"Today celebrities come from all walks of life, but in the 1920s star-struck Tatler readers followed the careers of glamorous débutantes and their wealthy suitors," says Newby, who also writes her own women's history blog.
"If we compare Downton's characters to some modern British icons, then there are some surprising parallels."
Do these stars lives up to ITV's colourful characters?
If Downton Characters Were Modern Celebs...
Lady Mary Crawley (01 of14)
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Lady Mary Crawley certainly isn't as well-behaved as Kate Middleton, although she's supposed to present herself as a virtuous aristocratic lady. But her relationship with Matthew has endured a similar level of family pressure and scrutiny to that of Kate and William.
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Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge(02 of14)
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Lady Edith Crawley(03 of14)
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Lady Edith Crawley is very much in Lady Mary's shadow in series one, and she's presented as the ugly duckling of the family, as Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie are lampooned in the press today.
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie(04 of14)
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Lady Sybil and Tom Branson(05 of14)
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Lady Sybil's cross-class relationship with Tom Branson has a modern day parallel in the unlikely romance between glossy Made in Chelsea star Millie and rapper Professor Green.But I see her more as a modern-day Peaches Geldof struggling to create her own identity apart from her famous parents. She's the Edwardian equivalent of a wild-child, rebelliously becoming as a suffragette, working for her living as a nurse, and topping it all off by daring to marry a man from outside her own class.
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Millie Mackintosh and Professor Green (06 of14)
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Peaches Geldof(07 of14)
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Cora Crawley(08 of14)
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Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham married the Earl of Grantham for the social position her fortune just couldn't buy. Today, she could be Billie Piper, former teen pop star turned actress, who caused a stir when she married Laurence Fox of the Fox acting dynasty.
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Lord Grantham(09 of14)
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Laurence Fox And Billie Piper(10 of14)
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Shirley MacLaine(11 of14)
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Irreverent, loaded, and forthright, Cora's brash American Martha Levinson definitely has shades of comedienne Joan Rivers.
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Joan Rivers(12 of14)
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Mrs Patmore(13 of14)
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As a skilled cook Mrs Patmore's life's work has been creating culinary masterpieces for the upper classes. Today she could be Delia Smith!