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Documentary, BBC- The Last Dukes
BBC The Last Dukes
BBC- The Last Dukes is a documentary that explores the lives of the last 24 non-royal Dukes of England in the 21st century.
The film, directed by Michael Waldman, provides a glimpse into the lives of these aristocrats and their ancestral homes.
The documentary highlights the challenges faced by the Dukes as they try to maintain their estates and traditions in a modern world.
The film also touches on the history of Dukedoms, which were created by the monarch, but are now gradually becoming extinct.
The Last Dukes is a fascinating look at the highest tier of the British Aristocracy.
BBC The Last Dukes
BBC- The Last Dukes is a documentary that explores the lives of the last 24 non-royal Dukes of England in the 21st century.
The film, directed by Michael Waldman, provides a glimpse into the lives of these aristocrats and their ancestral homes.
The documentary highlights the challenges faced by the Dukes as they try to maintain their estates and traditions in a modern world.
The film also touches on the history of Dukedoms, which were created by the monarch, but are now gradually becoming extinct.
The Last Dukes is a fascinating look at the highest tier of the British Aristocracy.
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LearningTranscript
00:00Queen Elizabeth drives to her coronation.
00:03At the Queen's coronation in 1953,
00:06the aristocracy of the kingdom assembled,
00:09and at the top of the pile were the dukes.
00:14Excluding the royal dukes,
00:16titles given to the immediate family of monarchs,
00:19there were then 28 non-royal dukes.
00:23At the sacred moment that the Queen was crowned,
00:26they were also entitled to don their coronets.
00:31And the trumpet's sound.
00:46Dukedoms are created by the monarch
00:48for reasons ranging from a grateful nation
00:51rewarding a major war leader
00:52to a king acknowledging his illegitimate son.
00:56The title then passing down the generations.
01:00I'm Duke of Athel, Marquess of Talibaden,
01:03Earl of Strath-Tay and Strath-Ardle,
01:06Viscount Balwydda, Balvenie and Gask,
01:09Lord Murray, Thane of Glentilt,
01:16and I think I've missed one out,
01:19but there are a lot of them.
01:22This is the list of my titles.
01:25Duke of Montrose, Marquess of Montrose,
01:28Marquess of Graham of Victory,
01:31and Baron Graham of Belford.
01:33You're all those?
01:34Yeah.
01:34So I'm the Duchess of Rutland,
01:38the 11th Duchess of Rutland,
01:40and this is my home, Beaver Castle.
01:43If I'd been born a boy,
01:45I would have been my father's heir
01:46and the 12th Duke of Leeds.
01:52Bet you weren't.
01:53But I wasn't.
01:56The last dukedom to be created
01:59was by Queen Victoria in 1889,
02:01and it is inconceivable
02:03that there will ever be any more.
02:06So, as they gradually become extinct,
02:09there are now only 24 non-royal dukes,
02:12what will become of those that remain?
02:15Do they still have power and wealth?
02:18What is it to be a duke in the 21st century?
02:32Dukedoms still own
02:34in excess of one million acres of Britain today.
02:37The classic image of a duke's stately pile
02:40is Blenheim Palace,
02:42home to the dukes of Marlborough
02:45for over 300 years.
02:46The dukedom was created in 1702
02:51for John Churchill,
02:53a wily statesman and soldier
02:54who won a series of battles against the French.
02:58His greatest was the Battle of Blenheim.
03:01Until the Second World War,
03:03Blenheim Palace continued to run
03:05pretty much unchanged.
03:11Driving in today
03:12is someone who actually lived
03:14that Downton Abbey life.
03:16She was born
03:17Lady Rosemary Spencer Churchill,
03:19the daughter of the 10th Duke of Marlborough.
03:23No distant car park for her.
03:27When her father succeeded to the title,
03:30Lady Rosemary was a lively five-year-old.
03:33Right, shall we go along here?
03:35There were no pesky red ropes in those days.
03:38Yes, this I recollect very well
03:41because there used to be a piano here
03:45and we had to practice the piano.
03:49And there was a dagger under this picture
03:54of my grandfather, my grandmother, my father.
03:58And the dagger was there
04:00that if there was a fire,
04:02that the pictures could be cut out of their frames
04:05very quickly and thrown out of the window.
04:07But of course, this was fascinating for a child.
04:10Instead of playing the piano,
04:12I used to play with the dagger.
04:14I'm not sure if it...
04:15Oh, I think it's still there, behind the chair.
04:18I don't know if we're allowed to do this,
04:20but I think...
04:22There it is, you see.
04:27It's a huge knife.
04:30It was just home.
04:31You know, you just happened to live here
04:35and you didn't think it was really very extraordinary.
04:40When you were a child, how many servants were there?
04:43Indoors, there were 36, I think.
04:46But they were all...
04:47The footmen were all very tall.
04:48My mother would like them to be six foot tall.
04:51As the average height of a male in those days
04:55was about five foot three,
04:56they were quite difficult to come by.
04:59But they were all about six foot.
05:03Why did she like them so tall?
05:04Well, I mean, in a house like this,
05:05you didn't want a lot of midgets walking about, did you?
05:09I mean, you know, they didn't sort of...
05:11They didn't look right.
05:15You see, everything's on the snart.
05:16I hate fernsha on the snart.
05:18I don't know why people have to put it on the snart.
05:21Would you rearrange it?
05:22Yes, I would.
05:24I just hate things on the snart.
05:28These are the invitations to the coronation.
05:32In early 1953, Lady Rosemary was selected
05:36to become a maid of honour to the Queen.
05:40But presumably your qualifications as Lady Rosemary
05:42were not only beauty and height,
05:44but being the daughter of a Duke.
05:46Yes, yes.
05:47Yes, I had a head start,
05:49because there weren't any other Duke's daughters.
05:51No, there was Marquess.
05:53There was Jane, Jane, um, Bain-Tembers-Dews.
05:58But, um, otherwise they were mostly Earls, I think.
06:02Way below you.
06:03Way below I.
06:04Yes.
06:05I believed one or two people were rather cross.
06:09Anne Cook told me that she'll be nameless.
06:13Somebody was rather cross that her daughter hadn't been asked.
06:17From the roaring of the multitude
06:18into the quiet solemnity of the great abbey
06:21steps Her Majesty.
06:22Ah, yes, there we are, all going into the abbey.
06:27I'm at the back on the right-hand side.
06:31I've never seen this before.
06:34There I am on the left.
06:37The peers of the realm are already...
06:39Here's the Dukes.
06:41My father would have been there,
06:42but I don't know quite where.
06:45Did you not discuss it with your parents?
06:46No, not at all.
06:48Did they say they saw you?
06:51No.
06:54They obviously did.
06:56Because they would have been sort of fairly up
06:58at the top of the pile, so to speak.
07:01But no, I don't think we discussed it really at all.
07:06Do you find that odd?
07:12No, I don't think one did find it odd.
07:14You didn't find it odd in those days
07:16because you had lots of sort of very grand things
07:19that happened all the time.
07:21Yeah, I never remember discussing it
07:23with my parents at all.
07:26Here we are on the balcony.
07:28It was amazing.
07:30The final scene.
07:31The others, I think, all went out
07:33round London afterwards,
07:35but I had to get home
07:38because my mother was roasting an ox
07:40in the park for Woodstock.
07:43There's my mother carving the ox.
07:46I'm there cutting up the meat.
08:00That world has in some ways disappeared.
08:03Lady Rosemary's brother was Duke for 42 years.
08:06His son succeeded to the title last year.
08:11But how are the other dukedoms faring?
08:21Blair Castle is at the centre of a vast ducal estate
08:25of over 140,000 acres in the Scottish Highlands.
08:28Assembling today is the only private army in Europe.
08:43The Duke of Athol was given the right
08:45to possess such a thing by Queen Victoria in 1844.
08:49And today, the Athol Highlanders' Regiment
08:51consists of around 100 men,
08:53made up of locals associated in some way
08:56with the ducal estates.
08:59Its commanding officer lives 6,000 miles away.
09:04My father actually, he had no intention
09:06of sort of accepting the role at all.
09:09He was going to be a...
09:11He actually made inquiries,
09:13official inquiries as to how he could get out of it.
09:16And the person that he consulted at the Lord Lyon said,
09:19you can either commit a Schedule 1 offence,
09:22or felony, they call it here,
09:24and go to jail for the rest of your life,
09:26or die.
09:27You can't abdicate being a duke.
09:30This is the archive.
09:33Wow, so what is here?
09:35Well, this part at the top has the earliest documents.
09:39There's 40 trunks of land charters,
09:42giving the duke title to his estate.
09:45But the very oldest is in here.
09:48This one dates from 1180.
09:52The next one is from 1199.
09:55The main thing was to prove that you owned a bit of land.
09:58So without a charter from the Crown,
10:00you had no proof.
10:02And these are the originals?
10:03Absolutely.
10:06Of course.
10:10Family history matters.
10:12When the 9th duke died,
10:14there was a very convoluted route to his successor,
10:16a young man who was his 4th cousin twice removed.
10:21We have a very simplified family tree here.
10:24So you come down straight from the 3rd duke,
10:274th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th,
10:30but they have no male heirs,
10:32so you have to find the next male heir working your way back.
10:35So this was a brother of the 4th duke.
10:37You come down through this line of Georges
10:39until you get to the 10th duke here.
10:43The 10th duke had the perfect ducal image,
10:46as if from central casting.
10:48He was nearly 6 1â2 feet tall,
10:51talked in clipped sentences,
10:52ending each with that Victorian aristocratic tick,
10:55like, what, what?
10:57A bachelor, he died in 1996,
11:00and the whole process of finding the next heir started again.
11:04And then to get to the present line of duke,
11:07you don't have to go quite so far back,
11:09just to the great-grandfather of the 10th duke
11:11and his brother again,
11:13and through the male line to the present duke.
11:16Oh, Grace, the Athol Highlanders are formed up
11:19and ready for your inspection, sir.
11:21Bruce Murray runs a small sign-making shop
11:24that he set up many years ago
11:26in an obscure provincial town in South Africa.
11:32In 2012, Bruce and his second wife, Charmaine,
11:36found themselves becoming the duke and duchess of Athol,
11:40along with 12 subsidiary titles.
11:45By the centre! Quick, march!
11:50Being the duke,
11:51he is automatically the colonel-in-chief of the Athol Highlanders.
11:55It's quite a responsibility.
11:57It's a very, very moving experience for me to parade for them.
12:01And I said to Charmaine, the duchess, the other day,
12:05that I'm so glad that I'm on my own there
12:08because if I had to turn around
12:09and actually have to talk to anybody else,
12:13I wouldn't be capable of doing it.
12:14I've got a constant lump in my throat when I'm on parade.
12:20You know, I'm here because of an accident of birth,
12:22and I didn't actually do anything
12:24to deserve this huge privilege that I have.
12:27All of this that happens is done for me, you know, basically.
12:32And it's just a very, very overwhelming sensation
12:36that I get to feel that.
12:38I haven't done anything to deserve it.
12:45The duke and duchess only see the family seat
12:48on their brief trip over from South Africa once a year.
12:52This is the entrance hall,
12:53and it's a collection of firearms and weapons
12:56that the dukes have collected.
12:57Just this morning, we were wondering
12:59how many of these weapons have actually been used,
13:01and it's quite sinister,
13:04but it's a wonderful collection.
13:06The trouble with grand estates is that,
13:09if not well managed, they can run out of money.
13:12In the 1930s, the elderly and childless brothers,
13:16the 8th and then 9th dukes, were facing ruin.
13:19But luckily, their distant cousin, the heir to the title,
13:23was about to marry a woman with a very rich grandmother.
13:26Her grandmother, old lady Cowdery,
13:31realised that the estate was in financial problems
13:34and the whole thing would probably be sold.
13:37So old lady Cowdery stepped in, paid off the bank debt,
13:42turned the whole thing into a company.
13:44She had the controlling shares, the deal was signed,
13:46she went to Paris for the weekend for a rest and dropped dead.
13:50My great-grandmother effectively bought the estate,
13:53and her condition of buying it was that the duke
13:55and everybody continued to live here, but her advisers ran it.
13:58And they took a more business-like approach,
14:01and one aspect of that was opening the castle to visitors.
14:07So, by bringing in capital and a commercial approach,
14:10the rich old lady had ensured for her granddaughter
14:13that there would be a suitable estate along with the title.
14:17The title stays with the male line,
14:20but the 10th duke's half-sister, Sarah, is the trustee,
14:24and she and her mother and her grandmother
14:26were the ones with the actual control.
14:30So the hereditary system does not mean
14:33that the males get the control.
14:35They might get the title,
14:36but unless you're very bothered about the title,
14:39it's running the estate that's more important.
14:41Sarah Troughton, the head trustee,
14:46is the half-sister of the 10th duke.
14:50What do you think about the title only going through the male line?
14:54Um, huge relief.
14:58I don't want to be a duchess.
15:02Really?
15:03Yes.
15:04I don't...
15:04I think, um,
15:06it's a nice sort of ceremonial thing these days,
15:09but it's not something...
15:10I prefer to get on with the business side of things.
15:13Had you inherited the title in the past,
15:15you'd have lived in the castle.
15:17Do you ever think about that?
15:19When I do think about that,
15:21the prospect of managing an enterprise like this
15:24absolutely appalls me.
15:26So, actually, the way that it is now,
15:28I'm probably one of the luckiest dukes
15:29because I have this massive enterprise
15:32that's there to allow me to be a duke.
15:35Well, this is a picture staircase
15:37showing a lot of my ancestors.
15:41It's lovely.
15:42I have this family tree.
15:43I can know more or less what they looked like.
15:45Do you know who any of them are?
15:47No.
15:48If I look carefully,
15:50I might well see John I, Marquess of Athol,
15:54the chap in a very peculiar outfit.
15:56And this would be James,
16:00the second duke of Athol.
16:02Do you see any resemblance
16:04between whether you look in the mirror?
16:06No.
16:06There's obviously a little bit of DNA in there somewhere,
16:09but I don't think I look like him.
16:13The duke's sons,
16:14the Marquess of Tullabuddin
16:16and Lord David Murray,
16:17are officers in the Athol Highlanders.
16:20We are soldiers, though,
16:22so in a real army.
16:23So, in theory,
16:24we could sort of gather the men
16:27and go to war if we wanted to.
16:30Maybe not in this day and age.
16:30I don't know how effective we'd be.
16:34Do you regret you're not in a position to live here?
16:37It's a very difficult one to answer
16:38because obviously I'm African
16:40and I always will be.
16:42But honestly, no.
16:44And I think it's just quite special
16:45that we can have the African side
16:46as well as the Scottish side.
16:48So we have the best of both worlds.
16:49The duke and his family
16:58play a symbolic role
16:59in all the rituals.
17:01The heir and the spare
17:02pull down their socks
17:04and get stuck in with the local fun.
17:07It's a bayonet.
17:12No longer a strictly military occasion,
17:16the duchess accompanies her husband.
17:24But even at full speed,
17:26suitable respect is shown to the duke.
17:36Back home, she's simply Charmaine,
17:38but here she's the duchess
17:40and does what duchesses do.
17:45Is it fun handing out the prizes like that?
17:48It is fun and it's nice to know everybody.
17:50Are you able to enjoy it?
17:52We do.
17:52We love it.
17:53That's why we came here.
17:54Yeah.
17:55Yeah, we love it.
17:56I mean, I'm one of 24 people
17:59out of 7 billion on the planet
18:00have got this responsibility
18:02to be a duke.
18:03And it's onerous.
18:07You can't be trained for it
18:08in my situation.
18:09Obviously, if you're born
18:10and bred into it,
18:11it's different.
18:12But nobody can teach you
18:14how to be a duke.
18:18This new South African line
18:20of long-distance dukes of Athol
18:22came about because the dukedom
18:24can only go through male heirs.
18:27But when all male heirs run out,
18:30that is the end of the line.
18:32Well, there are some books,
18:38a couple of books in here.
18:41So where does that leave Camilla Osborne,
18:44whose father was the Duke of Leeds,
18:47a dukedom now extinct?
18:49The other rather grander book,
18:51which has got the title on the cover.
18:55And I don't know which one it was for.
18:59And that's the family book plate.
19:01There's the coronet.
19:04She lives in a new build close
19:06in southwest London.
19:07But she still gets odd glimpses
19:09of the precedence at some dinner tables
19:11that her status as daughter of a duke
19:14can give her.
19:16If I went to a lunch at Christie's,
19:18for example,
19:19they are extremely aware
19:21because they spend their days
19:22looking up dukes and viscounts
19:26and everything else.
19:27So you would be put on the right
19:29of the Christie's director.
19:32I went to a lunch at Christie's
19:33and I was on the right
19:34and there was a woman who was on the left
19:37who was visibly irritated
19:39because she was older,
19:42better looking,
19:43better dressed,
19:44more jewels than me.
19:46But she was on the left.
19:49And she was irritated.
19:53Did that ever so slightly please?
19:54Yes, of course it did.
19:57And in here,
19:58these pictures were taken
19:59by my father's father
20:01who was the 10th duke.
20:02The bathroom pays homage
20:04to the boyhood of her father.
20:06Well, there he is sitting
20:07in a sort of rather charmingly
20:09battered straw hat
20:10looking winsome
20:12and sad.
20:15And that is one with his mother.
20:17The Duchess had struggled
20:19to provide an heir.
20:20After four girls,
20:22finally she produced a boy.
20:24The arrival was celebrated
20:25with bonfires and fireworks.
20:28His title at birth
20:29was the Marquess of Carmarthen.
20:30The story of him being on a bus
20:33and the bus stopped
20:35and he apparently said,
20:36Nanny, Nanny,
20:37why aren't we moving?
20:39And she said,
20:40because there's a lot of traffic
20:41on the road, you see,
20:43and we can't move,
20:43the bus can't move.
20:45And he went,
20:46well, they wouldn't do this
20:48if they knew
20:49the little Marquess was on board.
20:53And I suppose
20:55he was known
20:56as the little Marquess.
20:59The family seat
21:00was Hornby Castle
21:01in Yorkshire.
21:03Within a couple of years
21:04of succeeding
21:05to the title in 1927,
21:07the new young Duke
21:08put the castle
21:09up for sale.
21:10With cash in the bank,
21:12he drifted round Europe,
21:14ending up
21:14on the French Riviera.
21:17This is a picture
21:17of his wedding
21:19to the Serbian ballet dancer.
21:21He got married in Nice.
21:23There is the bride,
21:24who's looking pretty satisfied.
21:26My father,
21:27who's looking
21:27understandably apprehensive
21:30and nervous
21:31because there is his mother,
21:33who appears to be
21:33wearing her gardening clothes
21:35and certainly a gardening hat.
21:37She's looking
21:37as if she cannot
21:39really believe
21:40that her only son and heir
21:41is marrying
21:41the Serbian ballet dancer.
21:43The marriage
21:45to the Serbian ballerina
21:46ended when she went off
21:48with an American millionaire.
21:50The Duke remarried
21:51and they had a daughter,
21:53Camilla.
21:54To avoid heavy English taxes,
21:56they moved to Jersey.
21:58He was probably bored,
22:00bad-tempered,
22:01miserable at being made
22:02to live there.
22:03My mother was much younger
22:04and she met in Ferdinand
22:06with a young,
22:07good-looking
22:07guards officer
22:09who was in the Coldstream Guards.
22:11With the result
22:12that she left me
22:13and my father,
22:14my stepfather
22:15had to leave the army
22:16and apparently
22:17his commanding officer
22:18said,
22:19well, Lawrence,
22:20this is jolly sad,
22:21isn't it?
22:22I mean,
22:23you know,
22:24chorus girls are one thing
22:25but I'm afraid
22:26duchesses are quite another.
22:29Within minutes,
22:30a young woman
22:31had got her tabs
22:32on the newly available Duke.
22:34She was terribly tall.
22:36She was nearly six foot
22:37so she was
22:38bloody frightening
22:39as well.
22:40Why do you think
22:41she married your father?
22:42Do you think the title
22:43had...
22:43Oh, yes.
22:44It had an enormous amount
22:46to do with it
22:47but looking back,
22:49I mean,
22:49she wanted to be a duchess.
22:51What do you think
22:51about your resemblance
22:52to him?
22:53Oh, I love looking like him.
22:55I do, yes.
22:56Well, it's such a link,
22:57isn't it?
22:59Um,
23:00my stepmother
23:01in her less than generous
23:02moments
23:03said it was a great shame
23:04that I looked so like him.
23:06I was 12.
23:10When he died,
23:11I was at boarding school
23:11and they'd summon me back
23:13but I wasn't allowed
23:14to say goodbye to him.
23:15I didn't see him
23:16before he died.
23:18There was a funeral
23:19which I wasn't taken to
23:20and she knew
23:22under the terms
23:23of the trust
23:24that she couldn't inherit
23:25anything other than
23:27his personal possessions
23:30and she was obsessive
23:32about money
23:33but I remember her
23:34going on and on
23:35to a friend
23:35and this friend saying,
23:37oh, Caroline,
23:37you know,
23:38I do think perhaps
23:38you could stop now
23:39because it's really
23:40not very nice
23:41for Camilla to listen
23:42to all this.
23:43Oh, well,
23:43she'll be all right
23:44because she's got the money
23:46and I was, what,
23:4813 or something
23:49at the time.
23:52On her father's death,
23:53the title went
23:54to a distant cousin
23:55living in Rome,
23:57Sir Darcy Osborne,
23:58a former British ambassador
24:00to the Vatican.
24:01He was in his 70s
24:03and a bachelor
24:03and when he died
24:05just six months later,
24:07the Dukedom of Leeds
24:08became extinct.
24:11My father,
24:12if he'd still had
24:12the place in Yorkshire,
24:14he'd have been like
24:15Bedford or Devonshire
24:18or those that have
24:19got a purpose,
24:20which is what I'm
24:20trying to say,
24:21but I think it gives
24:22you a purpose
24:23and I think maybe
24:25that's why he wasn't
24:26a happy man
24:27because he had
24:28absolutely no purpose
24:30in his life
24:31except getting through
24:34the day
24:35by going to the cinema
24:38or going to the tailor
24:40or having, you know,
24:43the third Perno.
24:45That was his life,
24:47actually.
24:48When Hornby was sold,
24:51the coronation rose
24:52were under a bed
24:53so they got,
24:55they were sold.
24:56But what remains
24:57are the three coronets.
25:01The Ducal coronet,
25:04the Duchess's coronet
25:05and the Marquis's coronet.
25:07And that, you see,
25:08there was a...
25:09Apparently,
25:10you kept your sandwiches
25:11in there
25:13during the coronation
25:14because, you know,
25:15you were there
25:16for hours and hours
25:17and hours
25:17so you would just
25:18have that
25:18on your head.
25:22Actually,
25:22that feels
25:23quite comfortable.
25:24It suits you,
25:26I have to say.
25:27I appreciate
25:28enormously
25:29what I've got
25:30but I think
25:32maybe like my father
25:33if I hadn't had it
25:35I would have had
25:35a happier life
25:36or a more fulfilled one.
25:39I mean,
25:40when you read
25:41death announcements,
25:43don't you,
25:43you read them
25:43and it says
25:44after a life
25:46well lived
25:47or after a fulfilled life
25:49and sometimes
25:49in my more gloomy moments
25:50I think,
25:52yes,
25:52I wouldn't say that.
25:54Really?
25:55And not that I've been unhappy
25:56but I just feel
25:57I've had
25:57sort of the same
25:59slightly aimless life
26:01as my father did
26:01for different reasons.
26:12The Dukedom of Leeds
26:14had been created
26:15for a crafty
26:16Yorkshire politician
26:16who had helped
26:17bring William and Mary
26:18to the throne
26:19in 1689.
26:22The Dukedom of St Albans
26:23was created
26:24for less elevated reasons.
26:25simply for the bastard son
26:28of King Charles II
26:30and the celebrated actress
26:32Nell Gwynne.
26:35The family seat
26:36for many years
26:37was Bestwood Lodge
26:38in Nottinghamshire
26:39but that is long gone.
26:42The 14th Duke
26:44of St Albans
26:44and his Duchess
26:45live in a terraced house
26:47in a quiet street
26:48in central London.
26:49Well, he's the 10th Duke
26:58and he's the same chap
27:00as that
27:00and he was the sort
27:02of the good Duke
27:03the 10th Duke
27:03was the last person
27:04to make a speech
27:05in the House of Lords
27:06until I did it.
27:07Oh, really?
27:08127 years later.
27:10And that, I suppose,
27:11is our coronet.
27:13Do you still have
27:13the coronet?
27:14Yes, male and female
27:15and the robes
27:16we have the coronation robes.
27:17Really, where are they?
27:19Up in the attic.
27:21Oh, we'll talk
27:22about those later.
27:25All the coronets
27:26aren't there
27:27in your study.
27:29Oh, are they?
27:29Yes.
27:30Oh, well, okay.
27:31That would be your one.
27:33I think that is
27:34actually.
27:36It's the red one
27:37because it's
27:38the original box
27:39and it's very,
27:41very fragile.
27:42Now, this is Murray's one.
27:44I think they're
27:45rather lovely.
27:46That's Murray's.
27:47You hold yours, Murray.
27:48And I'll just
27:50get out my one.
27:52Which I think
27:52is just so pretty.
27:54There's an original
27:56pen, which would be,
27:57say, 1680.
27:59You see those?
28:00That's what's
28:00so brilliantly clever.
28:02Those are the pens
28:03you would put in
28:04in your hair
28:06and that would keep,
28:07which the Queen
28:08obviously does.
28:09So what I do is,
28:10I do that
28:11second
28:13and I'm pressing
28:15it into my
28:15scalp
28:17and I do that
28:19and then
28:20I'm pressing
28:21it in like that
28:22and, of course,
28:22that is amazing
28:23because that's it.
28:25Look.
28:25Hmm.
28:26We have had no reason
28:28to wear...
28:29Never.
28:29Never.
28:29...ever, ever
28:30to worry
28:30any more
28:31than we've had
28:32any reason
28:32to wear the robes
28:34and actually,
28:36in fact,
28:37the...
28:37Well, I wore the robes
28:38for my portrait.
28:39For the portrait.
28:40Right.
28:41And how should one
28:42address you
28:43whilst being full?
28:44Well, that's quite...
28:46Your Grace.
28:47It should be Your Grace.
28:48Quite a few...
28:49A few people do.
28:50Quite a few of the restaurants
28:51call me Your Grace.
28:53Quite a few.
28:54But then,
28:55on the other hand,
28:56you also get people
28:57that don't.
28:59And so,
29:00well, that's...
29:01Well, you know,
29:01we're very
29:02totally relaxed, actually.
29:04But do you quite like it?
29:06Well, I...
29:07To be honest with you,
29:08I like...
29:09I do actually like
29:10formality.
29:11But I've always liked
29:12formality, regardless.
29:14I don't like
29:15Christian names,
29:16for instance, terribly.
29:17So, it wouldn't suit me
29:19to be...
29:20I don't like being
29:21called Gillian, actually,
29:22particularly by people
29:23I don't know.
29:24Mm-hmm.
29:25But that's only just me,
29:27really.
29:28So, what should I call you?
29:29Well, you can call me
29:31Gillian, if you like.
29:33Well, that's very generous
29:35and what the more...
29:35Well, no, not at all.
29:36But if, on my first
29:37meeting you,
29:37what should I have called you?
29:39Or did I call you?
29:40I think I avoided it.
29:41I think you avoided it,
29:42which I think
29:43is a very sensible
29:43thing to do.
29:44Because I think
29:45I always often avoid
29:46things that I don't
29:47want to get involved with.
29:48And then I don't hurt
29:49anybody's feelings
29:50or be on, you know,
29:53any problems about it.
29:55So, I think I would
29:55have done the same.
29:56So, for example,
29:57when you're booking
29:57an aeroplane ticket...
29:59Oh, that's an issue.
30:00Because they said
30:00they can't put in
30:01Duke of, Duchess of...
30:03Because it won't fit
30:04into their computers,
30:05which is what we're
30:06always being told.
30:06So, we go in under
30:08Mr. and Mrs. St. Albans.
30:11Fine.
30:12We don't mind.
30:13But, because, actually,
30:14we're not the kind
30:17that would want to
30:18necessarily throw in
30:20a title just because
30:21we want a better seat
30:22or whatever.
30:23You know, some people
30:24do that.
30:24But we do.
30:26But, anyway, there you
30:27go.
30:27Terribly pretty, isn't it?
30:29Very, very.
30:29Yeah.
30:30Now, I'm afraid,
30:31having mentioned
30:31your robe,
30:33you have to see the robes.
30:34Where are they?
30:35Are they next door?
30:36Oh, well...
30:36Well, then, there.
30:37On the attic.
30:38Yeah, but that really
30:39is an ordeal.
30:39Is it?
30:40Well, I'll take...
30:41No, no, no, you're not
30:42going into the attic.
30:43That's banned.
30:44Because that's where
30:45everything but the
30:46kitchen sink is.
30:48Oh, health and safety, too.
30:49The health and safety.
30:50Loose?
30:51Hi.
30:51We need you, Loose.
30:53Okay.
30:54If you'd like to come
30:55up with me, Loose.
30:57I know.
30:57Well, don't worry.
30:58We could just put the
30:59ironing board to the
31:00side.
31:01Loose for a second.
31:03No, that doesn't
31:03matter.
31:04No, no, don't worry.
31:06We could just take
31:06that down for a minute.
31:08This would be easier
31:09in here, actually.
31:11Can we let loose
31:12through the yarn?
31:13Yes.
31:13Oh, that's easier, yeah.
31:14It really is.
31:16Because Murray's is
31:18terribly heavy.
31:20heavy, and in his,
31:23well, look, you see,
31:25in his case, very, very
31:28frail.
31:30Show what way it would,
31:31it seems to be
31:32molting a little bit.
31:32Yes, it is.
31:33It's melted tremendously.
31:35As long as the moths
31:36haven't got in it.
31:39The ermine is looking
31:41very unhappy.
31:43It is bother, isn't it?
31:44Fortunately, this is AK, this
31:47one.
31:48It's so, it is beautifully
31:49made.
31:50So that's lace from?
31:51Yeah, 16, whatever.
31:54So here is the original.
31:56Look.
31:56Shall I take it now?
31:57Yeah, why don't you?
31:58You take it, Michael, and
32:00then you can...
32:01Look, I think that is,
32:05that is what is really
32:07lovely, I think.
32:08Sorry, was there a bit of
32:09ermine's, there's a sort of
32:10shawl under that, that, yes,
32:12that, you know, this, is
32:14that, or is that just a
32:15spare?
32:15It's just, no, that isn't.
32:18It clips on to here,
32:20actually.
32:20Look, Murray.
32:22In fact, well done you
32:24for spotting that.
32:26We'll have it like that.
32:27That's nice.
32:27Because I think that's
32:28the ideal thing to do.
32:30Look at it, it's simply
32:31beautiful.
32:33How did you meet Murray,
32:34and what was your
32:35attitude to his title?
32:36Oh, well, I, first of all,
32:39I met Murray at a dinner
32:41party.
32:41As far as his title went,
32:45I think it's a charming
32:45title, actually.
32:46I think it's a particularly
32:47pretty one.
32:48But actually, my daughter's
32:51godfather was Duke of
32:54Manchester, and I have
32:56known quite a few, so it
32:57wasn't as if it really was
32:59at all a sort of, anything
33:01out of the ordinary, as
33:03it were.
33:05You're definitely out of the
33:06ordinary, you're very, very
33:07special.
33:08But not the title,
33:09particularly.
33:10What have we got here?
33:12Well, we have me here,
33:13and my coronation robes,
33:15and a faulkin.
33:18Caught, a live faulkin?
33:19No, stuffed, I'm afraid.
33:21Because I'm hereditary
33:22grand faulkin of England.
33:24Hereditary grand faulkin?
33:25What does that mean?
33:26Well, it means nothing now.
33:27I think there used to be a
33:28salary of a thousand pounds
33:29a year.
33:29Really?
33:30Yes, one time.
33:31Up till a few years ago,
33:32one used to get a quarter of
33:34a deer twice a year from
33:37Richmond Park.
33:38But that was stopped by
33:40Tony Blair on the grounds of
33:43economy.
33:45What did you think of that?
33:47Well, it was a pretty poor
33:48show.
33:49The Archbishop of Canterbury
33:50used to get it as well,
33:51and one to other people.
33:53Murray, did your ancestors
33:54leave you a vast stately
33:56mansion and huge wealth?
33:58No, they didn't, unfortunately.
34:04So, can I ask what you...
34:07Have you worked for a living?
34:09Yes, I have.
34:10Doing what?
34:11Well, I'm a chartered accountant.
34:14This has got a stump.
34:15It's a top of my head.
34:16The Duke's son and heir is
34:18Charles Beauclair, who used to
34:20use his courtesy title of the
34:21Earl of Burford, but now
34:23chooses not to.
34:24That is one of the Dukes.
34:26He is a teacher and part-time
34:28historian and takes rather
34:29more interest than his dad
34:31in the family's history.
34:33That's the ninth as a boy,
34:35so obviously the father of
34:36Clare of the Ten.
34:38I mean, do you feel a
34:39connection to these ancestors?
34:43Not particularly, really.
34:44I don't.
34:45Really?
34:46But I'm probably
34:47exceptional in that.
34:49I think Charles does more,
34:50sort of, sort of.
34:51I'm sure he does.
34:52Hmm.
34:53To some of them, yes.
34:54Obviously, some are obscure
34:56and they're just pictures and
34:58so on and they don't really come
34:59alive in your mind.
35:01Others do.
35:01And I think, obviously, we're
35:05fortunate in being aware of the
35:07story of our family in a way that
35:08a lot of people aren't.
35:10And therefore, I think you can
35:11choose the way in which you
35:13become part of that story.
35:14I mean, we're all actors in it.
35:15One day, Charles will be the
35:19Duke of St Albans.
35:21It is often thought that any man
35:23in possession of a grand title
35:24must not be in want of a large
35:27stately, but that is no longer
35:29the case for this dukedom.
35:31Charles, though, is fascinated by
35:33Bestwood Lodge, the pile that in
35:35other circumstances he might have
35:37inherited.
35:38It is now a Best Western hotel.
35:41Yes, this is Bestwood Lodge,
35:44which was built between 1862 and
35:461865 by the 10th Duke of St Albans.
35:49And there's a lot of fantasy to
35:50it.
35:51You know, you've got the figures
35:51of Robin Hood and there's merry
35:52men over the porch there.
35:54It was described at the time as
35:56acrobatic Gothic, which I think
35:58is a pretty good description.
36:01Charles and his girlfriend Sarah
36:02are hoping to put on plays here
36:04and have been delving into its
36:08traumatic family history.
36:11The 10th Duke, a talented
36:12entrepreneur, made a fortune and
36:15with three sons, he thought he'd
36:17set up the family for generations
36:18to come.
36:20But within months of his death,
36:22it all started to unravel.
36:25His son and heir, Burford, as he
36:28was called, three months after he
36:29succeeded, he was certified,
36:32confined to an asylum in Sussex,
36:34and that's where he spent the last
36:3536 years of his life.
36:37Then the youngest brother, Lord
36:39William Beauclair, also proved
36:41mad, and just after leaving
36:43Eton, he was sent to the priory,
36:46Roehampton.
36:47He was there for 52 years,
36:49completely forgotten by everyone.
36:51And the middle brother, Obby, who
36:52became the 12th Duke, was a
36:54restless soul who wandered around
36:57the world, and I think he became
36:58quite an embittered man.
37:00And that's what fascinates me, is
37:02why, what created this mental
37:04illness?
37:04I mean, was it partly societal?
37:07Were they sensitive souls who
37:09couldn't harness themselves to the
37:11whole imperial design?
37:13Or was it something more personal,
37:15something the way they'd been
37:16brought up?
37:18It's like a kind of haunting passed
37:20down from generation to generation.
37:21So I think the key is to become
37:24conscious of them, and then that
37:26demon is purged through for future
37:28generations.
37:30One of the reasons I gave up the
37:32title in the first place is because
37:33people's perceptions of you can
37:36actually create a sort of
37:37straitjacket.
37:38It often attracts people who just
37:40want to know you because they're
37:42snobs, and therefore you can fall
37:44into the wrong company very easily.
37:46I think much better just to be
37:47Mr. Beauclair, go about your
37:49business, but yes, if I felt I could
37:53use it in a powerful and creative
37:56fashion, then I would.
38:00If Charles doesn't take up the
38:02title, this might be the last
38:04practical incarnation of it.
38:06The dukedom of Rutland was created as
38:20the result of a very pushy mother
38:22who demanded of Queen Anne that her
38:24late husband's military heroism be
38:26rewarded, making her son-in-law a
38:29duke.
38:31This tradition of strong women has
38:33continued.
38:41I remember very well the feeling of
38:44driving up here to Beaver Castle in
38:47my rather beaten up old fiat and
38:51having to stop and take my breath
38:53back for a moment and seeing this
38:56extraordinary castle and thinking,
38:58whew, I'm going to stay there.
39:02The building itself is so imposing.
39:05It takes people's breath away.
39:12Emma Watkins was a farmer's daughter
39:14from Wales when she met the then
39:16Marquess of Granby, heir to the Duke of
39:19Rutland, owner of Beaver Castle, at a
39:22dinner party.
39:23Within a couple of years, they married
39:25and she became the Martianess.
39:28When her father-in-law died, her title
39:31changed.
39:33The upgrade to Duchess, how much of a
39:35difference does that make?
39:36To me?
39:38Well, it makes a difference to others
39:40because they perceive you as a
39:42duchess and suddenly, you know, to many
39:45people, bearing in mind there are so few
39:47of us in the country, it is all quite,
39:51whew, a duchess.
39:52You know, she might be sitting up in an
39:54ivory tower with a sort of crown on and
39:56quite old and quite scary.
40:00We're in our private rooms here and these
40:03are the rooms that are not open to the
40:07public 24-7 and so they're areas where we
40:10can have some space and out here is our
40:15private terrace, which is, I suppose,
40:21it's our back garden in a sense and, as you
40:23can see, we've got our swings and our dog
40:27kennel, our five dogs.
40:30In marrying Emma, the Duke found someone with
40:32whom to start a family who also turned out to be a
40:36determined and energetic estate manager.
40:39But three years ago, the marriage ran into
40:41difficulties.
40:43With over 300 rooms at their disposal,
40:46they came up with a relatively simple solution.
40:49He lives in one tower and delves into the
40:52family archives.
40:54She lives in another tower and, as chief
40:56executive, runs the place.
40:59Morning.
41:00Morning, everyone.
41:017.30am and the senior staff assemble for her
41:04Grace's weekly meeting.
41:05Debbie?
41:06Morning, Grace.
41:07We've got four sign-ups in the next two weeks.
41:11It's a bit like when the king dies, long live the king.
41:14When the duke dies, long live the duke.
41:17And there was an amazing moment that will remain
41:20with me forever when my mother-in-law, there
41:23was a large black tin of keys, enormous great keys,
41:27and she handed me the box and said, good luck.
41:31But actually, what we've got to do is address where
41:33it fell down.
41:35And so I spent the week and there wasn't one room that
41:38I hadn't managed to get into.
41:40So you have to kind of know what it is that you're
41:44taking over.
41:46I'm now going up onto the roof.
41:50I'm meeting our architect.
41:51And in a moment, you're going to see why it's called
41:56Bellevoir, beautiful castle, beautiful view.
42:01They were Norman French, the Manners family,
42:04and they couldn't really pronounce Beaver,
42:08so they called it Bellevoir because of the beautiful view.
42:11Let's go and see if my architect is down here.
42:14Peter?
42:19Oh!
42:22I'm on a different roof to you.
42:24So how do I get out to that one?
42:27You've come up the spiral stair, obviously.
42:29Yes.
42:29Across and through the middle of King's Room.
42:31Middle of King's Room.
42:32I'll be with you in two minutes.
42:34Pop down here and find the right roof.
42:39Hi, Peter.
42:41Where it bubbles.
42:42Yeah, that's right.
42:43That's all the corrosion building up underneath.
42:46So what problems does that create underneath?
42:49It just makes the lead thin.
42:51Right.
42:52How old is this lead?
42:54It's as old as the building.
42:55It's getting on for 200 years.
42:57There's a little mark here.
42:581883.
43:00Wow.
43:00You can see what it is.
43:01It's a little man riding a penny farthing.
43:03Yeah.
43:04So what sort of price are we talking about
43:07to have this re-leaded?
43:09It would use up an entire year's budget.
43:12So about 100,000.
43:14And that's just one section of the two acres of roof.
43:23Looking after the future extends beyond mere buildings, of course.
43:28The Duchess took her duty seriously,
43:30and after three daughters, produced two sons.
43:34Well, obviously, it's very important that you have a boy,
43:37because boys carry the title,
43:40and everything is entailed here at Beaver,
43:43so everything goes with the title.
43:45There is definitely a feeling that I'd better have a boy.
43:51The one that struggled most probably was Darling Hugo,
43:54who at four and a half said,
43:56Mum, when Charles dies, do I become the Duke?
44:00I said, Charles isn't going to die,
44:01and you will never be the Duke.
44:03But he sort of gets it now.
44:06I think as long as you're very, very clear with children
44:09from the outset about how it works,
44:13there's no confusion.
44:14In the magnificent Elizabeth Saloon,
44:19there's a photo shoot for Country and Townhouse magazine.
44:22It's black.
44:23You won't notice the bulges.
44:26The 21st century Duchess is conscious of the need to market the place,
44:31and with its Midlands location,
44:33she especially targets the lucrative Asian wedding business.
44:37There is, after all,
44:38a certain Bollywood over-the-top quality to the decor.
44:42Looking across out the window.
44:43Today, selling it as a family home,
44:46are all the female members.
44:48You look gorgeous.
44:49As daughters of a Duke,
44:50they take the courtesy title of Lady along with the family name.
44:54Lady Violet, Lady Alice,
44:57and Lady Eliza Manners.
45:00Do you ever think, as the oldest,
45:02about not being able to inherit?
45:03I wouldn't want to break tradition, actually.
45:06I think, for me personally,
45:08I think in years to come,
45:11I think it will be welcomed,
45:12and I think it should happen,
45:13that the elders should be allowed to inherit.
45:16But I'm quite happy that it hasn't changed for me.
45:18You know, my brother, I think,
45:19because he's got broad shoulders,
45:20and he'll be able to carry the weight properly, I think.
45:22So, genuinely, no tinge of...
45:24No tinge, not at all.
45:26I mean, I really...
45:27I have been asked a lot,
45:28and I just...
45:29I really, really am just so lucky to have been able to enjoy it.
45:35Did you play in this room when you were kids?
45:39Yeah, definitely.
45:40This was our big party special, this room was for Halloween parties.
45:45And we came out with the most amazing game called Runner.
45:49So, it was literally...
45:50There was no structure to it.
45:51You would just chase each other around
45:53until you caught each other or found each other.
45:55Or someone got really lost.
45:58For inheritance tax reasons,
46:00the castle has to be open for a certain number of days.
46:03We renegotiated with the government.
46:06We looked at reducing our days that were open to the public.
46:09I took the business right back to its roots, really.
46:14The Duchess got the open visitor days down to around 30 a year
46:18and replaced them with high-income, up-market shooting parties.
46:22I looked at bringing people in to come and shoot here
46:25from all over the world, to come and stay in the castle,
46:28to be waited on and looked after,
46:30as they had been 200 years ago.
46:34In the 15 years since she took over,
46:36the Duchess has transformed the 16,000-acre estate.
46:41She got rid of large numbers of employees and reordered priorities.
46:46I think, Nick, your family have been here for how many generations?
46:50Hundreds of years.
46:51I mean, the best part of 50 years I've been on this estate, on and off,
46:55and I've just seen a total change.
46:57What happened?
46:58I made them all redundant.
47:01Well, I don't know about that. I'm not going to go down.
47:03Well, I did.
47:04It wasn't that anyone was wrong.
47:06It was just, for me,
47:08it was just that people became accustomed to it the way it was.
47:13And...
47:14So what did you do?
47:15So I made a lot of people redundant.
47:19It's brought this place back to being a properly run estate.
47:22But it was controversial?
47:23Yes, it was controversial, yeah, definitely.
47:25But change is going to be controversial.
47:28The old seat of power for the aristocracy was the House of Lords.
47:46Tony Blair's government managed to abolish all but 92 hereditary peers.
47:51Amongst them, there are only three dukes.
47:54The Duke of Montrose is a former conservative shadow minister for Scotland in the Lords.
48:00I'm going down the corridor towards the House of Commons,
48:06where the pictures are all to do with the time of the Civil War.
48:10And this picture here is a picture of my ancestor's execution,
48:15which took place in 1650.
48:19The Duke's most famous ancestor, the first Marquess of Montrose,
48:23led the army for Scotland and then switched allegiance to the English throne.
48:29But he was finally defeated and captured and taken to Edinburgh,
48:33where he was hung for three hours over gibbet
48:37and then cut down and dismembered,
48:40and his limbs sent and hung on the gates of all the main cities of Scotland.
48:46I mean, our family has been involved in most of the events
48:50that have defied Scotland and its battles with England, one way or another.
48:55We then go on to the fourth Marquess, who, as president of the council,
49:00he supervised the signing of the Act of Union.
49:04And that's his picture there.
49:07As he had been instrumental in getting Scotland to join with England
49:11in the Act of Union, a grateful king created for him a dukedom,
49:16and the fourth Marquess became the first duke of Montrose.
49:21And then you get my grandfather, who's the sixth duke.
49:27He joined in in the early stages of the Scottish National Party,
49:32when what they were looking for is pretty much what we've got now,
49:36which is a devolved assembly within Scotland.
49:41As well as his duties in the House of Lords,
49:44the duke is a working hill farmer.
49:47What have you seen? A sheep on its back.
49:50I hope it's not dead. It's still heavy in land.
50:07Well, that was well caught, so she'd be better off that way round.
50:11Do you sometimes get the sort of sycophancy?
50:15It'd be very rare, I would say.
50:18It might be different in some areas where there are still people
50:25who can afford to be very grand,
50:27but I think sycophancy mainly comes to people who are very rich.
50:32When they were very rich, their stately pile was built in the Victorian era
50:39by his great-great-grandfather.
50:41They had the idea that life would go on in a very grand style,
50:46but, of course, it belonged to a lifestyle
50:49which was about to just vanish away.
50:52Today, Montrose lives in a more modest 1930s house,
50:56stuffed with mementos of the family's thousand-year history.
51:00These are the socks and the hat that he wore at his execution.
51:05And then this cloth here was supposed to be where his heart was wrapped.
51:11As with so many bits of history,
51:14one is charged with keeping something alive
51:17for other people to appreciate and understand.
51:21Is that it?
51:32Do you want it to be your valet?
51:34It's...
51:36These are my robes for the opening ceremony of Parliament.
51:40Dukes are allowed to have four bands of ermine
51:44that go right round the body like that.
51:48If I was an earl, I would have three bars,
51:52and if I were just a baron, I would have two bars.
51:55But at some point, there will be a new monarch. Will you attend?
51:59One would have to wait to be invited.
52:01I don't know that, er, what the protocol will be
52:05by the time there is a successor to the Queen.
52:08Erm, you may find that Dukes are no longer in the House of Lords at all
52:13by that time, and they're probably not considered to be very important people.
52:18As the last vestiges of their constitutional power fade,
52:26how will dukedoms with a real sense of grandeur survive in the centuries to come?
52:37This year, Blenheim Palace will have 700,000 paying visitors
52:42tramping through its very grand doors.
52:45James, formerly the Marquess of Blandford,
52:49only recently became the 12th Duke of Marlborough.
52:52He had a sticky time in his early life.
52:55A publicly documented drug addiction and a passion for fast cars
52:59hardly prepared him for the now professional business
53:02of running such a vast estate.
53:04Today, he will open a vintage car event.
53:08Hey, Caspar, come on.
53:11How are you?
53:12And Andrew, do you know what he does?
53:14He organised the whole event.
53:16Which one do you drive?
53:18Your daddy drove that?
53:19Yeah!
53:20All the way round the palace grounds.
53:22It's a pleasure you allowing us into your home.
53:24Don't be silly.
53:25It's an honour having you here.
53:27It really is.
53:29The Duke's sister is Lady Henrietta Spencer Churchill.
53:33Oh, hello, hello.
53:34Their father was the last Duke to live full-time in the private quarters.
53:37So this is the butler's pantry.
53:39This is, again, on the private side.
53:41You'll get your bearings in a minute.
53:43But if you went through that door, you would end up on the public side.
53:47So what's here?
53:48What are we looking at?
53:49This is our bar.
53:51You know, when we have guests, this is where either they help themselves to drink, or the
53:56butler helps them to drink.
53:59Faux books.
54:00In here there's a behind-the-scenes cupboards.
54:04And then this is, is a sort of service staircase, which goes all the way up.
54:09You can, you can.
54:10Not very interesting, but...
54:16So that goes down to the basement level, the lower ground.
54:20And then, actually, if you go all the way up, you can get into one of the towers.
54:24Which, of course, is where we spent a lot of time as children,
54:27because it was much more fun going to all the places you weren't supposed to be.
54:31Well, this is family dining room.
54:33As you see, at the moment, the table is set, what, for eight people.
54:37If it's just en famille, we actually have a round table,
54:41or just a small table in the bow part of the window here.
54:45The family sitting room.
54:48So it's really our telly room, too.
54:50You know, it's actually, as you can see, very cosy,
54:52although probably fairly large proportions.
54:56As early as the late 19th century,
54:58the financing of an estate like this became a huge issue.
55:02In the case of Marlborough, there was then a relatively simple solution.
55:07The ninth duke was very much told he had to marry an American heiress.
55:13It was, as you know, very much an arranged marriage between Consuelo Vanderbilt,
55:16who came with a large dowry.
55:18And it's really thanks to her and the Vanderbilt money
55:21that the house is in such good shape today.
55:24He sort of, I think, bit the bullet and said,
55:26right, I've got to not necessarily marry for love,
55:29but for the love of Blenheim.
55:30And they duly got married, produced the heir and the spare.
55:33She always referred to her two sons.
55:35And, you know, it wasn't a particularly happy marriage.
55:38And in a funny way, it's probably easier today to make it work
55:41than it would have been in the past.
55:43Why?
55:44Because it's run like a business,
55:45so we have a lot more opportunities, you know,
55:48to make money in order to keep the upkeep of the house.
55:53Whereas before, you were perhaps relying just on farming
55:58or, you know, investments.
56:01Now it's actually...
56:02Or American millionaires.
56:03Or American, exactly, yes.
56:05Well, we might have another one of those, you never know.
56:07It might be from China or somewhere next time.
56:10James has slotted into the role.
56:12Things are really carrying on just as normal.
56:15My lords, ladies and gentlemen,
56:17it's my very great pleasure on behalf of my wife and my family
56:21to welcome you all here today
56:23for this inaugural Salon Privé event at Blenheim.
56:26The Duke presents the public face of Blenheim,
56:29now owned by a trust and run by a professional team.
56:34Well, I was very fortunate to be appointed in early 2003
56:37as the first chief executive at Blenheim,
56:39and that was really the Duke at the time
56:41and the trustees decided that this was a time
56:44to really commercialise the business
56:45and to really get a grips with everything that Blenheim had to offer
56:48and really drive the business forward.
56:50How does it work hierarchically?
56:52Who's in charge?
56:54Well, obviously the Duke is resident in the palace.
56:56It's very much the home of the Duke,
56:58the home of the Dukes of Marlborough,
56:59currently the 12th Duke of Marlborough.
57:00I report into a board of trustees
57:02who work very closely with the Duke.
57:05So really above the Duke and above me
57:07is a board of trustees.
57:08My operations director.
57:10Have you ever seen the palace from above?
57:13Only when I went up and re-guilded the balls on the top.
57:16Did you?
57:18Was that fun?
57:19Yeah, hard work.
57:21Is it gold?
57:22Yeah.
57:23It's a gold leaf.
57:24If you put gold paint, it comes off every year.
57:30When did you do that?
57:32Were you the Duke or was it before?
57:34No, no, no.
57:35Heather, it was over 20 years ago.
57:37Yeah.
57:38Yeah.
57:39I'm going inside.
57:40Thank you very much.
57:41Bye-bye.
57:42What do you think of the hereditary principle?
57:47I think it's part of our DNA.
57:50I think it's part of the heritage.
57:52I think it's what makes us special.
57:53We're the envy of the world because of places like Blenheim
57:56and the heritage and the private historic houses
57:58are utterly unique.
58:00But I think the real jewels are the ones that are in private ownership
58:03because there you've got the love and the sweat and the dedication
58:06of a family over generations to keep their end up, if you like,
58:11because no incumbent wants to be the incumbent that doesn't hand on
58:15in a better condition than they received it in.
58:18In the 21st century, Dukes may be a dying breed,
58:24but splendid heritage or privileged anachronism,
58:28their survival is sure to be a magnificent struggle for generations to come.
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