Charlotte Campbell's Troubled Life and Troubled Family: a comprehensive timeline.

As much as I had hoped Charlotte would be dead, buried and pretty much out of the story after her suicide in The Running Grave, her family played a prominent role in The Hallmarked Man. As a result, some more details about her life and family were provided, enough that it seemed wise to compile what we know about her history in one place. I played with trying to insert her into the extensive timeline I have compiled of Cormoran Strike, much as I have some key events in Matthew's life included in Robin's, but a lot of the dates were just too imprecise.  

So, I decided create a timeline with as comprehensive a list as I could about all we know about Charlotte Campbell's life prior to the start of Cuckoo's Calling. Some inconsistencies and contradictions are also noted. None of this is set in stone. I employed Occam's razor, assuming the simplest explanation is the correct one. For instance, Sir Anthony could have kept a portrait of his ex around and set fire to it when Charlotte was older, or the "Daddy" Charlotte said caused the fire could have been one of her stepfathers. I am assuming the simpler explanation: "Daddy" is Sir Anthony and this happened at the time of his and Tara's break-up.

For clarification on Charlotte's actions during the series, I suggest the detailed book timelines on the Strikefans page. 

As usual, a careful look at the timeline gives us some insights not only into Charlotte, but into other characters as well. Enjoy this look at Charlotte's life; you'll probably find it more fun than she did. 

1960's:  Charlotte's mother, Tara Clairmont*, great-granddaughter of the founder of a chain of five-star hotels, is characterized as an "It Girl." 

Early 1970's: Tara, after enchanting "blue bloods' and "rock stars" (including being photographed with Jonny Rokeby), marries "safe bet" Sir Anthony Campbell, a broadcaster and academic with "solid family money" and a castle in Arran.  (SW, THM)

1972-73: (approx.)  Charlotte's older sister Amelia is born, two years before Charlotte.  

1974: November 21: Charlotte Campbell is born. Her birthday is two days before Cormoran Strike's. Her parents are disappointed because they wanted a boy. Amelia resembles her father, while Charlotte looked like Tara and, as a result, was badly mistreated by her mother throughout her life. Among other things, Tara tells Charlotte she wished she'd have aborted her, and characterizes her mental heath issues as "attention-seeking."

Sometime between 1978 and 1982: Before the age of 8,  Charlotte experiences significant trauma when the "safe bet' Sir Anthony sets fire to Tara's portrait, likely in the Arran castle, which requires the fire brigade to evacuate the family ("all of us"--likely Charlotte, Amelia and possibly Tara and staff) from an upstairs window. (TB) This incident presumably occurred near the time of the Campbells' divorce. Charlotte had to be at least three and was more likely a bit older, given that she remembers the event well.

Sometime between the fire and 1984: Before the age of 10, Charlotte has a two-year period as Dino Longcaster's step-daughter, when her mother was married to him. According to Tara, the marriage was plagued by unfaithfulness and spousal violence. Charlotte may have met Dino's children, Valentine and Decima, during this period, but never lived with them, as their mother had taken them to L.A. during her second marriage to a film score composer. (THM) It is unknown how Dino treated Charlotte; however, given how he treated his own daughter Decima and assuming Tara is truthful about the spousal abuse, he was almost certainly a poor step-dad and could well have been abusive. At the very least, Amelia and Charlotte likely witnessed their mother being battered. 

Some have speculated that Dino sexually abused Charlotte, but there is zero evidence for that. Dino is clearly reckless about sleeping with adult women, including two of his friends' wives, Angelika Fleetwood Wallner and Veronica Legard Fleetwood. But, perhaps the one good thing we can say about him is that there are no signs of pedophilia. Charlotte would have been very young (likely nine or younger) when she lived with Dino.

After November 1984: By the time Charlotte was 10, her mother had married Lord Ned Legard and was living in Heberley House with her two daughters. Charlotte accidentally took LSD at age 10 at one of their many star-studded drug  parties. Charlotte's half-brother, Sacha** Legard was born when she was 10. (THM) Tara strongly favored him over Charlotte and, to a lesser extent, Amelia. 

Charlotte would live primarily at Heberley House through her teens, although she spent time in boarding schools and probably some time with her father. Her relationship with Ned Legard is unknown. He was described by Strike as "amiable enough" (THM), was apparently good to his late sister's son, Rupert***,  and the marriage to Tara probably lasted about 25 years, so Ned was presumably a great improvement over Dino. But, that's not exactly a high bar. He was also presumably the stepfather who tried to have Charlotte committed (SW); trying to commit a child under the age of 9 seems harsh, even for Dino. Ned Legard may not have been around much; according to Strike, he "required regular stretches away from his wife to maintain even a pretense of a functioning marriage." 

1989:  At age 14, Charlotte ran away from her boarding school**** and was missing for seven days, sparking a national search (SW) and marking her first appearance in the tabloid press (TRG). 

September 1993:  Charlotte enrolls in Oxford as a student of classics. She presumably studied Catullus, given the email handle Clodia2 she uses in The Silkworm; Clodia was a lover of Catullus and the inspiration for Lesbia. She is initially dating Jago Ross, but sometime after November 1993, she leaves him for Cormoran Strike after he approaches her at a party. Strike said he was 19 when he began dating her. Starting dating in 1994 fits with the 16-year "on and off" relationship that is described at the time of their final break-up in March 2010. By the time she meets Strike, Charlotte has twice attempted suicide, possibly by overdose. (THM) She is also wearing Shalimar perfume by this age and continues to use that scent for her entire life. 

1994-1995:  Charlotte is described as "bereft and incensed" when Strike leaves Oxford and immediately begins sleeping with someone new. (CC)

1995: Charlotte is voted London's Most Eligible Singleton (per news report at her arrest, in TRG). 

1997, June: Charlotte graduates from Oxford, and is photographed in her academic gown with her parents. Strike sees the picture when stationed in Germany. He and Charlotte have resumed their affair, long distance, by this time, unknown to parents. Classics is a four-year degree program at Oxford. (TRG) 

1997-1998: Charlotte (age 22-23) takes Strike to her father's home in Arran, where he lives with his 3rd wife,  Scheherazade and some mean-looking sheep. Scheherazade tries to get into bed with Strike, enraging Charlotte. (TIBH)

Given that Scheherazade was Sir Anthony's third wife, Charlotte must have had another step-mother, and possibly other step- or half-siblings, during her childhood or teens. Was Sir Anthony, like the Ross family, eager for a son to preserve the title?

2000: (approximately) Charlotte sent to rehab at age 25, (SW) possibly after an overdose. (Tara later yells at her to "go overdose again.")

2001, November 23: Strike's 27th birthday. Charlotte throws his wrapped gift out of a third floor window. (TB)  

2004, November 20:  Charlotte had been anticipating a fancy party for her 30th birthday at Heberley House. Tara cancels most of the arrangements the day before, leaving a voice mail for Charlotte and jetting off for St. Moritz with Sacha. Strike is having beer with Nick when this happens. Charlotte cuts up her black lace dress, self-injures, leaving blood in sink, goes to bar, takes pills, gets intoxicated and is clipped by bus, breaking her shoulder. (THM).

2004, November 24: Strike finds Charlotte in hospital after searching for three days with no help from her family. Strike and Charlotte have huge fight, she demands he choose between her and the army, so he leaves her and returns to Germany. (THM) 

2006: Spring?  Charlotte must be broken up with Strike at this point, because Strike is with Tracey for Lucy's 30th birthday party. 

May-September 2007:  Range of dates***** for Strike's IED explosion and hospitalization. It is not clear when Charlotte came to him for the kairos moment, but Strike had been hospitalized "for a long time" when she arrives; he hadn't seen her for two years. (CC)

2007 November 23: Strike's 33rd birthday.  Possibly Naked Barista night?

2008 November 23: Strike's 34th birthday. Possibly Naked Barista night? 

Troubled Blood tells us Strike, newly fitted for a prosthesis, was discharged from Selly Oak on his 33rd birthday (2007). He moves into Charlotte's flat, where she cooked dinner, then came to the bedroom naked with two cups of coffee. Strike has sex for the first time in two years, then proposes to Charlotte and makes plans to start the agency, with her full support; she says she doesn't want a ring and he should use his money for the business. However, this allows a hospital stay of only six months at the most, and suggests that Strike and Tracey, who he was dating in 2006, were celibate, which seems unlikely. 

November 2008 to March 2009:  Time range for Timothy Cormoran Anstis's christening, which Charlotte attends, wearing a peacock-blue dress that is Strike's favorite. 

The Silkworm implies that both Strike and Anstis were in the hospital for much longer, hence the postponement of Timothy Cormoran's christening until he was 18 months old, after both Strike and Anstis were discharged. Strike was supposed to be not yet wearing a prothesis at the christening (Inconsistent with TB). This suggests his discharge from Selly Oak was on his 34th birthday instead of his 33rd. The agency was also in an "18-month spiral into financial ruin" in March 2010, suggesting a start date of October 2008. This is a little early for Naked Barista Night to be Strike's 34th, but late for it to be Strike's 33rd, unless he started the planning in November 2007 but didn't actually open the business until Fall 2008, nearly a year later. 

Another case for Naked Barista Night being on Strike's 34th:  It was said that the most consecutive time Strike and Charlotte managed to stay together was two years. If Naked Barista night was on Strike's 33rd, they would be together from mid-2007 until March 2010, almost three years, and cohabitating since November 2007.

In any case. sometime between Naked Barista Night and their final break-up, Charlotte became disgruntled with the agency, and persuaded her father, Sir Anthony Campbell, to offer or arrange a job for Strike. She became upset when Strike refused to take it and insisted on sticking with his plans for the agency. (LW) 

2009, June 6th: Charlotte attends the Epsom Derby with Valentine, Sacha and Strike. Strike is "broke, setting up the agency on a shoestring,"  Charlotte bets heavily and eventually wins 2500 pounds. (LW)

2009, November 21: Charlotte's 35th birthday. Strike gives her a bracelet for which he has to take out a high-interest loan.  

2009, November 23: Strike's 35th birthday. Charlotte gives him an Italian suit. They go to dinner at the River Cafe and set a wedding date. Their relationship begins to crumble shortly thereafter. Perhaps it is in this interval when Strike refuses Sir Anthony's job offer. 

Sometime between June 2009 Derby and March 2010 break-up: Lord Ned Legard dies; Strike and Charlotte attend his funeral. We know this because Strike and Sacha agree in THM that the last time they saw each other was at Sacha's dad's funeral, so this must have been after the Derby. Strike would have no reason to go to Lord Ned's funeral after breaking up with Charlotte. It is likely, though not certain, that Tara was still married to Ned at the time of his death; Charlotte would be less likely to attend the funeral if he were her ex-stepfather. Although, it is possibly that Charlotte (and Tara) would have attended the funeral after a divorce to support Sacha, just as Jago Ross attended Charlotte's. 

Note: Ned's death was not long after his nephew Rupert Fleetwood returned to the UK after being raised in Switzerland. 

2010 March 28: Final break-up with Strike, after Charlotte lies to him about being pregnant and having a miscarriage, prior to the start of CC. 

By summer 2012: in Lethal White, Sir Anthony is dead, suggesting he died sometime between 2009 and 2012.  He was likely alive when Charlotte married Jago Ross in December 2010, since the Tatler article didn't call him "the late Sir Anthony Campbell." 

By summer 2016: when Charlotte dies, (TRG) Tara is married to her fourth husband, the widower Lord Jenson, though they live apart, with Jenson in his Mayfair home and Tara in Heberley House, now owned by her son, Sacha. 

There are multiple incidents that cannot be dated any more precisely than "sometime in the 16 years when Charlotte and Strike were dating." These include:

• Two "cheap thriller" stories of Ilsa's:
• The Blood-Stained Note
• The Night of the Bread Knife
• This is presumably not the night Strike disarmed a knife-wielding Charlotte on the boat and she subsequently accused him of assault. Ilsa told Robin about the bread knife when Robin lived with them in fall 2012; she did not tell her about the boat incident until 2017, in THM.
• The Incident of the Black Lace Dress was Charlotte's thirtieth (THM)
• Christmas in Cornwall, when Charlotte and Strike had a huge row and Charlotte ruined the turkey dinner by storming out (TB).
• Joan's 2010 statement to Strike in The Silkworm, "Why don't you come for Christmas seeing as you're on your own again?" suggests that the Christmas with Charlotte was the last time he had been in St. Mawes for the holiday and that Charlotte was understandably not welcome for a return visit. Strike notes that it had been 4-5 years since he had last visited St. Mawes, meaning it is possible that the last time he was there was when he took Charlotte, on Christmas 2005 or 2006. 
• Interestingly, this would be either immediately before or immediately after Strike  dated Tracey. 
• Pure speculation, but, if this was Christmas 2005, Jack would be 2 1/2 and Luke likely at least 4 or 5. In 2006, Jack would be 3 1/2 and Luke more like 5-6.  Luke would therefore be much more capable of remembering his Uncle Cormoran bringing this crazy screaming lady to the Christmas celebration--and no doubt upsetting his mother and granny--than would Jack. 
• This could be part of the reason Luke was not as fond of Strike as Jack was.  
• Charlotte climbed on a roof and threatened to jump. (SW)
• Charlotte called Strike from a psychiatric facility and asked him to get her out. (SW)
• Charlotte threatened to brain one of the Anstis children if forced to spend another evening with them. (SW)
• Charlotte called Lucy's kids "shits" when watching them play soccer at Lucy's house. (SW)
• Several incidents where Charlotte assaulted Strike and split his lip. (THM)
• Charlotte surprises her father and creates a scene in Franco's by bringing Strike with her, while not telling her father they had resumed their affair. (LW)
• A likely time for this is after Charlotte's 1997 graduation but before their visit to Arran. 
• A "night on Benjy's boat in Little France." One of the few good times Charlotte can name. (LW)
• Strike and Charlotte made several visits to Haberley House, where Strike witnessed animosity between Tara and Charlotte, including times when she 
• ran up the drive in tears and barefoot
• threatened to slap her mother 
• took refuge with Strike in the gamekeeper's cabin
• Charlotte attended a play that both Sacha and Max Priestwood were in. She took the cast to dinner; Max liked her and thought she was funny. 
• Strike dated a "little American" with Robin's coloring when stationed in Germany and, according to Charlotte, "pretending they'd broken up."
• Strike is known to have been stationed in Germany in 1997 (saw Charlotte's graduation photo), 2002 (arrested Brockbank), 2004 (returned after Charlotte's 30th) and 2007 (Barclay's case, also airlifted there after IED explosion). 
• Charlotte also visited Strike in Germany at least once, and laughed about Jago Ross beating up a girlfriend. 

As always, I welcome corrections and feedback. As I have expressed elsewhere, I really hope Strike's confrontation with Tara at Heberley House was him putting the final lid on interactions with any and all blood and step-relations of hers, and that the next two books will be free not only of Charlotte (beyond a few "sardonic smiles" in Strike's memory)  but of Longcasters, Legards and Jensons. Bring on the Rokeby's and the Whittakers!

*The Tatler article on Charlotte's wedding to Jago Ross lists her mother as Tula Clermont. It is unknown if this was the magazine's error or Galbraith's. It has been noted that "Tara" and "Tula" together come very close to "Tarantula," which is fitting given Lady Campbell Longcaster Legard Jenson, nee Clairmont's toxic nature. 

** Robin's flatmate Max called him "Simon." It is unknown whether this was his mistake or Galbraith's. Alternatively, Sacha may have used Simon as a stage name early in his career, before reverting to Sacha. The nickname "Sachy" suggests that Sacha (or perhaps Alexander) is his given name.  

*** Given that Rupert's "aunt" Angelika Fleetwood did not want him, that Rupert hated both Switzerland and his boarding school, and that Ned seems to have gone out of his way to maintain a relationship with his orphaned nephew--according to Sacha, is was "all Ned could do" to get Angelika to allow a visit every few years--is is puzzling why the wealthy Lord did not challenge Angelika for custody, especially if Rupert's trust fund was being drained. Perhaps Tara was insistent that she did not want a nephew living with them, or Ned recognized that having Tara for a step-aunt would not be an improvement over Angelika. Still, you'd have thought that Lord Legard would at least have left his late sister's son a few hundred thousand pounds in his will. Tara "had money to burn" and it would have made a world of difference to Rupert. 

****According to The Silkworm, the school was Bedales. According to The Running Grave, it was Cheltenham Ladies' College. In theory, Charlotte could have run from both in quick succession, but, more likely, this is a continuity error. Have later paperbacks been corrected, either for this or for Simon/Sacha's  or Tara/Tula Clair/Clermont's names?

***** September 2007 would be 2 1/2 years before the start of CC.  May 2007 would be consistent with Timothy Anstis being 3 1/2 in The Silkworm.  

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