MovieChat Forums > What a Girl Wants (2003) Discussion > Daphne's Title...

Daphne's Title...

posted 14 years ago by princessmadelynne
4 replies | jump to latest

... AKA I'm Thinking Way Too Hard About This

As Henry is Lord Dashwood, Earl of Wycombe, Daphne is entitled to use "The Lady" before her name: The Lady Daphne Reynolds Dashwood. Even though her parents divorced/split, as long as she was a legitimate child (and the movie implies she is), she would get to use the title. This should have been used at the very least on Daphne's debutante ball invitation.

Of course, Daphne wouldn't have known about it before arriving in England, but one would think that Jocelyn would have mentioned it. (Goodness knows Glynis or Clarissa wouldn't have.)

For more information, look up "Earl" on Wikipedia, and picture Colin Firth in that sweet coronation robe and coronet.

[–] CaptHayfever 14 years ago

That's pretty cool. Thanks for putting that together.

[–] klorentz 14 years ago

But doesn't Henry say the marriage in Morocco wasn't legal? That they had intended to legally marry when they returned to England, but Libby left? So no, at the beginning of the film, she has no title.

[–] princessmadelynne 14 years ago

That's why I said "if she is legitimate." The feeling I got from the movie is that Henry and Libby considered themselves legally married, but were planning on coming back to London and having another ceremony to meet the requirements of whatever church they belonged to (if any), or to meet societal expectations. Alistair got in the way, though, and Libby left before any of this could have happened. If Libby or Henry sent the other divorce papers, it wasn't mentioned in the film.

Of course, neither Henry nor Libby really know what was said in Morocco - and Glynis did point out the drums may have only indicated a mating ritual - so we don't know for sure, but Henry said that Daphne was not strictly a "love child," per se, which does lean toward Daphne being legitimate.

Either way, once Henry and Libby (re)married at the end of the film, the argument became moot. Of course, they could have shoehorned something about her and Libby's new titles into the ending montage, but it wasn't really necessary to do so.

[–] tnsprin-2 13 years ago

Certainly some title should have been picked up by the time of her party. She is mentioned as being 39th in line to the throne.