house parties. Rigid code of social rules Though the Regency is known for both its social elegance and decadence it was still very possible to be ostracized from polite society for straying t
. . . where the past is mirrored in the present