- Robert: "And all this time - you've been driving me about, bowing and scraping and seducing my daughter behind my back!"
- Tom Branson: "I don't bow and scrape, and I haven't seduced anyone! Give your daughter some credit for knowing her own mind!"
- — The hatred between Robert and his son-in-law, Tom Branson.[src]
Robert Crawley, 6th Earl of Grantham (b.1869) is the patriarch of Downton Abbey, the son of the late Patrick Crawley, 5th Earl of Grantham and Violet Crawley, the brother of Lady Rosamund, the husband of Cora Crawley nee Levinson, the son-in-law of the late Isidore and Martha Levinson, the father of his three daughters Lady Mary, Lady Edith and Lady Sybil. Tom Branson is his son-in-law and Matthew Crawley is his future son-in-law, third cousin and heir. He is soon-to-be a grandfather to his youngest daughter and son-in-law's first child.
Personality
Lord Grantham has always been kind to his servants, protective of his daughters, and a proper English gentleman. Since his childhood, he has always been instructed that it will someday be his role to take over the estate. As a result, he is a capable and determined man. He puts his duty above all else, including love. He first married Cora Crawley because it would get the family out of debt, but eventually fell in love with her after they were already married.
Relationships
Robert Crawley is deeply in love, and close with, his American wife Cora Crawley. He is also close with his mother, Violet Crawley. He may have a relationship with his housemaid, Jane Moorsum, given the fact that he kissed her.
Career as a Soldier
Robert Crawley took part in the Boer War, alongside his batman John Bates, who later became his valet and a victim who saved the lord in the war. He was given a figurehead post during the First World War.
Robert in his uniform