- 5/11/2025
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00:01Queen Elizabeth drives to her coronation.
00:04At the Queen's coronation in 1953,
00:07the aristocracy of the kingdom assembled,
00:10and at the top of the pile were the dukes.
00:15Excluding the royal dukes,
00:17titles given to the immediate family of monarchs,
00:20there were then 28 non-royal dukes.
00:24At the sacred moment that the Queen was crowned,
00:27they were also entitled to don their coronets.
00:40And the trumpets sound.
00:47Dukedoms are created by the monarch,
00:49for reasons ranging from a grateful nation
00:52rewarding a major war leader
00:54to a king acknowledging his illegitimate son.
00:57The title then passing down the generations.
01:01I'm Duke of Athel, Marcus of Talibaden,
01:04Earl of Strath-Tay and Strath-Ardle,
01:06Viscount Balwidder, Balvenie and Gask,
01:10Lord Murray, Thane of Glentilt,
01:15and I think I've missed one out,
01:20but there are a lot of them.
01:22This is the list of my titles.
01:25Duke of Montrose, Marquess of Montrose,
01:29Marquess of Graham of Victory,
01:31and Baron Graham of Belfort.
01:33You're all those?
01:35Yeah.
01:36So 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
01:47and the 12th Duke of Leeds.
01:50But you weren't.
01:52But I wasn't.
01:54The last Dukedom to be created was by Queen Victoria in 1889,
02:01and it is inconceivable that 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?
02:14Do they still have power and wealth?
02:18What is it to be a Duke in the 21st century?
02:33Dukedoms still own in excess of one million acres of Britain today.
02:38The classic image of a Duke's stately pile is Blenheim Palace,
02:43home to the Dukes of Marlborough for over 300 years.
02:49The Dukedom was created in 1702 for John Churchill,
02:53a wily statesman and soldier
02:55who won a series of battles against the French.
02:58His greatest was the Battle of Blenheim.
03:02Until the Second World War,
03:04Blenheim Palace continued to run pretty much unchanged.
03:08Driving in today is someone who actually lived that Downton Abbey life.
03:17She was born Lady Rosemary Spencer Churchill,
03:20the daughter of the 10th Duke of Marlborough.
03:25No distant car park for her.
03:29When her father succeeded to the title,
03:31Lady Rosemary was a lively five-year-old.
03:34Right, shall we go along here?
03:36There were no pesky red ropes in those days.
03:39Yes, this I recollect very well
03:41because there used to be a piano here
03:47and we had to practise the piano.
03:51And there was a dagger under this picture
03:55of my grandfather, my grandmother, my father,
03:58and the dagger was there so that if there was a fire
04:02that the pictures could be cut out of their frames very quickly
04:06and thrown out of the window.
04:08But, of course, this was fascinating for a child.
04:11Instead of playing the piano, I used to play with a dagger.
04:14I'm not sure if it...
04:15Oh, I think it's still there, behind the chair.
04:17I don't know if we're allowed to do this, but I think...
04:21There it is, you see. It's a huge knife.
04:31It was just home, you know.
04:33You just happened to live here
04:36and you didn't think it was really very extraordinary.
04:39When you were a child, how many servants were there?
04:43Indoors there were 36, I think.
04:46But they were all... the footmen were all very tall.
04:49My mother would like them to be six foot tall.
04:52As the average height of a male in those days
04:55was about five foot three,
04:57they 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
05:06you didn't want a lot of midgets walking back, did you?
05:09I mean, you know, they didn't sort of...
05:12They didn't look right.
05:15You see, everything's on the snart.
05:17I hate fernshaw on the snart.
05:19I don't know why people have to put it on the snart.
05:22Would you rearrange it?
05:23Yes, I would.
05:25I just hate things on the snart.
05:28These are the invitations to the coronation.
05:34In early 1953, Lady Rosemary was selected
05:37to become a maid of honour to the Queen.
05:40But presumably your qualifications, Lady Rosemary,
05:43were not only beauty and height,
05:45but being the daughter of a Duke.
05:47Yes, yes.
05:48Yes, I had a head start
05:49because there weren't any other Duke's daughters.
05:51No, there was Marquis.
05:54There was Jane Bain-Tembers Stewart.
05:58But otherwise they were mostly Earls, I think.
06:02Way below you.
06:03Way below you, yes.
06:07I believed one or two people were rather cross.
06:10Anne Cook told me that she'll be nameless.
06:13Somebody was rather cross that her daughter hadn't been asked, but...
06:17From the roaring of the multitude
06:20into the quiet solemnity of the great abbey
06:22steps Her Majesty.
06:23Ah, yes.
06:24There we are.
06:25All 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...
06:40There's the Dukes.
06:41My father would have been there, but I don't know quite where.
06:45Did you not discuss it with your parents?
06:47No, not at all.
06:49Did they say they saw you?
06:51No.
06:54They obviously did.
06:56Because they would have been sort of fairly up...
07:00the top of the pile, so to speak.
07:02But no.
07:03I don't think we discussed it really at all.
07:06Do you find that odd?
07:08No, I don't think one did find it odd.
07:15You didn't find it odd in those days,
07:17because you had lots of sort of very grand things
07:20that happened all the time.
07:22No, I never remember discussing it with my parents at all.
07:27Here we are on the balcony.
07:29It was amazing.
07:31The final scene.
07:32The others, I think, all went out round London afterwards,
07:36but I had to get home,
07:39because my mother was roasting an ox in the park for Woodstock.
07:44There's my mother carving the ox.
07:47I'm there cutting up the meat.
07:50I'm there...
07:51I'm there...
07:52I'm there...
07:53I'm there...
07:54I'm there...
07:55I'm there...
07:56I'm there...
07:57I'm there...
07:58I'm there...
08:00That world has in some ways disappeared.
08:02Lady Rosenery's brother was Duke for 42 years.
08:07His son succeeded to the title last year.
08:10But how are the other dukedoms faring?
08:13the other dukedom's fairing.
08:23Blair Castle is at the centre of a vast ducal estate
08:26of over 140,000 acres in the Scottish Highlands.
08:36Assembling today is the only private army in Europe.
08:44The Duke of Athol was given the right to possess such a thing
08:47by Queen Victoria in 1844,
08:50and today the Athol Highlanders Regiment
08:52consists of around 100 men,
08:55made up of locals associated in some way with the ducal estates.
09:00Its commanding officer lives 6,000 miles away.
09:05My father actually had no intention
09:07of sort of accepting the role at all.
09:10He was going to be a...
09:13He actually made inquiries,
09:14official inquiries as to how he could get out of it.
09:17And the person that he consulted at the Lord Lyon said,
09:20you can either commit a Schedule I offence,
09:23or felony, they call it here,
09:25and go to jail for the rest of your life,
09:27or die.
09:28You can't abdicate being a duke.
09:31This is the archive.
09:33Wow, so what is here?
09:36Well, this part at the top has the earliest documents.
09:40There's 40 trunks of land charters,
09:43giving the duke title to his estate.
09:46But the very oldest is in here.
09:49This one dates from 1180.
09:53The next one is from 1199.
09:55The main thing was to prove that you owned a bit of land.
09:59So without a charter from the crown, you had no proof.
10:03And these are the originals?
10:05Absolutely.
10:08Of course.
10:11Family history matters.
10:13When the ninth duke died,
10:15there was a very convoluted route to his successor,
10:18a young man who was his fourth cousin twice removed.
10:21We have a very simplified family tree here.
10:25So you come down straight from the third duke.
10:28Fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth.
10:31But they have no male heirs,
10:33so you have to find the next male heir working your way back.
10:36So this was a brother of the fourth duke.
10:38You come down through this line of Georges
10:41until you get to the tenth duke here.
10:44The tenth duke had the perfect ducal image,
10:47as if from central casting.
10:48He was nearly six and a half feet tall,
10:51talked in clipped sentences,
10:53ending each with that Victorian aristocratic tick,
10:56what what?
10:58A bachelor, he died in 1996,
11:01and the whole process of finding the next heir started again.
11:05And then to get to the present line of dukes,
11:08you don't have to go quite so far back,
11:10just to the great-grandfather of the tenth duke,
11:13and his brother again,
11:14and through the male line to the present duke.
11:16Grace, the Athol Highlanders are formed up
11:20and ready for your inspection, sir.
11:22Bruce Murray runs a small sign-making shop
11:26that he set up many years ago
11:28in an obscure provincial town in South Africa.
11:30In 2012, Bruce and his second wife Charmaine
11:34found themselves becoming the duke and duchess of Athol,
11:37along with twelve subsidiary titles.
11:40By the centre, quick, march!
11:43Being the duke, he is automatically the colonel-in-chief
11:44of the Athol Highlanders.
11:47It's quite a responsibility.
11:49It's a very, very moving experience for me to parade for them.
11:51And I said to Charmaine, the duchess, the other day,
11:53that I'm so glad that I'm on my own there,
11:56because if I had to turn around
11:58and actually have to talk to anybody else,
12:00I wouldn't be capable of doing it.
12:02I've got a constant lump in my throat when I'm on parade.
12:04You know, I'm here because of an accident of parade.
12:06I'm here because of an accident of parade.
12:07and I didn't actually do anything to deserve this huge privilege that I have.
12:08All of this that happens is done for me, you know, basically.
12:10And it's just a very, very overwhelming,
12:13and I'm so glad that I'm on my own there,
12:14and I'm so glad that I'm on my own there,
12:16because if I had to turn around and actually have to talk to anybody else,
12:19I wouldn't be capable of doing it.
12:20I've got a constant lump in my throat when I'm on parade.
12:23You know, I'm here because of an accident of birth,
12:26and I didn't actually do anything to deserve this huge privilege that I have.
12:30All of this that happens is done for me, you know, basically.
12:33And it's just a very, very overwhelming sensation that I get to feel that.
12:39I haven't done anything to deserve it.
12:46The Duke and Duchess only see the family seat
12:49on their brief trip over from South Africa once a year.
12:53This is the entrance hall,
12:54and it's a collection of firearms and weapons that the Dukes have collected.
12:59Just this morning we were wondering how many of these weapons have actually been used,
13:02and it's quite sinister, but it's a wonderful collection.
13:08The trouble with grand estates is that, if not well managed,
13:11they can run out of money.
13:13In the 1930s, the elderly and childless brothers,
13:17the Eighth and then Ninth Dukes, were facing ruin.
13:21But luckily, their distant cousin, the heir to the title,
13:24was about to marry a woman with a very rich grandmother.
13:27Her grandmother, Old Lady Cowdery, realised that the estate was in financial problems,
13:36and the whole thing would probably be sold.
13:39So, Old Lady Cowdery stepped in, paid off the bank debt,
13:43turned the whole thing into a company.
13:45She had the controlling shares, the deal was signed,
13:47she went to Paris for the weekend for a rest and dropped dead.
13:51My great-grandmother effectively bought the estate,
13:53and her condition of buying it was that the Duke and everybody continue to live here,
13:57but her advisers ran it.
13:59And they took a more business-like approach,
14:02and one aspect of that was opening the castle to visitors.
14:06So, by bringing in capital and a commercial approach,
14:11the rich old lady had ensured for her granddaughter
14:14that there would be a suitable estate along with the title.
14:18The title stays with the male line,
14:21but the Tenth Dukes' half-sister, Sarah, is the trustee,
14:25and she and her mother and her grandmother were the ones with the actual control.
14:30So, the hereditary system does not mean that the males get the control.
14:35They might get the title, but unless you're very bothered about the title,
14:40it's running the estate that's more important.
14:43Sarah Troughton, the head trustee, is the half-sister of the Tenth Duke.
14:50What do you think about the title only going through the male line?
14:55Um, huge relief.
14:57I don't want to be a duchess.
15:02Really?
15:03Yes.
15:05I don't... I think, um, it's a nice sort of ceremonial thing these days,
15:10but it's not something... I prefer to get on with the business side of things.
15:14Had you inherited the title in the past, you'd have lived in the castle.
15:18Do you ever think about that?
15:20When I do think about that, I...
15:23the prospect of managing an enterprise like this absolutely appalls me.
15:27So, actually, the way that it is now, I'm probably one of the luckiest dukes
15:30because I have this massive enterprise that's there to allow me to be a duke.
15:36Well, this is a picture staircase showing a lot of my ancestors.
15:42It's lovely. I have this family tree. I can know more or less what they looked like.
15:46Do you know who any of them are?
15:47No.
15:49If I look carefully, I might well see John, the first Marquess of Athol.
15:55The chap in a very peculiar outfit.
15:58And this would be James, the second duke of Athol.
16:01Do you see any resemblance between where do you look in the mirror?
16:06No. There's obviously a little bit of DNA in there somewhere,
16:10but I don't think I look like him.
16:12The duke's sons, the Marquess of Tullabuddin and Lord David Murray,
16:18are officers in the Athol Highlanders.
16:20We are soldiers, though, so in a real army.
16:24So, in theory, we could sort of gather the men and go to war if we wanted to.
16:31Maybe not in this day and age. I don't know how effective we'd be.
16:35Do you regret you're not in a position to live here?
16:38It's a very difficult one to answer because, obviously, I'm African and I always will be.
16:43But, honestly, no.
16:45And I think it's just quite special that we can have the African side as well as the Scottish side.
16:48So we have the best of both worlds.
16:57The duke and his family play a symbolic role in all the rituals.
17:02The heir and the spare pull down their socks and get stuck in with the local fun.
17:08Just a bayonet.
17:15No longer a strictly military occasion,
17:17the duchess accompanies her husband.
17:20Yes!
17:25But, even at full speed, suitable respect is shown to the duke.
17:37Back home, she's simply Charmaine.
17:38But, here, she's the duchess.
17:39And does what duchesses do.
17:46Is it fun handing out the prizes like that?
17:48It is fun and it's nice to know everybody.
17:51Are you able to enjoy it?
17:53We did. We love it. That's why we came here every day.
17:56Yeah, we love it.
17:58I mean, I'm one of 24 people out of seven billion on the planet.
18:02They've got this responsibility to be a duke.
18:04Um, and it's onerous.
18:08You can't be trained for it in my situation.
18:10Obviously, if you're born and bred into it, it's different.
18:12But nobody can teach you how to be a duke.
18:19This new South African line of long-distance dukes of Athol
18:23came about because the dukedom can only go through male heirs.
18:28But when all male heirs run out, that is the end of the line.
18:37Well, there are some books, a couple of books in here.
18:42So, where does that leave Camilla Osborne,
18:45whose father was the Duke of Leeds, a dukedom now extinct?
18:49The other rather grander book, which has got the title on the cover.
18:54And I don't know which one it was for.
18:58And that's the family book plate.
19:02There's the coronet.
19:04She lives in a new build close in south-west London.
19:08But she still gets odd glimpses of the precedence at some dinner tables
19:13that her status as daughter of a duke can give her.
19:16You know, if I went to a lunch at Christie's, for example,
19:20they are extremely aware because they spend their days looking up
19:25Dukes and Viscounts and everything else.
19:28So, you would be put on the right of the Christie's director.
19:33I went to a lunch at Christie's and I was on the right
19:36and there was a woman who was on the left
19:39who was visibly irritated because she was older, better looking,
19:44better dressed, more jewels than me.
19:46but she was on the left.
19:50And she was irritated.
19:53Did that ever so slightly please?
19:55Yes, of course it did.
19:57And in here, these pictures were taken by my father's father,
20:02who was the tenth duke.
20:04The bathroom pays homage to the boyhood of her father.
20:06Well, there he is sitting in a sort of rather charmingly battered straw hat,
20:11looking winsome and sad.
20:15And that is one with his mother.
20:18The Duchess had struggled to provide an heir.
20:21After four girls, finally she produced a boy.
20:25The arrival was celebrated with bonfires and fireworks.
20:28His title at birth was the Marquess of Carmarthen.
20:32The story of him being on a bus and the bus stopped
20:36and he apparently said,
20:38Nanny, Nanny, why aren't we moving?
20:40And she said,
20:41because there's a lot of traffic on the road, you see.
20:44We can't move, the bus can't move.
20:46And he went,
20:48well, they wouldn't do this if they knew the little Marquess was on board.
20:54And I suppose he was known as the little Marquess.
20:58The family seat was Hornby Castle in Yorkshire.
21:03Within a couple of years of succeeding to the title in 1927,
21:08the new young duke put the castle up for sale.
21:11With cash in the bank, he drifted round Europe,
21:15ending up on the French Riviera.
21:17This is a picture of his wedding to the Serbian ballet dancer.
21:22He got married in Nice.
21:23There is the bride, who's looking pretty satisfied.
21:27My father, who's looking understandably apprehensive and nervous
21:32because there is his mother,
21:34who appears to be wearing her gardening clothes
21:36and certainly a gardening hat.
21:38She's looking as if she cannot really believe
21:41that her only son and heir is marrying the Serbian ballet dancer.
21:45The marriage to the Serbian ballerina ended when she went off with an American millionaire.
21:51The duke remarried and they had a daughter, Camilla.
21:55To avoid heavy English taxes, they moved to Jersey.
21:59He was probably bored, bad-tempered, miserable at being made to live there.
22:04My mother was much younger
22:06and she met and fell in love with a young, good-looking guards officer
22:11who was in the Coldstream Guards.
22:13With the result that she left me and my father,
22:16my stepfather had to leave the army
22:18and apparently his commanding officer said,
22:20Well, Lawrence, this is jolly sad, isn't it?
22:23I mean, you know, chorus girls are one thing
22:26but I'm afraid duchesses are quite another.
22:29Within minutes, a young woman had got her tabs on the newly available duke.
22:35She was terribly tall. She was nearly six foot.
22:38So she was bloody frightening as well.
22:41Why do you think she married your father?
22:43Do you think the title had a...
22:45Oh, yes. It had an enormous amount to do with it.
22:47But looking back, I mean, she wanted to be a duchess.
22:51What do you think about your resemblance to him?
22:54Oh, I love looking like him. I do, yes.
22:57Well, it's such a link, isn't it?
22:59Um...
23:01My stepmother in her less than generous moments
23:04said it was a great shame that I looked so like him.
23:08I was 12.
23:11When he died, I was at boarding school
23:13and they'd summoned me back
23:15but I wasn't allowed to say goodbye to him.
23:16I didn't see him before he died.
23:19There was a funeral which I wasn't taken to.
23:22And she knew under the terms of the trust
23:25that she couldn't inherit anything other than his personal possessions.
23:31And she was obsessive about money.
23:34But I remember her going on and on to her friend
23:37and this friend saying,
23:38Oh, Caroline, you know, I do think perhaps you could stop now
23:41because it's really not very nice for Camilla to listen to all this.
23:44Oh, well, she'll be all right because she's got the money.
23:47And I was, what, 13 or something at the time.
23:50On her father's death, the title went to a distant cousin living in Rome,
23:58Sir Darcy Osborne, a former British ambassador to the Vatican.
24:02He was in his 70s and a bachelor.
24:04And when he died just six months later, the Dukedom of Leeds became extinct.
24:11My father, if he'd still had the place in Yorkshire,
24:15he'd have been like Bedford or Devonshire,
24:19those that have got a purpose, which is what I'm trying to say.
24:21But I think it gives you a purpose.
24:24And I think maybe that's why he wasn't a happy man,
24:28because he had absolutely no purpose in his life.
24:33Except getting through, getting through the day.
24:37By going to the cinema or going to the tailor or having a, you know, the third Perno.
24:46That was his life, actually.
24:48When Hornby was sold, the coronation robes were under a bed,
24:55so they got, they were sold.
24:57But what remains are the three coronets.
25:02The Ducal coronet, the Duchess's coronet, and the Marquis's coronet.
25:08And that, you see, there was a...
25:11Apparently, you kept your sandwiches in there during the coronation.
25:15Because it went, you know, you were there for hours and hours and hours.
25:18So you would just have that on your, on your head.
25:22Actually, that feels quite comfortable.
25:25It rather suits you, I have to say.
25:28I appreciate enormously what I've got.
25:32But I think maybe, like my father, if I hadn't had it, I would have had a happier life.
25:38Or a more fulfilled one.
25:40I mean, I, when you read death announcements, don't you?
25:44You read them and it says, after a life well lived or after a fulfilled life.
25:50And sometimes in my more gloomy moments, I think, yes, I wouldn't say that.
25:55Really?
25:56And not that I've been unhappy, but I just feel I've had sort of the same slightly aimless life as my father did.
26:02For different reasons.
26:13The Dukedom of Leeds had been created for a crafty Yorkshire politician who had helped bring William and Mary to the throne in 1689.
26:21The Dukedom of St Albans was created for less elevated reasons.
26:27Simply for the bastard son of King Charles II and the celebrated actress, Nell Gwynne.
26:36The family seat for many years was Bestwood Lodge in Nottinghamshire.
26:41But that is long gone.
26:43The 14th Duke of St Albans and his Duchess live in a terraced house in a quiet street in central London.
26:52The 14th Duke of St Albans
26:55Um, well he's the 10th Duke, and he's the same chap as that.
27:02And he was the sort of, the good Duke, the 10th Duke.
27:05Was the last person to make a speech in the House of Lords until I did it.
27:08Oh really?
27:09127 years later.
27:11And that, I suppose, is our coronet.
27:14Do you still have the coronet?
27:15Yes, male and female.
27:16And the robes, we have the coronation robes.
27:19Oh really? Where are they?
27:20Up in the attic.
27:22Oh!
27:23We'll talk about those later.
27:27All the coronets aren't there in your study.
27:30Are they?
27:31Yes.
27:32Oh well, okay.
27:33That would be your one.
27:34I think that is, actually.
27:37It's the red one because it's the original box and it's very, very fragile.
27:43Now this is Murray's one.
27:45I think they're rather lovely.
27:47That's Murray's. You hold yours, Murray.
27:48And I'll just get out my one.
27:49I think it's just so pretty.
27:51There's an original pens which would be, say, 1680.
27:53If you see those, that's what's so brilliantly clever.
27:55Those are the pens you would put in, in your hair, and that would keep, which the Queen obviously does.
28:01So what I do is, I do that, second, and I'm pressing it into my scalp, and I do that, and then I'm pressing it in like that, and of course that is amazing, because that's it. Look.
28:13Hmm.
28:26We have had no reason to wear.
28:29Never.
28:30Ever, ever, ever, to wear it anymore, that we've had any reason to wear the robes. And actually, in fact, the...
28:36Well, I wore the robes for my portrait.
28:38For the portrait.
28:39Right.
28:40For the portrait.
28:41For the portrait.
28:42Right.
28:43And how should one address you, if one's being fought?
28:45Well, there, that...
28:46Well, that's quite...
28:47Your grace.
28:48It should be your grace.
28:49Quite a few...
28:50A few people do.
28:51Quite a few of the restaurants call me your grace.
28:54Quite a few.
28:55Uh, but then, on the other hand, you also get people that, that, that don't.
29:00And so, well, that's...
29:01Well, you know, we're very, totally relaxed, actually.
29:05But do you quite like it?
29:07Well, I think, I...
29:08To be honest with you, I like...
29:09I do actually like formality.
29:11But I've...
29:12I've always liked formality, regardless.
29:14I don't like Christian names, for instance, terribly.
29:18So, it wouldn't suit me to be...
29:20I don't like being called Gillian, actually, particularly by people I don't know.
29:24Mm-hmm.
29:25Mm-hmm.
29:26But that's only just me, really.
29:28So, what should I call you?
29:30Well, you can call me Gillian, if you like.
29:33But that's very generous, and...
29:35Well, not at all.
29:36But if, on my first meeting you, what should I have called you?
29:40Or did I call you?
29:41I think I avoided it.
29:42I think you avoided it, which I think is a very sensible thing to do.
29:45Because I think I could always often avoid things that I don't want to get involved with.
29:49And then I don't hurt anybody's feelings or...
29:52Or be on, you know, any problems about it.
29:56So, I think I would have done the same.
29:57So, for example, when you're booking an aeroplane ticket?
29:59Oh, that's an issue.
30:00Because they say they can't put in Duke of Duchess of...
30:04Because it won't fit into their computers, which is what we're always being told.
30:07So, we go in under Mr. and Mrs. St. Albans.
30:12Fine, we don't mind.
30:14But, because, actually, we're not...
30:17We're not the kind that would want to necessarily throw in a title just because we want a better seat or whatever.
30:24You know, some people do that, but we don't.
30:26But, anyway, there you go.
30:28Totally pretty, isn't it?
30:29Very, very.
30:30Yeah.
30:31Now, I'm afraid, having mentioned your robes, you have to see the robes.
30:35Where are they?
30:36Are they next door?
30:37Oh, well...
30:38Well, in the attic.
30:39Yeah, but that really is an ordeal.
30:40Is it?
30:41Well...
30:42No, no, no, you're not going into the attic.
30:44That's banned, because that's where everything but the kitchen sink is.
30:48Oh, the health and safety, too.
30:50The health and safety.
30:51Luce!
30:52Hi.
30:53We need you, Luce.
30:54Okay.
30:55If you'd like to come up with me, Luce.
30:57I know.
30:58Well, don't worry.
30:59We could just put the ironing board to the side.
31:02Luce for a second.
31:03Luce.
31:04Sorry.
31:05No, that doesn't matter.
31:06No, no, don't worry.
31:07We could just take that down for a minute.
31:09This would be easier in here, actually.
31:12Shall we let Luce through?
31:13Yeah.
31:14Yes.
31:15Oh, that's easier, yeah.
31:16It really is, because Murray's is terribly heavy, and in his... well, look, you see, in his case, very, very frail.
31:30In fact, show what way it would... it seems to be molting a little bit.
31:33Yes, it is.
31:34It's molting tremendously.
31:35As long as the moths haven't got in it.
31:40The ermine is looking very unhappy.
31:43It is bother, isn't it?
31:45Fortunately, this is a K, this one.
31:48Hold it.
31:49It's so... it is beautifully made.
31:51So that's lace from...
31:52Yeah.
31:5316, whatever.
31:54So here is the original.
31:56Look.
31:57Shall I take it now?
31:58Yeah, why don't you?
31:59You take it, Michael, and then you can...
32:02Look, I think that is...
32:06Wow.
32:07That is what is really lovely, I think.
32:09Murray, was there a bit of ermine as a sort of shawl under that?
32:12That, yes.
32:13That.
32:14Now...
32:15Is that just a spare?
32:16It's just...
32:17No, that isn't.
32:18It clips on to here, actually.
32:21Look, Murray.
32:22In fact, well done you for spotting that.
32:26We'll have it like that.
32:28That's...
32:29Because I think that's the ideal thing to do.
32:31Look at it.
32:32It's simply beautiful.
32:34How did you meet Murray, and what was your attitude to his title?
32:37Oh, well, first of all, I met Murray at a dinner party.
32:42As far as his title went...
32:45I think it's a charming title, actually.
32:47I think it's a particularly pretty one.
32:48But actually, my daughter's godfather was Duke of Manchester,
32:56and I have known quite a few, so it wasn't as if it really was at all
33:01a sort of...
33:02anything out of the ordinary as it were.
33:05You're definitely out of your room.
33:08You're very, very special.
33:09But not the title, particularly.
33:11What have we got here?
33:13Well, we have me here.
33:14In my coronation robes.
33:16And...
33:17Falken.
33:18Core.
33:19Alive Falken.
33:20No.
33:21Stuffed, I'm afraid.
33:22Because I'm hereditary grand Falkenor of England.
33:25Hereditary grand Falkenor?
33:26What does that mean?
33:27Well, it means nothing now.
33:28I think there used to be a salary of a thousand pounds a year.
33:30Really?
33:31Yes, one time.
33:32Up till a few years ago, one used to get a quarter of a deer twice a year from Richmond Park.
33:39But that was stopped by Tony Blair on the grounds of economy.
33:45What did you think of that?
33:47Well, it was a pretty poor show.
33:49Because the Archbishop of Canterbury used to get it as well, and one to other people.
33:53Murray, did your ancestors leave you a vast stately mansion and huge wealth?
33:59No.
34:00They didn't.
34:01Unfortunately.
34:02So, can I ask what you...
34:07Did you...
34:08Have you worked for a living?
34:09What have you...
34:10Yes, I have.
34:11Doing what?
34:12Well, I'm a Chartered Accountant.
34:14This has got to stop.
34:16You know, it's a tough topic ahead of me.
34:17The Duke's son and heir is Charles Beauclair, who used to use his courtesy title of the Earl of Burford, but now chooses not to.
34:25That is one of the Dukes.
34:26He is a teacher and part-time historian, and takes rather more interest than his dad in the family's history.
34:33And that's the ninth as a boy, so obviously the father of Clemserton.
34:39I mean, do you feel a connection to these ancestors?
34:42Not particularly, really.
34:45I don't really.
34:46Really?
34:47But I'm probably exceptional in that.
34:49I think Charles does more, did you?
34:52I'm sure he does.
34:53To some of them, yes.
34:55Obviously, some are obscure, and they're just pictures and so on, and they don't really come alive in your mind.
35:01Others do, and I think, obviously, we're fortunate in being aware of the story of our family in a way that a lot of people aren't.
35:10And therefore, I think you can choose the way in which you become part of that story.
35:14I mean, we're all actors in it.
35:17One day, Charles will be the Duke of St Albans.
35:21It is often thought that any man in possession of a grand title must not be in want of a large stately,
35:28but that is no longer the case for this dukedom.
35:31Charles, though, is fascinated by Bestwood Lodge, the pile that, in other circumstances, he might have inherited.
35:38It is now a Best Western Hotel.
35:42Yes, this is Bestwood Lodge, which was built between 1862 and 1865 by the 10th Duke of St Albans,
35:49and there's a lot of fantasy to it.
35:51You know, you've got the figures of Robin Hood and his merry men over the porch there.
35:55It was described at the time as acrobatic Gothic, which I think is a pretty good description.
36:00Charles and his girlfriend Sarah are hoping to put on plays here
36:06and have been delving into its traumatic family history.
36:11The 10th Duke, a talented entrepreneur, made a fortune,
36:15and with three sons, he thought he'd set up the family for generations to come.
36:20But within months of his death, it all started to unravel.
36:27His son and heir, Burford, as he was called, three months after he succeeded,
36:31he was certified confined to an asylum in Sussex,
36:35and that's where he spent the last 36 years of his life.
36:38Then the youngest brother, Lord William Beauclair, also proved mad,
36:43and just after leaving Eton, he was sent to the Priory, Roehampton.
36:47He was there for 52 years, completely forgotten by everyone.
36:51And the middle brother, Obby, who became the 12th Duke,
36:54was a restless soul who wandered around the world,
36:58and I think he became quite an embittered man.
37:01And that's what fascinates me, is why, what created this mental illness.
37:05I mean, was it partly societal?
37:08Were they sensitive souls who couldn't harness themselves to the whole imperial design?
37:14Or was it something more personal, something the way they had been brought up?
37:18It's like a kind of haunting passed down from generation to generation.
37:22So I think the key is to become conscious of them,
37:25and then that demon is purged through for future generations.
37:31One of the reasons I gave up the title in the first place is because people's perceptions of you
37:36can actually create a sort of straitjacket.
37:39It often attracts people who just want to know you because they're snobs,
37:43and therefore you can fall into the wrong company very easily.
37:46I think much better just to be Mr Beauclair, go about your business.
37:51But yes, if I felt I could use it in a powerful and creative fashion, then I would.
38:00If Charles doesn't take up the title, this might be the last practical incarnation of it.
38:08The dukedom of Rutland was created as the result of a very pushy mother
38:23who demanded of Queen Anne that her late husband's military heroism be rewarded,
38:28making her son-in-law a duke.
38:31This tradition of strong women has continued.
38:38I remember very well the feeling of driving up here to Beaver Castle,
38:48in my rather beaten up old fiat,
38:51and having to stop and take my breath back for a moment,
38:55and seeing this extraordinary castle,
38:58and thinking, whew, I'm going to stay there.
39:02The building itself is so imposing, it takes people's breath away.
39:07Emma Watkins was a farmer's daughter from Wales when she met the then Marquess of Granby,
39:19heir to the Duke of Rutland, owner of Beaver Castle, at a dinner party.
39:23Within a couple of years they married, and she became the Marchioness.
39:28When her father-in-law died, her title changed.
39:33The upgrade to Duchess, how much of a difference does that make?
39:37To me? Um, well, it makes a difference to others, because they perceive you as a Duchess, and suddenly, you know,
39:45to many people, bearing in mind there are so few of us in the country,
39:50it is all quite, whew, a Duchess.
39:53You know, she might be sitting up in an ivory tower with a sort of crown on,
39:57and quite old and quite scary.
40:00We're in our private rooms here, and these are the rooms that are not open to the public 24-7,
40:09and so they're areas where we can have some space.
40:13And out here is our private terrace, which is, I suppose it's our back garden in a sense.
40:24And as you can see, we've got our swings and our dog kennel, our five dogs.
40:30In marrying Emma, the Duke found someone with whom to start a family,
40:35who also turned out to be a determined and energetic estate manager.
40:39But three years ago, the marriage ran into difficulties.
40:44With over 300 rooms at their disposal, they came up with a relatively simple solution.
40:50He lives in one tower and delves into the family archives.
40:54She lives in another tower and, as chief executive, runs the place.
40:59Morning. Morning, everyone.
41:017.30am, and the senior staff assemble for her Grace's weekly meeting.
41:06Debbie?
41:07Morning.
41:08Morning, Grace.
41:09We've got four sign-ups in the next two weeks.
41:12It's a bit like when the king dies, long live the king.
41:15When the duke dies, long live the duke.
41:18And there was an amazing moment that will remain with me forever,
41:22when my mother-in-law, there was a large black tin of keys, enormous great keys,
41:29and she handed me the box and said, good luck.
41:32But actually, what we've got to do is address where it fell down.
41:35And so I spent the week, and there wasn't one room that I hadn't managed to get into.
41:41So you have to kind of know what it is that you're taking over.
41:46I'm now going up onto the roof.
41:50I'm meeting our architect.
41:52And in a moment, you're going to see why it's called Bellevoie.
41:58Beautiful castle, beautiful view.
42:01They were Norman French, the Manners family, and they couldn't really pronounce Beaver,
42:08so they called it Bellevoie because of the beautiful view.
42:12Let's go and see if my architect is down here.
42:16Peter?
42:19Oh!
42:20I'm on a different roof to you.
42:25So how do I get out to that one?
42:27You've come up the spiral stair, obviously.
42:29Yes.
42:30Across and through the middle king's room.
42:32Middle king's room.
42:33I'll be with you in two minutes.
42:35Pop down here and find the right roof.
42:40Hi, Peter, where it bubbles.
42:43Yeah, that's right.
42:44That's all the corrosion building up underneath.
42:47So what problems does that create underneath?
42:50It just makes the lead thin.
42:52Right.
42:53How old is this lead?
42:54It's as old as the building.
42:56It's getting on for 200 years.
42:57There's a little mark here.
42:591883.
43:00Wow.
43:01You can see what it is.
43:02It's a little man riding a penny farthing.
43:04Yeah.
43:05So what sort of price are we talking about to have this re-leaded?
43:09It would use up an entire year's budget.
43:12So about 100,000.
43:15And that's just one section of the two acres of roof.
43:24Looking after the future extends beyond mere buildings, of course.
43:29The Duchess took her duty seriously,
43:31and after three daughters, produced two sons.
43:35Well, obviously, it's very important that you have a boy, because boys carry the title, and everything is entailed here at Beaver, so everything goes with the title.
43:47It's most definitely a feeling that I'd better have a boy.
43:52The one that struggled most probably was Darling Hugo, who at four and a half said,
43:57Mum, when Charles dies, do I become the Duke?
44:00I said, Charles isn't going to die, and you will never be the Duke.
44:04But he sort of gets it now.
44:06I think as long as you're very, very clear with children from the outset about how it works, there's no confusion.
44:15In the magnificent Elizabeth Saloon, there's a photo shoot for Country and Townhouse magazine.
44:22It's black. You 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, she especially targets the lucrative Asian wedding business.
44:38There is, after all, a certain Bollywood over-the-top quality to the decor.
44:43I'm going to cross out the window.
44:45Today, selling it as a family home, are all the female members.
44:49You look gorgeous.
44:50As daughters of a Duke, they take the courtesy title of Lady along with the family name.
44:55Lady Violet, Lady Alice and Lady Eliza Manners.
45:01Do you ever think, as the oldest, about not being able to inherit?
45:04I wouldn't want to break tradition, actually.
45:07I think, for me personally, I think in years to come, I think it will be welcomed.
45:13I think it should happen that, you know, the eldest should be allowed to inherit.
45:16But I'm quite happy that it hasn't changed for me.
45:19You know, my brother, I think, he's got broad shoulders and he'll be able to carry the weight properly, I think.
45:23So, genuinely, no tinge?
45:25No tinge, not at all.
45:27I mean, I really, I have been asked a lot.
45:29And I just, I really, really am just so lucky to have been able to enjoy it.
45:36Did you play in this room when you were kids?
45:40Yeah, definitely.
45:41This was our Halloween party special, this room was for.
45:44Yeah, Halloween parties.
45:46And we came out with the most amazing game called Runner.
45:50So, it was literally, there was no structure to it.
45:53You would just chase each other around until you caught each other or found each other.
45:56Or someone got really lost.
45:59For inheritance tax reasons, the castle has to be open for a certain number of days.
46:04We renegotiated with the government.
46:07We looked at reducing our days that were open to the public.
46:10I took the business right back to its roots, really.
46:15The Duchess got the open visitor days down to around 30 a year and replaced them with high-income, upmarket shooting parties.
46:23I looked at bringing people in to come and shoot here from all over the world, to come and stay in the castle, to be waited on, looked after, as they had been 200 years ago.
46:34In the 15 years since she took over, the 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?
46:51Hundreds of years.
46:52I mean, the best part of 50 years I've been on this estate, on and off, and I've just seen a total change.
46:58What happened, Nick?
47:00I made them all redundant.
47:02Well, I don't know about that. I'm not going to go down.
47:04Well, I did.
47:05It wasn't that anyone was wrong.
47:07It was just, for me, it was just that people became accustomed to it the way it was.
47:14And...
47:15So what did you do?
47:17I made a lot of people redundant.
47:20It brought this place back to being a properly run estate.
47:23But it was controversial?
47:24Yes, it was controversial, yeah, definitely.
47:26But change is going to be controversial.
47:42The old seat of power for the aristocracy was the House of Lords.
47:47Tony Blair's government managed to abolish all but 92 hereditary peers.
47:52Amongst them, there are only three dukes.
47:55The Duke of Montrose is a former conservative shadow minister for Scotland in the Lords.
48:02I'm going down the corridor towards the House of Commons, where the pictures are all to do with the time of the Civil War.
48:11And this picture here is a picture of my ancestor's execution, which took place in 1650.
48:20The Duke's most famous ancestor, the first Marquess of Montrose, led the army for Scotland and then switched allegiance to the English throne.
48:30But he was finally defeated and captured and taken to Edinburgh, where he was hung for three hours of a gibbet and then cut down and dismembered and his limbs sent and hung on the gates of all the main cities of Scotland.
48:45I mean, our family has been involved in most of the events that have defined Scotland and its battles with England, one way or another.
48:58The fourth Marquess was the fourth Marquess who, as president of the council, he supervised the signing of the Act of Union.
49:05And that's his picture there.
49:07As he had been instrumental in getting Scotland to join with England in the Act of Union, a grateful King created for him a Dukedom.
49:16And the fourth Marquess became the first Duke of Montrose.
49:20And then you get my grandfather, who's the sixth Duke.
49:27He joined in in the early stages of the Scottish National Party, when what they were looking for is pretty much what we've got now, which is a devolved assembly within Scotland.
49:43As well as his duties in the House of Lords, the Duke is a working hill farmer.
49:48What have you seen?
49:49A sheep on its back.
49:51I hope it's not dead.
49:53It's still heavy in lamb.
49:56A sheep on its back to her.
50:08Well, that was well caught, so she'd be better off that way round.
50:12Do you sometimes get this of sycophancy?
50:16It be very rare, I would say.
50:20It might be different in some areas.
50:25where there are still people who can afford to be very grand,
50:29but I think sycophancy mainly comes to people who are very rich.
50:36When they were very rich, their stately pile
50:39was built in the Victorian era by his great-great-grandfather.
50:43They had the idea that life would go on in a very grand style,
50:47but, of course, it belonged to a lifestyle
50:50which was about to just vanish away.
50:54Today, Montrose lives in a more modest 1930s house,
50:57stuffed with mementos of the family's thousand-year history.
51:01These are the socks and the hat that he wore at his execution.
51:07And then this cloth here was supposed to be where his heart was wrapped.
51:13As with so many bits of history,
51:15one is charged with keeping something alive
51:19for other people to appreciate and understand.
51:23It's...
51:33Do you want me to be your valet?
51:35It's...
51:36These are my robes for the opening ceremony of Parliament.
51:40Dukes are allowed to have four bands of ermine that go right round the body like that.
51:50If I was an earl, I would have three bars,
51:53and if I were just a baron, I would have two bars.
51:56But at some point, there will be a new monarch. Will you attend?
52:00One would have to wait to be invited.
52:02I don't know that, er, what the protocol will be by the time there is a successor to the Queen.
52:09Erm, you may find that Dukes are no longer in the House of Lords at all by that time,
52:15and they're probably not considered to be very important people.
52:23As the last vestiges of their constitutional power fade,
52:27how will dukedoms with a real sense of grandeur survive in the centuries to come?
52:32This year, Blenheim Palace will have 700,000 paying visitors tramping through its very grand doors.
52:47James, formerly the Marquess of Blandford, only recently became the 12th Duke of Marlborough.
52:54He had a sticky time in his early life.
52:57A publicly documented drug addiction and a passion for fast cars
53:01hardly prepared him for the now professional business of running such a vast estate.
53:06Today, he will open a vintage car event.
53:10Hey, Caspar, come on.
53:12How are you?
53:13Andrew, do you know what he does?
53:15He organises the whole event.
53:17Which one do you drive?
53:18Your daddy drove that?
53:20Yeah!
53:21All the way round the Palace grounds.
53:23It's a pleasure you allowing us into your home.
53:25Don't be silly. It's an honour having you here. It really is.
53:30The Duke's sister is Lady Henrietta Spencer Churchill.
53:34Oh, hello. Hello.
53:35Their father was the last Duke to live full-time in the private quarters.
53:38So this is the butler's pantry.
53:40This is, again, on the private side.
53:42You'll get your bearings in a minute.
53:44But if you went through that door, you would end up on the public side.
53:48So what's here? What are we looking at?
53:50What are we looking at?
53:51This is our bar.
53:52You know, when we have guests, this is where either they help themselves to drink or the butler helps them to drink.
54:00Faux books.
54:01In here there's a behind-the-scenes cupboards.
54:05And then this is a sort of service staircase which goes all the way up.
54:10With the selfie?
54:11Yeah, you can, you can.
54:12Not very interesting, but...
54:17So that goes down to the basement level and the lower ground.
54:21And then, actually, if you go all the way up, you can get into one of the towers.
54:25Which, of course, is where we spent a lot of time as children because it was much more fun going to all the places you weren't supposed to be.
54:32Well, this is family dining room.
54:34As you see, at the moment, the table is set, what, for eight people.
54:38If it's just en famille, we actually have a round table or just a small table in the bow part of the window here.
54:46The family sitting room.
54:48So it's really our telly room, too.
54:51You know, it's actually, as you can see, very cosy, although probably fairly large proportions.
54:57As early as the late 19th century, the financing of an estate like this became a huge issue.
55:03In the case of Marlborough, there was then a relatively simple solution.
55:08The ninth duke was very much told he had to marry an American heiress.
55:14It was, as you know, very much an arranged marriage between Consuelo Vanderbilt, who came with a large dowry.
55:19And it's really thanks to her and the Vanderbilt money that the house is in such good shape today.
55:25He sort of, I think, bit the bullet and said, right, I've got to.
55:28And that's not necessarily marry for love, but for the love of Lenham.
55:31And they duly got married, produced the heir and the spare.
55:34She always referred to her two sons.
55:36And, you know, it wasn't a particularly happy marriage.
55:39And in a funny way, it's probably easier today to make it work than it would have been in the past.
55:44Why?
55:45Because it's run like a business.
55:46So we have a lot more opportunities, you know, to make money in order to keep the upkeep of the house.
55:54Whereas before, you were perhaps relying just on farming or, you know, investments.
56:02Now it's actually...
56:03Or American millionaires.
56:04Or American, exactly, yes.
56:06Well, we might have another one of those, you never know.
56:08It might be from some, it might be China or somewhere next time.
56:11James has slotted into the role.
56:13Things are really carrying on just as normal.
56:16My lords, ladies and gentlemen, it's my very great pleasure on behalf of my wife and my family to welcome you all here today for this inaugural Salon Privé event at Blenheim.
56:27The Duke presents the public face of Blenheim, now owned by a trust and run by a professional team.
56:34Well, I was very fortunate to be appointed in early 2003 as the first chief executive at Blenheim.
56:40And that was really the Duke at the time and the trustees decided that this was a time to really commercialise the business and to really get a grips with everything that Blenheim had to offer and really drive the business forward.
56:50How does it work hierarchically? Who's in charge?
56:54Well, obviously the Duke is resident in the palace. It's very much the home of the Duke, home of the Dukes of Marlborough, currently the 12th Duke of Marlborough.
57:01And I report into a board of trustees who work very closely with the Duke.
57:05So really above the Duke and above me is a board of trustees.
57:09My operations director.
57:11Have you ever seen the palace from above?
57:13Only when I went up and re-guilded the balls on the top.
57:17Did you?
57:18Was that fun?
57:20Yeah, hard work.
57:22Is it gold?
57:23Yeah, it's a gold leaf.
57:25But if you put gold paint, it comes off every year.
57:31When did you do that?
57:33Were you the Duke or was it before?
57:35No, no, no. Heather, when was it? It was over 20 years ago.
57:39Yeah, yeah.
57:40I'm going inside. Thank you very much.
57:42Thank you so much, everything. Bye-bye.
57:43What do you think of the hereditary principle?
57:47I think it's part of our DNA. I think it's part of the heritage. I think it's what makes us special.
57:54We're the envy of the world because of places like Blenheim and the heritage and the private historic houses are utterly unique.
58:00But I think the real jewels are the ones that are in private ownership because there you've got the love and the sweat and the dedication of a family over generations to keep their end up, if you like.
58:12Because no incumbent wants to be the incumbent that doesn't hand on in a better condition than they received it in.
58:19In the 21st century, Dukes may be a dying breed, but splendid heritage or privileged anachronism, their survival is sure to be a magnificent struggle for generations to come.
58:35We'll see you next time.
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