Bertie and his parents

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

A really interesting discussion has been going on in the comments on my fic A Butler's Advice regarding Bertie and his sometimes-antagonistic relationship with his family, but also some speculation about Bertie's parents and his relationship (or lack thereof) with them.

Bertie rarely says anything about his parents and never talks about their deaths, as I recall. There has been some speculation that he was probably closer to the servants who raised him than to either his parents or his aunts. What would have been "normal" for someone of Bertie's social class at the time? We know he spent a lot of time away at school. When, how and why would Bertie's parents have died? How do you think he reacted?

What does everyone here think? What's fanon opinion and what, if anything, have people written about it in their stories?

If this results in any fics (perhaps you could consider this a story prompt as well as a discussion prompt), I think that would be fantastic!