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Daphne Bridgerton is a fictional character in Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series. She first appears in the novel Bridgerton The Duke & I (2000), as a debutante in Regency era London, with her being the fourth child and eldest daughter of the Bridgerton family. As the protagonist of the first novel in the series, her character struggles to find love in London's middle class society due to unrequited love and Lady Whistledown's ruthless gossip.

story line
The novel follows the tumultuous relationship of protagonists Daphne and Simon during regency era London. Making her debut at the Queen Charlotte's court gathering to initiate the social season, she is named the "season's Incomparable" making her the most eligible debutante in the 1813 social season. Later on at the debutante ball Daphne unexpectedly meets her older brother's school friend Simon Basset when trying to escape the advances of Nigel Berbrooke, who believes she is faking not knowing him as a way to converse with him due to him being an eligible bachelor as ladies will "truly will try anything" to get the possibility to talk to him. unbeknownst to Daphne and Simon her mother violet and his mentor lady Danbury has devised a plan to set up the pair together, with Simon coming to dinner at Bridgeton household, however when discovering this plan Anthony refuses to support this plan due to Simon’s declaration to never marry, instead he insists she marry Nigel Berbrooke. Later on, the Bridgeton family are attending another debutant event when Daphne is again harassed by Berbrooke with his proposal of marriage which leads to him about to physically attack her however she is able to defend herself and knock him out, whilst this is happening Simon is on his way to defend her however is not quick enough, Here the pair devise a plan of their own to pretend as though they are courting each other, which would make her more desirable and him unavailable.

The plan is a success for both characters, however unexpectedly the pair fall in love with one another during their ruse, although they both refuse to tell each other. Due to the ruse’s success Daphne is able to interest prince Friedrich, even leading to him proposing to her however she is not interested due to her love for Simon thus leading to her fleeing the event to the garden. unbeknownst to Daphne she is followed by Simon who finally declares his love for her and kissing her which she reciprocates, however Anthony catches them declaring Simon must marry his sister or duel him for “defiling” her and thus potentially making her unmarriable, Simon refuses and thus the friend’s duel. The duel ends in stale mate when Daphne interrupts and she is nearly killed this leads to the couple having to abruptly marry in order to preserve both of their reputations and Simon admitting to Daphne the reason for his rejection of marriage is due to him being infertile.

As newlyweds the couple move to Simon’s estate, during the first few weeks of their marriage the pair are happy and content with their new lives, going to their villages fair and events as the duke and duchess. However, their relationship comes crashing down when Daphne finds out Simon has been lying about his infertility, this leads to the couple privately separating, although still publicly keeping up the perception of their marriage, however this separation is momentarily paused when Daphne has a pregnancy scare. Later on, during their ball to celebrate their marriage Daphne confronts Simon about his refusal to have children, where him finally admits the reasoning is due to his fathers abuse and fear of his own capability as a parent, the couple are able to make amends are decide to continue being married and later have a daughter Amelia.

Outward appearance
In the books, Daphne is described as having "thick chesnut hair" and hazel eyes. Although unlike her portrayal in the series, Quinn does not describe her as being flawless, stating how although she is attractive "no one was dazzled by her beauty" this consequently leads to Daphne becoming insecure and anxious about her role as the eldest daughter when she struggles to find a partner during the social season, combined with the high praise of the Queen she struggles to live up to and the barrage of abuse she thus receives from the gossip Lady Whistledown.in comparison to her companions who are extremely popular amongst the middle class bachelors in London.

Personality
Daphne is a well liked within middle class London society, known for being funny and quick witted. although the expectation for a Georgian era lady would be to keep to themselves and not speak up, Daphne is never scarred to stand up for herself, even being able to physically defend herself from Nigel Berbrooke's non-consensual advances, and as a result of this event confronting Berbrooke with her mother and Lady Danbury due to him blackmailing her with forcibly marrying Daphne out of embarrassment of her rejection.

Netflix adaptation
Due to the novel's success, in 2020 the book was adapted to a tv series on the popular streaming service Netflix. On release the show was extremely popular garnering a viewership of 82 million, making it Netflix's most watched series at the time of its release, with it now being it's second most watched series after being overtook by squid game. A second season has been confirmed for the series which is to be debuted on March 2022, and will follow the novel's prequel The Viscount Who Loved Me which follows Daphne's older brother Anthony journey to find a wife as the head of the household after his father's passing