--- title: Downton Abbey Season 6: Why the Fox Hunt Scene Matters description: The sixth and final season begins with a hunt—and, historically speaking, that says a lot about the Crawley family canonical: https://time.com/4155187/fox-hunting-downton-abbey/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-04T12:00:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:46.109Z article:section: History og:title: Why That Fox-Hunting Scene on 'Downton Abbey' Matters og:description: The economic decline of the manor class will remain a theme og:url: https://time.com/4155187/fox-hunting-downton-abbey/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74f20cc95627b04e/6988761ce20a873048a8ebc7/foxes.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Hunting Party og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why That Fox-Hunting Scene on 'Downton Abbey' Matters twitter:description: The economic decline of the manor class will remain a theme twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74f20cc95627b04e/6988761ce20a873048a8ebc7/foxes.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What That Fox-Hunting Scene on _Downton Abbey_ Says About The Final Season > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Tea at The Plaza With Cast Members from Downton Abbey [Watch (HLS stream): Tea at The Plaza With Cast Members from Downton Abbey](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/h6zOyPsa.m3u8) (4:01)  _Published 2015-12-18_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 4, 2016 12:00 PM UTC  Members of a hunting party outside the Becket country hall, Shrivenham, Berkshire during the Old Berkshire Hunt on Jan. 15, 1930 Members of a hunting party outside the Becket country hall, Shrivenham, Berkshire during the Old Berkshire Hunt on Jan. 15, 1930 Fox Photos / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 4, 2016 12:00 PM UTC **_Contains extremely minor spoilers for the first episode of the final season of_** **Downton Abbey** As the sixth and final season of _Downton Abbey_ kicks off, the fact that Lady Mary and Lord Grantham go fox hunting in the premiere would seem to be one of the least important elements of the plot. But, considering the true history of fox hunting, the Crawley family’s participation is significant. The new season starts off in 1925\. Just two years earlier, the Prince of Wales—the future King Edward VIII—gave an address at the National Light Horse Breeding Society in London that neatly summed up why the real history of hunting matters to the fictional residents of Downton. “I would say that the popularity of fox hunting, far from being reduced, has been increased,” he said. “I think that anybody who has hunted since the war must have been greatly struck and delighted to find the number of fellows who managed to hunt. It has often been a struggle for them to do so, which shows how keen they are.” The subtext of the speech, as TIME [explained](http://time.com/vault/issue/1923-03-10/page/10/) in its coverage, was that many of the English aristocrats who would have populated the ranks of the fox hunt in the period prior to World War I could no longer afford to put up a proper hunt, or even to participate in one organized by someone else. The economic decline of the manor class has been one of the major themes of _Downton Abbey_ for years, and it’s already apparent that will continue this season. By the end of the 1920s, however, it was clear that financial considerations would not be the only reason that fox-hunting would decline in popularity. Already questions had been raised as to whether it was appropriate or ethical to hunt for sport in a way that often ended in a drawn-out death for the quarry. (It was seen as [more appropriate](http://time.com/vault/issue/1926-01-11/page/13/) for the fox to be killed by the dogs than by a gun.) “To find one’s pleasure in a sport which consists of torturing and killing a defenseless animal,” [said](http://time.com/vault/issue/1927-05-16/page/16/) the Archdeacon of Westminster in 1927, “bespeaks at best a thoughtless person whose outlook on life is immeasurably lower than that of the wolf or the tiger.” The traditional form of fox hunting has now been [banned](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/countryside/11418998/Ten-years-on-from-the-hunting-ban-has-anything-really-changed.html) in England for a decade. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] I'm Lily Brockman from Time Magazine, and I'm here at the Plaza Hotel with the cast of Downton Abbey, thanks for joining us. Thank you. As Downton Abbey approaches its end [ MUSIC ] I was thinking a little bit about now that you've embodied Lord Grantham for so many years, what's your takeaway? Should we be looking forward or looking back? As the character says in this last series, if I could stop history in its tracks, perhaps I would but neither you nor I Carson can hold back time. Something like that. Turn back time. [ LAUGH ] I think ultimately the show's about people just trying to be good. They're just kind of getting through life. It's very, sort of, human, the show. I think it's what people relate to. You can learn a lot from history, and especially with this period of time in British history, I think there's a fascination in the UK but also around the rest of the world because it's something that was kept very secretive. And Downton is quite voyeuristic in the fact that you're let inside the doors of this house and also you're allowed in and you can go anywhere within the house. And I think that's one of the appeals that the show has. Welcome to Downton. Hello Mr Carson. Yeah I mean I think if there's one criticism of Downton Abbey it would be that it does show A rather romantic view of that period cuz what you don't wanna see is all the people slaving away. I mean, even downstairs, it looks quite attractive. But in reality, it would have been really a gruelling life. You're up at five in the morning to get the fires lit and get everybody's breakfast ready. and you're the last to bed, so Yeah, I think it was perhaps a little harder than [ LAUGH ] we show it to be. [ MUSIC ] So now we're gonna play some 1920s slang quiz. What do we win? You win pride and glory. I'm right, too. So the world is applesauce. So is it like cockney slang so is this like posh slang? None of it is cockney rhyming slang. It's a good thing. More like malarkey. [ CROSSTALK ] Like nonsense. Said it sour. All right next one a blue nose. Wow. She's a real blue nose. Oh she's a posh a tough. Yeah oh I yeah Very good. One point yeah. To ankle. I have no idea. She was revealing an ankle? Yeah she showed her ankle. No I think it's just walking. Cheaters. Can you give me in context? I'm wearing cheaters right now in fact. My mind's going in all sorts of directions. [ LAUGH ] Best not to reveal. Is it budgy smugglers I don't know what. [ LAUGH ] [ CROSSTALK ] I don't know what that is. Is cheaters like Flacks for girls. No, I think eyeglasses. Really? Oh ok Indoor golf Sex [ LAUGH ] It's a game of dice. It's the same thing. A Gravy Rider [ LAUGH ] What is Gravy? I got a use that I've no idea. Someone whose job is easy. Oh. A face stretcher? [ LAUGH ] Face stretcher? Something comical. Yes, like he's a funny man. A woman trying to look younger than she is. Interesting. Oh, yeah. Last one, a cellar smeller. [ LAUGH ] Good garbage collector. A prohibition officer. Very good. Did you know any of these? No. But who won? I don't know, we're gonna have to count it later, I couldn't keep track. Well, thanks so much for coming by. Thank you very much. Yeah. 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