Anthony Bridgerton

In 1813, Anthony decides who gets to court Daphne and scares off nearly every suitor. At the same time, he's having a secret affair with opera singer Siena Rosso, whom the family would never accept. To his younger siblings he plays the father, whether they want it or not, and he expects the same sense of duty from them that he demands of himself. When he finds out his friend Simon kissed Daphne in the garden, he challenges the duke to a duel at dawn. His sister stops the fight, and Simon marries her.

Siena ends up leaving Anthony. Hurt, he announces at the end of the season that he'll find a wife, with no love involved.

Anthony was still a young man when his father, Edmund, died of a bee sting in the garden at Aubrey Hall. Ever since, he's believed he'll die young and that loving someone only brings pain. In the new season, he picks Edwina Sharma, the year's diamond, because she's the ideal candidate on paper. The problem is Kate, her older sister, who doesn't trust him and tells him so to his face. Kate is every bit as stubborn as he is, and no title impresses her.

They argue every time they meet and are drawn to each other anyway. When a bee stings Kate at Aubrey Hall, Anthony panics, and it's clear he isn't as indifferent as he pretends.

Anthony proposes to Edwina anyway. At the altar, Edwina sees what's between her groom and her sister and walks out. Both families become the talk of London. Soon after, Kate is thrown from her horse in a storm and left unconscious, and Anthony realizes his greatest fear is losing her. They declare their love at the Featherington ball and marry. In the end, back at Aubrey Hall, the couple plays pall-mall with the family.

Anthony is around less in Benedict's season, but he still matters. When Benedict wants to live away from society with Sophie, a maid, Anthony objects and the brothers argue. Sophie overhears them, and that changes the couple's plans. Anthony is still the brother who puts the family name first.

In Julia Quinn's books, Anthony is the hero of The Viscount Who Loved Me (2000), the second novel. On the show he's played by Jonathan Bailey.