Social season (United Kingdom)

The social season, or season, refers to the traditional annual period in the spring and summer when it is customary for members of the social elite of British society to hold balls, dinner parties and charity events. Until the First World War, it was also the appropriate time to reside in the city (generally meaning London) rather than in the country in order to attend such events.

In modern times in the United Kingdom, "the Season" is known to encompass various prestigious events that take place during the spring and summer. According to The Sloaney magazine's online guide "Sloaney Season", it starts with Cheltenham Festival (March), and includes the Grand National (April), The Boat Race (April), Badminton Horse Trials (May), Chelsea Flower Show (May), Epsom Derby (June), Royal Ascot (June), Test matches at Lord's (July), Wimbledon (July), Henley Royal Regatta (July), Edinburgh International Festival (August) and others, ending with Goodwood Revival (September).^[1]

Glyndebourne Opera Festival

The Proms

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

West End theatre

A London Season features in 's Sense and Sensibility and is often a key plot device in Regency romance novels.

Jane Austen

The 1927 novel by E. F. Benson is set during the London season in the 1920s.

Lucia in London

The 1938 novel by Ngaio Marsh is set during the London season.

Death in a White Tie

's first public tryout and debut into high society in My Fair Lady, the musical film version of George Bernard Shaw’s book Pygmalion, uses the idea of Ascot Racecourse as a setting.

Eliza Doolittle

The novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, and the 1963 film of the same name by Luchino Visconti, portray the Palermitan season during the Risorgimento.

The Leopard

The events of 's novel Past Imperfect take place during the 1968 season in London.

Julian Fellowes

In the 2003 film , Lord Henry Dashwood invites his new-found daughter Daphne to attend the London Season.

What a Girl Wants

The 2009 young-adult novel The Season by portrays a young woman entering her first London Season.

Sarah MacLean

's The Reluctant Debutante

Vincente Minnelli

In the British period drama the outspoken youngest daughter of the fictional Earl of Grantham, Lady Sybil, is presented as a debutante at court in London during her first season. The family are also portrayed to move to London for the duration of the season, returning to their country seat at the end of it. The show's 2013 Christmas Special (set in the summer of 1923) focuses on cousin Lady Rose McClare's debutante ball and presentation at court.

Downton Abbey

's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray; and his plays Lady Windermere's Fan, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest.

Oscar Wilde

In Michel Faber's , the Season is part of the plot.

The Crimson Petal and the White

The Malory-Anderson Family Saga series of historical romance novels by is set primarily in London, the first one opening in 1817. Throughout the series, one Season or another and the balls thrown during them, are mentioned in dialogue and are sometimes central to the plot lines themselves.

Johanna Lindsey

's novel The Muse of the Department contains a description of the London Season:

Honoré de Balzac

Richardson, Kristen (2019). The Season: A Social History of the Debutante. W. W. Norton & Company. 978-0393608731.