Daphne Bridgerton

In 1813, Daphne is presented at court, and Queen Charlotte names her the diamond of the season. It looks like a perfect start, but Anthony, her eldest brother and head of the family, scares off every good match. Her other brothers, Benedict and Colin, aren't much help. The only one left is the pushy Nigel Berbrooke, and Daphne ends up punching him when he goes too far.

So she makes a deal with Simon Basset, the new Duke of Hastings and Anthony's old friend. Simon swears he'll never marry. If they fake a courtship, the matchmaking mothers leave the duke alone, and other young men look at Daphne with fresh interest. The plan works a little too well: Prince Friedrich of Prussia joins the race.

The act turns into real feelings. At a ball, Daphne and Simon kiss in the garden and are seen. Anthony challenges Simon to a duel at dawn, and Daphne rushes to stop it. She asks Simon to marry her, and he agrees, warning that he can't have children. Daphne believes love is enough and says yes. The wedding is rushed through, with the queen's blessing. Violet, her mother, tries to explain what to expect from married life, but the talk is so awkward that Daphne goes into the marriage with a head full of unanswered questions.

At Clyvedon, Simon's country estate, Daphne learns her husband isn't unable to have children: he vowed not to, so his father's title would die with him. His father rejected Simon as a boy because of his stutter, and the duke never got over it. Daphne feels deceived, and they spend weeks in silence and arguments.

Little by little, Simon opens up about his childhood, and Daphne sees how deep the wound goes. They reconcile. In a flash-forward at the end of the season, they're holding their first child.

Now a duchess, Daphne comes back to help Anthony choose a bride. She joins the family's house party at Aubrey Hall and is the one who catches her brother and Kate Sharma in a compromising moment. Daphne knows what it looks like when someone falls in love against their will, and she won't let Anthony pretend nothing is happening.

In Julia Quinn's books, Daphne is the heroine of The Duke and I (2000), the first novel in the series. On the show she's played by Phoebe Dynevor, who did not return for S3 or S4.