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Mary: "You won't be any the wiser, but his name is Evelyn Napier."
Edith: "The Honourable Evelyn Napier, son and heir to Viscount Branksome."
Mary: "Who wants an old sea monster when they can have Perseus?"
— Mary and Edith telling Sybil about Evelyn[src]

The Hon. Evelyn Napier is the son and heir of Viscount Branksome. Evelyn is modest and a keen huntsman. He is friend of the Crawley family and occasionally visits Downton.

Background

Cora tells Mary that Evelyn's mother was a dear friend of hers, although Cora was unaware that she had died a year earlier.

Series One

Mary Crawley's fiance Patrick has died and she has no interest in new heir Matthew Crawley. Lady Cora learning that he has written to Mary and is staying nearby with friends tells her to invite him to Downton. She later discusses him with Lord Grantham and his mother, Dowager Countess Violet. They all agree that Evelyn Napier is considered a good match for her, and that the Napiers are wealthy. Mary is to write and invite him to Downton Abbey for an hunt, and Mary is to ride out with him. Evelyn asks the Crawleys if he may invite Kemal Pamuk, his friend from the Turkish embassy to join him, as he is interested in seeing an English fox hunt.

Initially he had been asked to take on the task of squiring Turkish diplomat Kemal Pamuk in English society as a duty, but Evelyn found that he liked him more and more, the longer he knew him. Evelyn is very fond of Mary, but he is overshadowed in his pursuit of her attention by the handsome and charming Pamuk, who monopolizes her attention. The next morning Kemel is found dead in his bed and Napier is greatly saddened by his friend's death.

As for Mary, he realizes that she finds him boring and, therefore, decides not to pursue her romantically any further. He joins Cora as she is walking on the estate grounds and tells her the that while he does not consider himself a very interesting person, he feels that his future wife should think him so.

Rosamund later mentioned in a letter to Robert that Evelyn is intending to marry one of the Semphill girls, but he informs Mary he has recently ended his engagement when he visits her in London.

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Lady Mary and Evelyn Napier.

Evelyn is the first person to alert Mary of a rumor circulating about her and Pamuk. He feels somewhat responsible for Mary's social problems, because he had brought Pamuk to Downton, and the scandal would not have happened, otherwise. To make up for this debt he believed he owed, he called in favors and found out that the source of these rumors are from her sister Edith, who had written a letter to the Turkish ambassador.

Series Two

Mary later mentions receiving a letter from Evelyn that he was injured fighting in the First World War and requesting that he be brought from Middlesbrough to Downton Abbey to recover.

Series Four

Evelyn returns to Downton in 1922. Mary is happy to see him again. He tells her he is working on a government project regarding the rural economy, part of which assessing which estates are still surviving and which ones are not following the Great War. Napier assures Mary, Robert, and Cora that Downton is not one of those in danger. But Mary still would like his and his colleagues' opinions on their management.

He returns to Downton, accompanied by his boss, Charles Blake. Mary expresses hopes that they are primarily there to advise the estate on how to endure, but after Blake replies "not quite" she later remarks to Napier "You seem to have brought a traitor into our midst."

Napier however insists Blake is not a traitor.

Personality

Relationships

Quotes

Appearances

Appearances and Mentions
Series 1 Episode 1 Episode 2
Mentioned
Episode 3
Appears
Episode 4 Episode 5
Mentioned
Episode 6 Episode 7
Appears
   
Series 2 Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3
Mentioned
Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Christmas Special
   
Series 3 Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Christmas Special
   
Series 4 Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Christmas Special
   
Series 5 Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Christmas Special
   
Series 6 Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Christmas Special

Behind the scenes

Evelyn Napier is a character I like; he pops up in two or three episodes, mainly being decent and good, but never showy. Brendan Patricks plays him with diffidence and skill, and I find him very beguiling. I am not sure we’ve seen the last of him, actually - Julian Fellowes[citation needed]

References

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