The Gilded Age Season 3 Finale – And the Heiress in My Family Who Lived It for Real

Season 3 of The Gilded Age has just wrapped (for now…), and what a finale it was. As I watched it unfold, I kept thinking of my husband Luke’s great-grandmother, Alberta—how she, too, navigated love, ambition, and societal pressure during this extraordinary era.

For those of you who are new here, Alberta Sturges was an American heiress who came over for several Seasons in Paris and London during the Gilded Age and, in 1905, married George Montagu, the heir to the Ninth Earl of Sandwich - yes, she became the Countess of Sandwich (like me!). Her life was filled with glamour, transatlantic travel, and glittering society events, but she was far from a carbon copy of other American heiresses of her day. Alberta had a deeply rooted spiritual direction and an independent mind. When George first proposed, she said no—and kept saying no for six months—until she finally agreed, on her own terms. More on this and that in upcoming articles but now back to George and Bertha.

Bullets, Balls, and Bertha’s Balancing Act

George Russell—industrial powerhouse, master negotiator—finds himself the target of a gunman. Saved by quick medical work and Marian’s unexpected composure, he reappears astonishingly soon at Bertha’s grand Newport ball. This is the Gilded Age in a nutshell: a brush with death on Tuesday, a diamond-crusted soirée on Saturday.

Bertha, in full command of the evening’s spectacle, continues to play the social chessboard with all the subtlety of a steam engine—effective, but not without leaving a few crushed egos along the track.

Fractures Beneath the Finery

Yet even the grandest ballroom cannot hide a private fissure. George’s recovery brings not gratitude, but ire—especially toward Bertha’s relentless interference in their daughter Gladys’s love life. Gladys, meanwhile, is expecting a child and navigating the pressures of a marriage clearly in need of more than new upholstery.

It reminded me of Alberta’s own careful negotiations in her marriage—never rushing into a role simply because it was expected. She balanced societal demands with her own sense of purpose, guided as much by her inner convictions as by the glitter of the age around her.

Looking Ahead

Season 4 has already been confirmed, and I suspect it will demand more than subtle barbs and seating arrangements to keep our attention. After all, even the real Gilded Age knew how to shock—sometimes with ruin, sometimes with reinvention.

Until then, I’ll be keeping the conversation alive here on my Substack, where we can explore the fascinating parallels between Julian Fellowes’ fictional world and the very real lives of women like Alberta—women who knew that gilded doors could open to both ballrooms and battlefields, and who chose their own moment to walk through them.