Victoria Grayson

Victoria Grayson (née Harper), considered by many as "the Queen of the Hamptons", with a net worth of $4.7 billion, is the glamorous but powerful matriarch of the Grayson family who will stop at nothing to protect her social status and ensure that her children live up to their fullest potential.

Victoria is the second wife of Conrad Grayson and the mother of Daniel and Charlotte. Victoria will stop at nothing to protect her social status and ensure that her children live up to their fullest potential. Her net worth is $4.7 billion dollars. As of 2011, the reigning Queen of the Hamptons social scene has been married to Conrad for twenty-five years. They married in 1986. Although she seems to love her children very much, Victoria clearly favors Daniel while always finding a reason to chastise her daughter, Charlotte, as seen in the pilot. So far she dislikes Emily dating Daniel.

Biography

Early life

Victoria Harper is the daughter of socialite wannabe Marion Harper and an unidentified man. Victoria's father  wasn't looking forward to fatherhood as he wanted to have his child aborted. Marion refused and raised Victoria alone. Marion desperately wanted to be rich and went to any lengths to achieve this goal. It is from her mother that Victoria learned the art of manipulation and how to destroy others. When Victoria was 15, her mother was seeing a wealthy man named Tom whom she hoped to marry. Unfortunately Tom had no intention to wed Marion and be stuck with some other man's child. In response Marion shot Tom in cold blood and manipulated Victoria into taking the blame and claiming self-defense. Marion gambled that the courts would be far more lenient towards a minor. This was the case, but Victoria still had to undergo a 6 month psychiatric review. During these months Marion ensnared another rich man, Maxwell. After Victoria returned home it became evident that Maxwell was a pedophile. Marion caught her fiance in Victoria's bedroom and blamed the poor child for the whole ordeal. The next morning Marion kicked her own daughter to the curb without so much as a penny. Some time later she married Maxwell. It was further revealed in Victory that Victoria had a son around this time, suggesting that Maxwell was the biological father. She took care of the child, whom she named Patrick, for a while when he was an infant, until she got a scholarship to L'École des Beaux-Arts in Paris (the Dean of admissions who handled the scholarship was led to believe she was just Patrick's au pair). The child was left at a church and the nun who handled him vowed not to tell Patrick who his mother was and never to tell Victoria where he went.

These events scarred Victoria for life and turned her into the cold vindictive manipulator she is today. Years later Victoria met Dominik Wright, a brilliant but pennyless artist. Victoria and Dominic became lovers as well partners in crime. Dominic made copies of famous paintings and Victoria sold them to gullible art lovers. It was under these circumstances that she met Conrad Grayson, who was at that time married with children. Though Victoria loved Dominic very much she saw Conrad as her ticket out of a life of poverty. Victoria used what she learned from her mother and seduced Conrad and later made him leave his family by claiming she was pregnant. After the marriage she did become pregnant and gave birth to Daniel Grayson who became the apple of her eye. Victoria fared well in the upper class and became the Queen of the Hamptons. All desired her friendship and feared her at the same time. Her marriage to Conrad was devoid of passion however and when she met David Clarke years later she fell head over heels in love with him. Victoria soon began an affair with her neighbour and even considered leaving Conrad for him. She also became pregnant with David's child and later named the girl Charlotte after David's favorite aunt.

Personality

Victoria Grayson is manipulative, cold and rarely displays her true feelings. Ironically she is more like Emily Thorne than either of them has ever realized. Although Victoria rarely shows her true feelings, she has a more vulnerable side as made evident by her request that Frank Stevens to stay with her when she was alone in her house. She also seemed genuinely devastated when Frank was killed and it has been implied that she might have had feelings for him, although it is possible that she was simply manipulating him to get him to do what she wanted.

Victoria did genuinely love David Clarke but it has been implied that she used to have a rather weak willed nature, since she helped Conrad and Frank frame him, despite her feelings for her lover. However, after David's arrest, Victoria appeared to become a stronger person, doing her best to get David out of prison despite the disapproval of her husband. She later stated that David was the only man she had ever truly loved and never forgave herself for betraying him.

Victoria loves her children very much, although she has a better relationship with Daniel than she does with Charlotte. It was later revealed that Charlotte was actually David Clarke's daughter, and the reason Victoria was so cold towards Charlotte was because she reminded her of the fact that she had betrayed David. As time went on Victoria's whole family turned against her, but after surviving the White haired man's attempt to assassinate her, she became closer to Charlotte.