Sept. 10, 2016: Farewell to an era?

Memories of days gone by when the privileged few had  a lifestyle worthy of preserving in our history books.

Not the typical home of the era. Probably 1 in 10 million.  

Yes, but far more than 1 in 10 million worked there to serve that lifestyle! As with the plantation houses, we're often shown the homes of the rich and powerful as though the servants either didn't exist...or were no more than appliances!

To be honest, one of the best parts of the Downton series, for me, was the depth with which they were portrayed, and the way in which new realities developed as the servants began to imagine independent futures.

What I like best about the Downton Abbey series is not its portrayal of class struggles, but of how beautifully characters of all types are developed and how their appreciation of people of all types is portrayed.  The estate owners genuinely like and looked after their employees.  The employees were loyal and genuinely like and looked after their employers.