Velvet Blue is Sir Blue Vein’s long-lost sister, a proud and determined member of the Cheese Family whose story was hidden for many years behind another name: Lady Roquefortia.
Her separation from her brother left wounds that shaped two generations of the family. But beneath the secrecy, arguments and years of resentment is a woman who never stopped caring about where she came from, or believing that the truth about the family’s past deserved to be remembered.
At a glance
- Pronouns: she/her
- Cheese: Blue cheese
- Family role: Sister of Sir Blue Vein, aunt of Eddie Emmental and mother of Velora and Crumbella, the Stilton Sisters
- Also known as: Lady Roquefortia
- Known for: Her blue velvet clothing, fierce determination, complicated family history and refusal to let the past be forgotten
Appearance
Young Velvet Blue
As a young cheese, Velvet is a pale creamy-golden wedge with distinctive blue-green veining, bright blue eyes and a gentle, hopeful expression.
She wears light cream and blue clothing with delicate embroidered details, together with a soft blue cape and matching shoes. A blue flower tucked beside her wedge gives young Velvet an especially recognisable touch.
This is Velvet before the family divide, when her connection to Sir Blue and the world they shared has not yet been buried beneath years of hurt.
Lady Roquefortia
Years later, Velvet has become the mysterious Lady Roquefortia.
Now elderly, she hides much of herself beneath a heavy midnight-blue hooded cloak. Her face is lined with age and memory, her hands are covered by dark gloves and her expression has become guarded and weary.
She lives among the cold, jagged landscape of the Stilton Spires, far removed from the warmth of the family world she once knew.
Velvet Blue revealed
When Lady Roquefortia finally reveals her true identity, the hood comes down and Velvet Blue emerges again.
Her silver-grey hair is swept back in soft waves, while her familiar blue eyes and blue-green veining still connect her unmistakably to the young Velvet she once was.
She wears a deep navy dress with an ivory shawl decorated with blue embroidery. Her expression remains thoughtful, but there is warmth in it again.
The years apart have not disappeared, but Velvet no longer needs to hide behind another name.
Personality
Velvet Blue is strong-willed, intelligent, proud and deeply protective of the truth.
Her years of separation from Sir Blue have made her wary of allowing other people to decide which parts of the past should be remembered and which should be put away. When old family records, letters and the Origin Map are uncovered, Velvet is determined that they must never simply disappear into another locked cupboard.
That determination can make her impatient. Sir Blue tends to think carefully before acting, while Velvet has little tolerance for hesitation when she believes something important is at stake.
But neither of them is entirely right or entirely wrong.
As the family begins rebuilding its relationships, Velvet starts to recognise this herself. She admits that she must learn that not every hesitation is a cage.
Behind her sternness is also considerable tenderness. She has spent years carrying the belief that her branch of the family was rejected and forgotten, and much of her fierceness comes from wanting that hurt to be acknowledged rather than buried.
Sir Blue Vein and the family divide
Velvet Blue and Sir Blue Vein are brother and sister, but the events of their younger years drove them apart.
The separation became much larger than an argument between two siblings. Stories, assumptions and grievances passed from one generation to the next until Velvet’s daughters, Velora and Crumbella, grew up believing that Sir Blue’s side of the family had rejected their mother.
By the time the truth begins to emerge, both sides have spent years living with different versions of the same history.
Velvet and Sir Blue do not repair that relationship with one grand apology. Instead, they begin learning how to be brother and sister again.
Their old personalities are still very much present. Velvet remembers that Sir Blue always thought too far ahead, while he remembers that Velvet never wanted to wait.
Eventually, Velvet suggests that perhaps this time they don’t have to choose between the two.
Family and relationships
Sir Blue Vein is Velvet’s brother, making Lady Brie her sister-in-law and Eddie Emmental her nephew.
Velora and Crumbella, better known as the Stilton Sisters, are Velvet’s daughters. Their fierce loyalty to their mother helps explain much of their earlier hostility towards the rest of the Cheese Family.
Lord Stilton Sharp shares Velvet’s life at the Stilton Spires and helped her raise Velora and Crumbella. Together, they became the family at the heart of the Stilton Spires.
One of Velvet’s most important new relationships begins with the smallest member of the family.
When Lady Roquefortia finally reveals that she is Velvet Blue, the adults hesitate, unsure what to say after so many years of division.
Babybel doesn’t.
She simply runs forward and hugs Velvet.
For a moment Velvet hesitates, then places a hand gently on Babybel’s back. It becomes one of the first small steps towards bringing the divided family together again.
Stories featuring Velvet Blue
In Chutney and Champions, the rivalry involving the Stilton Sisters begins to reveal that there is more behind their hostility towards the Cheese Family than simple competition.
In The Stilton Divide, the truth about Lady Roquefortia is finally uncovered. She reveals herself as Velvet Blue, Sir Blue Vein’s long-lost sister, and the family begins discovering how years of secrets and misunderstandings created the divide between them.
The story does not erase that history. Instead, Velvet, Sir Blue and the generations that followed them begin the more difficult task of understanding it and deciding what happens next.
Fun fact
Velvet Blue spent years hiding behind the name Lady Roquefortia.
But even then, she never entirely left the colour blue behind.
Image descriptions
Young Velvet Blue
A landscape illustration of young Velvet Blue standing on a cobbled path in a beautiful village at sunset. Velvet is a young pale creamy-golden wedge of blue cheese with irregular blue-green veining, large bright blue eyes and a gentle smile. A blue flower with green leaves rests beside the upper part of her wedge.
She wears a light cream dress decorated with blue and gold details, a blue waistband and a soft blue cape fastened with a small blue-and-gold brooch. Matching blue shoes complete her outfit.
Behind her are old stone cottages surrounded by flowers and greenery. A stream runs beneath an arched stone bridge, with more cottages and rolling green hills stretching into the warm golden distance.
Lady Roquefortia
A landscape illustration of the elderly Lady Roquefortia standing in the cold and remote Stilton Spires. She is a pale creamy-golden wedge of blue cheese with extensive blue-green veining, blue eyes and a deeply lined, weary face.
A heavy midnight-blue hooded cloak surrounds her, decorated with restrained silver-grey embroidery and fastened at her throat with a dark blue brooch. She wears dark gloves and holds her hands together in front of her.
Behind her, a rough stone path climbs towards a tall, severe dark-stone house perched high on a rocky outcrop. Its steep roofs, chimneys and long narrow windows rise against enormous jagged mountain peaks. A few windows glow warmly, but the surrounding landscape is bleak and misty beneath a turbulent blue-grey sky.
Velvet Blue revealed
A landscape illustration of elderly Velvet Blue standing in the Stilton Spires after revealing her true identity. She remains a pale creamy-golden wedge of blue cheese with distinctive blue-green veining and blue eyes, but her heavy hood has gone.
Her silver-grey hair is swept back in soft waves and gathered behind her head. She wears an elegant deep navy dress and a light cream or ivory shawl decorated with blue embroidery, fastened with a blue gemstone brooch. Her uncovered hands rest gently together and she wears a small, thoughtful smile.
The dark stone house of the Stilton Spires remains on the rocky peak behind her, surrounded by jagged mountains and deep misty valleys. But the storm is breaking. Golden sunset light spreads across the distant landscape, catching the mountain edges and the winding path, bringing warmth back into a place that had previously seemed cold and isolated.
Blindman Makes 