Charles Cranleigh
Lord Charles Cranleigh, or Charles Percival Beauchamp, was the tenth Marquess of Cranleigh. He was the son of Madge Cranleigh, the younger brother of George and the husband of Ann Talbot.
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
Early life[[edit] | [edit source]]
Charles Cranleigh (TV: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (TV story)"]) or, according to one account, Charles Percival Beauchamp (PROSE: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (novelisation)"]) was the son of Madge and younger brother of George, (TV: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (TV story)"]) the ninth Marquess of Cranleigh. (PROSE: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (novelisation)"]) He befriended Smutty Thomas at school (TV: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (TV story)"] and studied at Exeter College, where he was once involved in an incident with a pig. (PROSE: The Sands of Time [+]Loading...["The Sands of Time (novel)"])
Hiding George[[edit] | [edit source]]
Charles and George competed for Ann Talbot's affections and fell in love with George, (PROSE: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (novelisation)"]) to whom she was to be married. In 1923, George was brought back insane and disfigured from an expedition to South America by Dittar Latoni. Charles and Lady Cranleigh kept him at Cranleigh Hall (TV: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (TV story)"]) rather than send him to an institution (PROSE: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (novelisation)"]) and kept his return a secret from everybody, including Ann. (TV: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (TV story)"]) With George presumed dead, Charles became the tenth Marquess of Cranleigh. (PROSE: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (novelisation)"])
Charles and Ann became engaged, (TV: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (TV story)"]) although he knew that she did not love him the same way that she loved George and promised her he would change that. He also promised that she would be more comfortable at Cranleigh Hall, where she began to experience nightmares, once they were wed. (PROSE: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (novelisation)"]) A skilled cricket player, Charles partook in a match before the Cranleighs' annual ball for the Hospital for Sick Children on 11 June 1925 and met the Fifth Doctor, whom he mistook for a replacement player sent by Smutty, as well as Adric, Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka. Noticing the resemblance between Nyssa and Ann, he invited the group to Cranleigh Hall.
During the ball, Charles and Robert Muir found James's body and learnt from Ann that she had been attacked, apparently by the Doctor. Charles believed the Doctor to be guilty, particularly after Smutty informed him that he was an impostor, until Lady Cranleigh confessed that George had killed Digby and had been at large. He finally told Ann the truth and climbed onto the roof to save Nyssa after George kidnapped her in the belief that he was Ann, but he inadvertently caused him to fell when he went to embrace him (TV: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (TV story)"]) or by shouting at him when he seemed to be ready to fall to his death. (PROSE: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (novelisation)"])
Later life[[edit] | [edit source]]
Charles, his family and the Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan attended George's funeral. (TV: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (TV story)"])
Charles and Ann married in 1926 in a church ceremony officiated by a bishop. They were visited at the reception by the Doctor, who requested Ann's help in saving Nyssa from Nephthys. (PROSE: The Sands of Time [+]Loading...["The Sands of Time (novel)"])
Appearance[[edit] | [edit source]]
Charles had fair hair and a trim moustache. (TV: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (TV story)"]) He dressed as Beau Brummell at the fancy dress party. (PROSE: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (novelisation)"])
Personality[[edit] | [edit source]]
Charles was a cricket enthusiast. Unlike his brother, he was not very good at geography. (TV: Black Orchid [+]Loading...["Black Orchid (TV story)"])
