Can we talk about how YOUNG Mary was when she got married, became mother to Kate, and moved to a foreign country? Like there's only around an 11 years age difference between her and Kate, like their age gap resembles more of an older sister/younger sister relationship, like the eight year gap between Kate and Edwina. I wonder how Mary adjusted to her new role, and whether Kate initially saw her as either a new mother, or an untrustworthy stepmother, or perhaps even just a cool older sister for her to play with? And to be so young and married in a new country, with only your husband to depend on because you've been cut off from everyone else; it must have been initally terrifying. It was certainly a leap of faith and thankfully turned out alright in the end. But I do wonder how that effected Kate growing up: in how she took care of Edwina, or how she took reign of things after her father died. Maybe she saw Mary as less of a mother and more of a sister she needed to take care of like Edwina, despite Mary wanting the opposite? :( Like maybe Kate is the Forgotten Middle Child and Mary is the Burnt Out Eldest Sibling?
Oh my god, you forget! She was like 18-19, when she was put out to the Ton, so she was fully a teenager with a kid and another on the way.
I do think she is though, still more a mother than older sister. Kate makes it clear that she has always seen Mary as her mother and Mary very much puts Kate as her daughter. Maybe a little bit in the independence she has, but also parents tend to give their elder children more independence, and having a headstrong daughter like Kate, she seems like someone who was very encouraging.
(also, mary's grief at her husband's death is just another sudden adjustment to having someone else she loved gone in some way. her parents hate her and based on her bed rest after her husband died, i think she could have been pregnant)
