Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Bridgerton season three.
Throughout two-thirds of Bridgerton, we have mostly tolerated Cressida Cowper. She is undeniably one of the ton’s biggest gossipers, constantly criticizing those around her while placing herself on an undeserved pedestal.
That is, until season 3 hit Netflix, and suddenly, we all began sympathizing with the supposed antagonist. It turns out Cressida is not as bad as we thought — she just needed a little push in the right direction. Of course, book fans are already well acquainted with Cressida’s horrible personality, but thankfully, Shonda Rhimes decided to make her own spin on this spinster’s personality.
In the first part of season 3, we see Cressida tirelessly chasing after Lord Debling — the new bachelor that half of the ladies in the ton seem to be pursuing, while the other half are absolutely disgusted by his vegetarianism. Does Cressida’s wish ever materialize, though?
Does Cressida Cowper marry in Bridgerton?
Cressida does indeed get married in the Bridgerton books, but it occurs slightly differently from the Netflix adaptation. In the source material, Cressida Cowper marries a nobleman called Lord Twombley, but it happens out of duty. Lord Twombley is described as an old man who lies about his vast estate when in reality, he is actually very much broke.
We can’t be absolutely certain whether a Lord Twombley will eventually be introduced in the Netflix show. However, if he is destined to become Cressida’s husband, the timeline of events will likely change. By now, we should be used to Netflix taking creative liberties while writing the show after all, because in the books, by the time Penelope is still a spinster, Cressida is already married to Twombley.
To reiterate, at this point, we’ve already seen Cressida attempting to woo her fair share of suitors. Initially, we saw her pursue Simon — but we all know how that ended. Next, we saw her go after Colin and Prince Friedrich in the same season, and once more, nothing came of it. In season 2, her potential suitor was Lord Jack Featherington, whose intention was to use Cressida’s fortune to maintain the lavish Featherington lifestyle, but that also led nowhere.
Despite this streak of unluckiness, and as we see Cressida leaving her bully reputation behind, we can hope that she too gets her happy ending. However, we must warn you, gentle reader: in the books, she still has a lot of issues left to resolve, and it goes well beyond bullying the ladies in the ton.