What Does It Mean To Be A British Duchess Today? | The Last Dukes | Real Royalty

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- [Announcer] Queen Elizabeth drives to her coronation.
- [Michael] At the Queen's Coronation in 1953,
the aristocracy of the kingdom assembled,
and at the top of the pile were the dukes.
Excluding the royal dukes,
titles given to the immediate family of monarchs,
there were then 28 non-royal dukes.
At the sacred moment that the Queen was crowned,
they also were entitled to don their coronets.
- [All] God save the Queen.
God save the Queen. God save the Queen.
- [Announcer] And the trumpets sound.
(upbeat fanfare music)
- [Michael] Dukedoms are created by the monarch
for reasons ranging from a grateful nation
rewarding a major war leader,
to a king acknowledging his illegitimate son.
The title then passing down the generations.
- I'm Duke of Atholl, Marquis of Tullibardine,
Earl of Strathtay and Strathardle.
Viscount Balquhidder, Balvenie, and Gask.
Lord Murray.
Thane of Glentilt
And...
I think I've missed one out, but there are a lot of them.
- This is the list of my titles.
Duke of Montrose, Marquess of Montrose,
Marquess of Graham,
and Baron Graham of Belford.
- [Michael] You're all those?
- Yeah.
- So, I'm the Duchess of Rutland,
the 11th Duchess of Rutland
and this is my home, Belvoir Castle.
- If I'd been born a boy, I would have been my father's heir
and the 12th Duke of Leeds.
- [Michael] But you weren't?
- But I wasn't.
- [Announcer] The crowned Queen.
- [Michael] The last dukedom to be created
was by Queen Victoria in 1889
and it is inconceivable that there will ever be any more.
So, as they gradually become extinct,
there are now only 24 non-royal dukes,
what will become of those that remain?
Do they still have power and wealth?
What is it to be a duke in the 21st century?
(majestic music)
Dukedoms still own in excess
of one million acres of Britain today.
The classic image of a duke's stately pile
is Blenheim Palace,
home to the Dukes of Marlborough for over 300 years.
The dukedom was created in 1702 for John Churchill,
a wily statesman and soldier,
who won a series of battles against the French.
His greatest was the Battle of Blenheim.
Until the Second World War,
Blenheim Palace continued to run pretty much unchanged.
(bell tolling)
Driving in today is someone who actually lived
that "Downton Abbey" life.
She was born Lady Rosemary Spencer-Churchill,
the daughter of the 10th Duke of Marlborough.
(car horn honking)
No distant car park for her.
When her father succeeded to the title,
Lady Rosemary was a lively five-year-old.
- [Lady Rosemary] Right, shall we go along here?
- [Michael] There were no pesky red ropes in those days.
- Yes, this I recollect very well
because there used to be a piano here
and we had to practice the piano.
And there was a dagger under this picture of my grandfather,
my grandmother, and my father.
And the dagger was there so that, if there was a fire,
the pictures could be cut out of their frames very quickly
and thrown out of the window.
But, of course, this was fascinating for a child.
Instead of playing the piano,
I used to play with the dagger.
Oh, I think it's still there behind the chair.
I don't know if we're allowed to do this, but I think...
There it is, you see.
It's a huge knife.
It was just home, you know.
You just happened to live here
and you didn't think it was really very extraordinary.
- [Michael] When you were a child,
how many servants were there?
- Indoors there were 36, I think.
All the footmen were very tall.
My mother liked them to be six-foot tall.
As the average height of a male in those days
was about 5'3" they were quite difficult to come by,
but they were all about six foot.
- [Michael] Why did she like them so tall?
- Well, I mean, in a house like this
you didn't want a lot of midgets walking about, did you?
You know, they didn't sort of look right.
Everything's on a slant. I hate furniture on a slant.
I don't know why people have to put it on the slant.
- [Michael] Would you rearrange it?
- Yes, I would.
I just hate things on a slant.
Oh, these are the invitations to the coronation.
- [Michael] In early 1953, Lady Rosemary was selected
to become a maid of honor to the Queen.
Presumably, your qualifications, Lady Rosemary,
were not only beauty and height,
but being the daughter of a duke?
- Yes, yes. (laughs)
Yes, I had a head start
'cause there weren't any other duke's daughters.
No, there was a marquess.
There was Jane Vane-Tempest-Stewart,
but otherwise, they were mostly earls, I think.
- [Michael] Way below you?
- Way below, yes. (laughs)
I believe one or two people were rather cross
and Cook told me, who shall be nameless,
somebody was rather cross
that her daughter hadn't been asked.
- [Announcer] From the roaring of the multitude
into the quiet solemnity of the great abbey
steps Her Majesty.
- [Lady Rosemary] Ah, yes, there we are,
all going into the abbey.
I'm at the back on the right-hand side.
(upbeat fanfare music)
I've never seen this before.
There I am on the left.
- [Announcer] The peers of the realm.
- There's the dukes.
My father would have been there
but I don't know quite where.
- [Michael] Did you not discuss it with your parents?
- [Lady Rosemary] No, not at all.
- [Michael] Did they say they saw you?
- No.
They obviously did 'cause they would have been
fairly up the top of the pile, so to speak,
but, no, I don't think we discussed it really at all.
- [Michael] Do you find that odd?
- (sighs) No, I don't think one did find it odd.
You didn't find it odd in those days
'cause you had lots of sort of very grand things
that happened all the time.
I never remember discussing it with my parents at all.
(crowd cheering)
Here we are on the balcony. It was amazing.
- [Announcer] The final scene.
- The others, I think,
all went out around London afterwards, but I had to get home
because my mother was roasting an ox
in the park for Woodstock.
There's my mother carving the ox.
I'm there, cutting up the meat.
(majestic music)
- [Michael] That world has, in some ways, disappeared.
Lady Rosemary's brother was duke for 42 years.
His son succeeded to the title last year.
But how are the other dukedoms faring?
(upbeat bagpipe music)
Blair Castle is at the center of a vast ducal estate
of over 140,000 acres in the Scottish Highlands.
- [Officer] Lower arm!
Present arm!
- [Michael] Assembling today
is the only private army in Europe.
(officer yells)
(upbeat bagpipe music)
The Duke of Atholl
was given the right to possess such a thing
by Queen Victoria in 1844,
and today the Atholl Highlanders regiment
consists of around 100 men
(soldiers yelling)
made up of locals associated in some way
with the ducal estates.
Its commanding officer lives 6,000 miles away.
- My father, actually,
he had no intention of accepting the role at all.
He was going to be a...
He actually made official inquiries
as to how he could get out of it
and the person that he consulted at the Lord Lions
said you can either commit a schedule one offense,
or felony, they call it here,
and go to jail for the rest of your life, or die.
You can't abdicate being a duke.
- [Jane] This is the archive.
- [Michael] Wow, so what is here?
- Well, this part at the top has the earliest documents.
There's 40 trunks of land charters
giving the duke title to his estate
but the very oldest is in here.
This one dates from 1180.
The next one is from 1199.
The main thing was to prove that you owned a bit of land
so, without a charter from the Crown, you had no proof.
- [Michael] And these are the originals?
- Absolutely.
(laughs) Of course.
- [Michael] Family history matters.
When the ninth duke died,
there was a very convoluted route to his successor,
a young man who was his fourth cousin twice removed.
- We have a very simplified family tree here.
So, you come down straight from the third duke,
fourth, five, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth,
but they have no male heirs,
so you have to find the next male heir
working your way back,
so this was a brother of the fourth duke.
You come down to this line of Georges
until you get to the tenth duke here.
- [Michael] The 10th duke had the perfect ducal image,
as if from central casting.
He was nearly 6 1/2 feet tall,
talked in clipped sentences,
ending each with that Victorian aristocratic tick,
"What, what?"
A bachelor, he died in 1996,
and the whole process of finding the next heir
started again.
- And then to get to the present line of dukes,
you don't have to go quite so far back.
Just to the great-grandfather of the 10th duke
and his brother again,
and through the male line to the present duke.
- [Officer] Your Grace, the Atholl Highlanders are formed up
and ready for your inspection, sir.
- [Michael] Bruce Murray runs a little sign-making shop
that he set up many years ago
in an obscure provincial town in South Africa.
(upbeat bagpipe music)
In 2012, Bruce and his second wife Charmaine
found themselves becoming the Duke and Duchess of Atholl,
along with 12 subsidiary titles.
(cannon blasting)
- By the center, quick march!
- [Michael] Being the duke,
he is automatically the colonel in chief
of the Atholl Highlanders.
It's quite a responsibility.
- It's a very, very moving experience
for me to parade for them.
And I said to Charmaine, the duchess, the other day
that I'm so glad that I'm on my own there
because if I had to turn around
and actually have to talk to anybody else
I wouldn't be capable of doing it.
I've got a constant lump in my throat when I'm on parade.
I'm here because of an accident of birth
and I didn't actually do anything
to deserve this huge privilege that I have.
All of this that happened is done for me, basically,
and it's just a very, very overwhelming sensation
that I get to feel that.
I haven't done anything to deserve it.
(upbeat bagpipe music)
- [Michael] The duke and duchess only see the family seat
on their brief trip over from South Africa once a year.
- This is the entrance hall
and it's a collection of firearms
and weapons that the dukes have collected.
Just this morning we were wondering
how many of these weapons have actually been used,
and it's quite sinister, but it's a wonderful collection.
- [Michael] The trouble with grand estates
is that, if not well managed, they can run out of money.
In the 1930s, the elderly and childless brothers,
the eighth and the ninth dukes were facing ruin.
But, luckily, their distant cousin, the heir to the title,
was about to marry a woman with a very rich grandmother.
- Her grandmother, old Lady Cowdray,
realized that the estate was in financial problems
and the whole thing would probably be sold,
so old Lady Cowdray stepped in, paid off the bank debt,
turned the whole thing into a company.
She had the controlling shares. The deal was signed.
She went to Paris for the weekend for a rest
and dropped dead.
- My great-grandmother effectively bought the estate,
and her condition of buying it
was that the duke and everybody continued to live here,
but her advisors ran it
and they took a more business-like approach
and one aspect of that was opening the castle to visitors.
- [Michael] So, by bringing in capital
and a commercial approach,
the rich old lady had ensured for her granddaughter
that there would be a suitable estate along with the title.
- The title stays with the male line,
but the 10th duke's half-sister, Sarah,
is the trustee and she and her mother and her grandmother
were the ones with the actual control.
So the hereditary system does not mean
that the males get the control.
They might get the title,
but, unless you're very bothered about the title,
it's running the estate that's more important.
- [Michael] Sarah Troughton, the head trustee,
is the half-sister of the 10th duke.
What do you think about the title
only going through the male line?
- (laughing) Huge relief.
I don't want to be a duchess.
- Really? - Yes. I don't.
I think it's a nice ceremonial thing these days,
but it's not something...
I prefer to get on with the business side of things.
- [Michael] Had you inherited the title in the past,
you'd have lived in the castle.
Do you ever think about that?
- When I do think about that, the prospect of managing
an enterprise like this absolutely appalls me.
So, actually, the way that it is now,
I'm probably one of the luckiest dukes
because I have this massive enterprise
that's there to allow me to be a duke.
Well, this is a picture staircase
showing a lot of my ancestors.
It's lovely to have this family tree.
I can know more or less what they looked like.
- [Michael] (laughs) Do you know who any of them are?
- No.
If I look carefully I might see
John, the first Marquess of Atholl,
the chap in the very peculiar outfit.
And this would be James, the second Duke of Atholl.
- [Michael] Do you see any resemblance
when you look in the mirror?
- No, there's obviously a little bit
of DNA in there somewhere,
but I don't think I look like him.
- [Michael] The duke's sons, the Marquess of Tullibardine
and Lord David Murray,
are officers in the Atholl Highlanders.
- We are soldiers though in a real army,
so in theory, we could gather the men
and go to war if we wanted to.
(both laughing)
- Maybe not in this day & age. - I don't know how effective
we'd be!
(both laughing)
- [Michael] Do you regret you're not in a position
to live here?
- It's a very difficult one to answer
because obviously I'm African and always will be.
But, honestly, no.
And I think it's quite special
that we can have the African side
as well as the Scottish side,
so we have the best of both worlds.
(horn blares) (crowd cheering)
(upbeat bagpipe music)
- [Michael] The duke and his family
play a symbolic role in all the rituals.
The heir and the spare pull down their socks
and get stuck in with the local fun.
- [Marquess of Tullibardine] It's a bayonet.
- Ready? (horn blares)
(crowd cheering)
- [Michael] No longer a strictly military occasion,
the duchess accompanies her husband.
(crowd yelling)
But, even at full speed,
suitable respect is shown to the duke.
(crowd cheering) (crowd applauding)
Back home, she's simply Charmaine,
but here she's the duchess and does what duchesses do.
(crowd cheering) (crowd applauding)
Is it fun handing out the prizes like that?
- [Charmaine] It is fun and it's nice to know everybody.
- [Michael] Are you able to enjoy it?
- We do. We love it.
That's why we come here every year.
Yeah, we love it.
- I mean, I'm one of 24 people
out of seven billion on the planet,
I've got this responsibility to be a duke
and it's honorous.
You can't be trained for it in my situation.
Obviously, if you're born and bred into it, it's different,
but nobody can teach you how to be a duke. (laughs)
- [Michael] This new South African line
of long-distant Dukes of Atholl
came about because the dukedom
can only go through male heirs.
But when all male heirs run out,
that is the end of the line.
(majestic music)
- [Camilla] There are some books, a couple of books in here.
- [Michael] So where does that leave Camilla Osborne,
whose father was the Duke of Leeds, a dukedom now extinct?
- The other rather grander book,
which has got the title on the cover,
and I don't know which one it was for.
And that's the family bookplate.
There's the coronet.
- [Michael] She lives in a new-build close
in southwest London,
but she still gets odd glimpses
of the precedence at some dinner tables
that her status, as daughter of a duke, can give her.
- If I went to a lunch at Christie's, for example,
they are extremely aware
because they spend their days looking up dukes
and viscounts and everything else,
so you will be put on the right of the Christie's director.
I went to a lunch at Christie's and I was on the right
and there was a woman who was on the left,
who was visibly irritated because she was older,
better looking, better dressed, more jewels than me,
but she was on the left.
(laughs) And she was irritated.
- [Michael] Did that ever so slightly please you?
- Yes, of course, it did. (laughing)
And in here,
these pictures were taken by my father's father,
who was the 10th duke.
- [Michael] The bathroom pays homage
to the boyhood of her father.
- [Camilla] There he is sitting in a sort of rather
charmingly battered straw hat looking winsome and sad.
And that is one with his mother.
- [Michael] The duchess had struggled to provide an heir.
After four girls, finally, she produced a boy.
The arrival was celebrated with bonfires and fireworks.
His title at birth was the Marquess of Carmarthen.
- The story of him being on a bus and the bus stopped
and he apparently said, "Nanny, Nanny,
"why aren't we moving?"
And she said, "Because there's a lot of traffic on the road,
"you see, and we can't move, the bus can't move."
And he went, (inhales) "Well, they wouldn't do this
"if they knew the little marquess was on board!" (laughs)
And I suppose he was known as the little marquess.
- [Michael] The family seat was Hornby Castle in Yorkshire.
Within a couple of years of succeeding to the title in 1927,
the new young duke put the castle up for sale.
With cash in the bank, he drifted round Europe,
ending up on the French Riviera.
- This is a picture of his wedding
to the Serbian ballet dancer.
He got married in Nice.
There is the bride, who's looking pretty satisfied.
My father, who's looking understandably apprehensive
and nervous because there is his mother,
who appears to be wearing her gardening clothes
and certainly a gardening hat.
She is looking as if she can not really believe
that her only son and heir
is marrying the Serbian ballet dancer.
- [Michael] The marriage to the Serbian ballerina
ended when she went off with an American millionaire.
The duke remarried and they had a daughter, Camilla.
To avoid heavy English taxes, they moved to Jersey.
- He was probably bored, bad-tempered,
miserable at being made to live there.
My mother was much younger
and she met and fell in love with a young,
good-looking guards officer
who was in the Coldstream Guards,
with the result that she left me and my father.
My stepfather had to leave the Army
and apparently, his commanding officer said,
"Well, Lawrence, this is jolly sad, isn't it?
"I mean, chorus girls are one thing,
"but I'm afraid duchesses are quite another." (laughs)
- [Michael] Within minutes,
a young woman had got her tabs on the newly-available duke.
- She was terribly tall.
She was nearly six-foot,
so she was bloody frightening as well. (laughs)
- [Michael] Why do you think she married your father?
Do you think the title?
- Oh, yes.
I think it had an enormous amount to do with it,
but, looking back, she wanted to be a duchess.
- [Michael] What do you think about your resemblance to him?
- Oh, I love looking like him. I do, yes.
Well, it's such a link, isn't it?
My stepmother, in her less-than-generous moments,
said it was a great shame
that I looked so like him. (laughs)
I was 12 when he died.
I was at boarding school and they summoned me back,
but I wasn't allowed to say goodbye to him.
I didn't see him before he died.
There was a funeral, which I wasn't taken to
and she knew, under the terms of the trust,
that she couldn't inherit anything
other than his personal possessions
and she was obsessive about money.
But I remember her going on and on to her friend
and this friend saying, "Oh, Caroline,
"I do think perhaps you could stop now
"because it's really not very nice for Camilla
"to listen to all this."
"Oh, well, she'll be all right because she's got the money!"
And I was, what? 13 or something at the time?
- [Michael] On her father's death,
the title went to a distant cousin living in Rome,
Sir D'Arcy Osborne,
a former British ambassador to the Vatican.
He was in his 70s and a bachelor
and, when he died just six months later,
the Dukedom of Leeds became extinct.
- My father, if he'd still had the place in Yorkshire,
he'd have been like Bedford or Devonshire,
or those that have got a purpose,
which is what I'm trying to say.
I think it gives you a purpose
and I think maybe that's why he wasn't a happy man
because he had absolutely no purpose in his life,
except getting through the day
by going to the cinema or going to the tailor,
or having the third Pernod.
That was his life, actually.
When Hornby was sold, the coronation robes were under a bed,
so they were sold,
but what remains are the three coronets.
The ducal coronet, the dutchess's coronet,
and marquess's coronet.
And that, you see, there was, apparently,
you kept your sandwiches in there during the coronation.
Because you were there for hours and hours and hours,
so you would just have that on your head.
Actually, that feels quite comfortable. (laughs)
- [Michael] Rather suits you, I have to say!
- I appreciate, enormously, what I've got.
But I think maybe, like my father,
if I hadn't had it I would have had a happier life,
or a more fulfilled one.
I mean, when you read death announcements,
don't you, you read them and it says,
"After a life well lived" or, "after a fulfilled life,"
and sometimes in my more gloomy moments I think,
"Yes, I wouldn't say that."
- Really? - Not that I've been unhappy,
but I just feel I've had sort of the same
slightly aimless life as my father did,
for different reasons.
(majestic music)
- [Michael] The Dukedom of Leeds had been created
for a crafty Yorkshire politician,
who had helped bring William and Mary to the throne in 1689.
The Dukedom of St. Albans
was created for less elevated reasons.
Simply, for the bastard son of King Charles II
and a celebrated actress, Nell Gwyn.
The family seat for many years
was Bestwood Lodge in Nottinghamshire,
but that is long gone.
The 14th Duke of St. Albans
and his duchess live in a terraced house
in a quiet street in central London.
- Well, here's the 10th duke.
He's the same chap as that.
And he's the good duke, the 10th duke.
Was the last person to make a speech in the House Of Lords
until I did.
- Oh, really? - 127 years later. (laughs)
And that is our coronet.
- [Michael] Do you still have the coronet?
- Yes, male and female.
And the robes, we have the coronation robes.
- [Michael] Oh, really, where are they?
- Up in the attic.
We'll talk about those later!
(both laughing)
- The coronets, aren't they in your study?
- Oh, are there? - Yes.
- On the top? Oh, well. - Yeah.
- Okay.
- That'll be your one.
- I think that is, actually
It's the red one because it's the original box
and it's very, very fragile.
Ah, now this is Murray's one.
I think they are rather lovely.
That's Murray's. You hold yours, Murray.
And I'll just get out my one,
which I think is just so pretty.
Those are the original pins, which would be, say, 1680?
So, you see those? That's what's so brilliantly clever.
Those are the pins you would put in in your hair,
and that would keep, which the Queen obviously does.
So, what I'd do is, I'd do that.
Second.
And I'm pressing it into my skull.
And I do that and then I'm pressing it in like that
and, of course, that is amazing because that's it.
Look.
We have had no reason-
- Never. Never. - To ever to wear it
any more than we have had any reason to wear the robes.
And actually, in fact, the-
- Well, I wore the robes for the portrait.
- For the portrait. - Right.
And how should one address you?
If one's being polite - Well, there...
Well, that's quite-
- Your Grace.
- It should be Your Grace. Quite a few people do.
Quite a few of the restaurants call me Your Grace,
quite a few.
But then, on the other hand, you also get people that don't.
And so, we're totally relaxed, actually.
- [Michael] But do you quite like it?
- Well, to be honest with you, I do actually like formality,
but I've always liked formality regardless.
I don't like Christian names, for instance, terribly.
So it wouldn't suit me to be...
I don't like being called Gillian, actually,
particularly by people I don't know.
- [Michael] Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- But that's only just me, really!
- [Michael] So what should I call you?
- Well, you can call me Gillian if you like!
(both laughing)
- [Michael] That's very generous!
- No, not at all!
- [Michael] But if, on my first meeting you,
what should I have called you?
What did I call you? I think I avoided it.
- I think you avoided it,
which I think is a very sensible thing to do.
'Cause I think I often avoid things
that I don't want to get involved with
and then I don't hurt anybody's feelings
or be on any problems about it.
So, I think I would have done the same.
- [Michael] So, for example,
when you're booking an airplane ticket.
- Oh, that's an issue.
As they say, they can't put in "Duke of, Duchess of,"
because it won't fit into their computers,
which is what we're always being told,
so we go under Mr. and Mrs. St. Albans.
Fine, we don't mind.
Because, actually, we're not the kind
that would want to necessarily throw in a title
just because we want a better seat or whatever.
Some people do that, but we don't.
But, anyway, there you go. Terribly pretty, isn't it?
- Very, very. - Yeah.
- [Michael] Now, I'm afraid, having mentioned your robes,
we have to see the robes.
Where are they? Are they next door?
- Oh, well. - In the attic.
- In the attic?
- Yeah, but that really is an ordeal.
- Is it? - Well, I'll take...
No, no, no, you're not going into the attic.
That's banned
because that's where everything but the kitchen sink is.
- For health and safety, too.
- [Gillian] For health and safety.
Luth? - Hi.
- We need you, Luth. - Okay.
- [Gillian] If you would like to come up with me, Luth.
- [Luth] I'm still ironing.
- [Gillian] I know. Well, don't worry.
We can just put the ironing board to the side,
Luth, for a second.
- Sorry! - No, that doesn't matter.
No, no, don't worry.
We'll just take that down for a minute.
This would be easier in here, actually.
- [Michael] Shall we let Luth through? Yeah.
- Yes.
- [Michael] Ah, that's easier, yeah.
- It really is because Murray's is
terribly heavy
and in his...
Well, look, you see?
In his case, very, very frail.
Thatch.
- [Michael] It seems to be molting a little bit.
- Yes. Oh, it is, it's molted tremendously.
As long as the moths haven't got in it.
The ermine is looking very unhappy.
- [Michael] It is rather, isn't it?
- Fortunately, this is okay, this one.
It is beautifully made.
- [Michael] So, that's lace from-
- Yes. 16-whatever.
So this is the original.
- Look. - Shall I take it now?
- Yeah, why don't you?
You take it, Michael, and you can...
Look, I think that is...
That is what is really lovely, I think.
- [Michael] Was there a bit of ermine shawl under that?
That, yes, that.
- This? It's just a spare.
- No, it isn't, it clips on to here, actually.
Look, Murray.
In fact, well done, you, for spotting that.
We'll have it like that-
- That's nice. - Because I think that's
the ideal thing to do.
Look at it, it's simply beautiful.
- [Michael] How did you meet Murray]
and what was your attitude to his title?
- Oh, well, first of all, I met Murray at a dinner party.
As far as his title went,
I think it's a charming title, actually.
I think it's a particularly pretty one.
But, actually, my daughter's godfather
was the Duke of Manchester
and I have known quite a few,
so it wasn't as if it really was at all, a sort of,
anything out of the ordinary, as it were.
(both chuckling)
You're definitely out of the ordinary,
you're very, very special,
but not the title, particularly.
- [Michael] What have we got here?
- Well, we have me here, in my coronation robes,
and a falcon.
- [Michael] Cor, a live falcon?
- No, stuffed, I'm afraid.
'Cause I'm the hereditary Grand Falconer of England.
- Hereditary Grant Falconer? What does that mean?
- It means nothing now,
it used to have a salary of 1,000 pounds a year.
- Really? - Yes, at one time.
Up to a few years ago,
one used to get a 1/4 of a dear twice a year
from Richmond Park, but that was stopped by Tony Blair
on the grounds of economy.
- What did you think of that?
- Well, it was a pretty poor show.
The Archbishop of Canterbury used to get it as well,
and one or two other people.
- [Michael] Murray, did your ancestors leave you
a vast, stately mansion and huge wealth?
- No. They didn't.
Unfortunately. (laughs)
- [Michael] So, can I ask, have you worked for a living?
- Yes, I have.
- [Michael] Doing what?
- I'm a chartered accountant.
- [Charles] This has gotta stop. (laughs)
- [Michael] The duke's son and heir is Charles Beauclerk,
who used to use his courtesy title of the Earl of Burford,
but now chooses not to.
- [Murray] That is one of the dukes.
- [Michael] He is a teacher and part-time historian
and takes rather more interest than his dad
in the family's history.
- That's the ninth as a boy,
so, obviously, the father of the 10th.
- [Michael] I mean, do you feel a connection
to these ancestors?
- Not particularly, really. I don't.
- [Michael] Really?
- But I'm probably exceptional in that.
- [Michael] I think Charles does more, don't you?
- I'm sure he does.
- To some of them, yes.
Obviously, some are obscure and just pictures and so on,
and they don't really come alive in your mind, others 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,
and therefore I think you can choose
the way in which you become part of that story.
I mean, we are all actors in it.
(majestic music)
- [Michael] One day, Charles will be the Duke of St Albans.
It is often thought that any man
in possession of a grand title
must not be in want of a large stately,
but that is no longer the case for this dukedom.
Charles, though, is fascinated by Bestwood Lodge,
the pile that in other circumstances
he might have inherited.
It is now a Best Western hotel.
- Yes, this is Bestwood Lodge,
which was built between 1862 and 1865
by the 10th Duke of St. Albans.
And there's a lot of fantasy to it.
You have the figures of Robin Hood and his Merry Men
over the porch there.
It was described at the time as "acrobatic gothic,"
which I think is a pretty good description.
- [Michael] Charles and his girlfriend Sarah
are hoping to put on plays here
(gentle music)
and have been delving into its traumatic family history.
The 10th duke, a talented entrepreneur, made a fortune,
and with three sons he thought he'd set up the family
for generations to come.
But within months of his death,
it all started to unravel.
- His son and heir, Burford, as he was called,
three months after he succeeded,
he was certified, confined to an asylum in Sussex,
and that's where he spent the last 36 years of his life.
Then the youngest brother, Lord William Beauclerk,
also proved mad and, just after leaving Eton,
he was sent to the priory, Roehampton.
He was there for 52 years, completely forgotten by everyone.
And the middle brother, Obbie, who became a 12th duke,
was a restless soul who wandered round the world
and I think he became quite an embittered man.
And that's what fascinates me.
Is why, what created this mental illness?
Was it partly societal?
Were they sensitive souls who couldn't harness themselves
to the whole imperial design?
Or was it something more personal,
something the way they'd been brought up?
It's like a kind of haunting,
passed down from generation to generation,
so I think the key is to become conscious of them
and then that demon is purged for future generations.
One of the reasons I gave up the title in the first place
is because people's perceptions of you
can actually create a sort of straight jacket.
It often attracts people who just want to know you
because they are snobs
and therefore you can fall into
the wrong company very easily.
I think much better just to be Mr. Beauclerk,
go about your business and...
But, yes, if I felt I could use it in a powerful
and creative fashion then I would.
- [Michael] If Charles doesn't take up the title,
this might be the last practical incarnation of it.
(majestic music)
The Dukedom of Rutland was created as the result
of a very pushy mother who demanded of Queen Anne
that her late husband's military heroism be rewarded,
making her son-in-law a duke.
This tradition of strong women has continued.
- I remember very well the feeling
of driving up here to Belvoir Castle
in my rather beaten up old Fiat,
and having to stop and take my breath back for a moment,
and seeing this extraordinary castle
and thinking, "Phew! I'm going to stay there!"
The building itself is so imposing
it takes people's breath away.
(gentle music)
- [Michael] Emma Watkins was a farmer's daughter from Wales
when she met the then Marquess of Granby,
heir to Duke of Rutland, owner of Belvoir Castle,
at a dinner party.
Within a couple of years, they married
and she became the marchioness.
When her father-in-law died her title changed.
The upgrade to duchess,
how much of a difference did that make?
- To me?
Well, it makes a difference to others
because they perceive you as a duchess
and, suddenly, you know...
To many people, bearing in mind
there are so few of us in the country,
it is all quite, "Oh, a duchess!"
You know, she might be sitting up in an ivory tower
with a sort of crown on, and quite old and quite scary.
We are in our private rooms here
and these are the rooms that
are not open to the public 24-7,
and so they are areas where we can have some space.
And out here is our private terrace.
Which is, I suppose it is our back garden in a sense.
And as you can see, we've got our swings
and our dog kennel, our five dogs.
- [Michael] In marrying Emma,
the duke found someone with whom to start a family,
who also turned out to be a determined
and energetic estate manager.
But three years ago the marriage ran into difficulties.
With over 300 rooms at their disposal,
they came up with a relatively simple solution.
He lives in one tower and delves into the family archives,
she lives in another tower and, as chief executive,
runs the place.
- [Emma] Morning!
Morning, everyone. - 7:30 a.m.,
and the senior staff assemble
for Her Grace's weekly meeting.
- Debbie?
- Good morning, Your Grace.
We've got four sign-ups in the next two weeks.
- It's a bit like when the king dies, long live the king.
When the duke dies, long live the duke.
And there was an amazing moment
that will remain with me forever,
when my mother-in-law, there was a large, black tin of keys,
enormous great keys,
and she handed me the box and said, "Good luck."
But, actually, what we've got to do
is address where it fell down.
And so I spent the week
and there wasn't one room that I hadn't managed to get into,
so you have to kind of know
what it is that you're taking over.
I'm now going up onto the roof.
I'm meeting our architect.
And, in a moment, you're going to see
why it's called Belvoir.
Beautiful castle. Beautiful view.
They were Norman-French, the Manners family,
and they couldn't really pronounce "Beaver,"
so they called it Belvoir because of the beautiful view.
Let's go and see what my architect has done here.
Peter?
Oh!
I'm on a different roof to you!
So how do I get out to that one?
- You come up the spiral stair, obviously.
- Yes. - Across and through
the middle king's room.
- Middle king's room. I'll be with you in two minutes.
Pop down here and find the right roof!
Hi, Peter!
- Where it bubbles...
- [Peter] Yeah. That's right.
That's all the corrosion building up underneath.
- So, what problems does that create underneath?
- It just makes the lead thin.
- Right.
How old is this lead?
- It's as old as the building, getting on for 200 years.
There's a little mark here.
"1883."
- Wow. - You can see what it is,
a little man riding a penny-farthing.
- [Emma] Yeah.
So what sort of price are we talking about
to have this re-leaded?
- [Peter] It would use up an entire year's budget.
- [Emma] So about 100,000.
- [Michael] And that's just one section
of the two acres of roof.
(gentle majestic music)
Looking after the future
extends beyond mere buildings, of course.
The duchess took her duties seriously
and, after three daughters, produced two sons.
- Well, obviously, it's very important that you have a boy
because boys carry the title.
And everything is entailed here at Belvoir,
so everything goes with the title.
There is definitely a feeling
that I better have this boy. (chuckles)
The one that struggled most probably was darling Hugo,
who, at 4 1/2, said, "Mum, when Charles dies,
do I become the duke?"
I said, "Charles isn't going to die
"and you will never be the duke."
But he sort of gets it now.
I think, as long as you're very, very clear with children
from the outset about how it works, there's no confusion.
- [Michael] In the magnificent Elizabeth Saloon,
there's a photoshoot for Country and Townhouse magazine.
- [Woman] Because it's black, you won't notice-
- The bulges.
- [Michael] The 21st-century duchess
is conscious of the need to market the place.
And with its Midlands location,
she especially targets the lucrative Asian wedding business.
There is, after all, a certain Bollywood,
over-the-top quality to the decor.
(camera clacking)
- [Photographer] Look across, out the window.
- [Michael] Today, selling it as a family home,
are all the female members.
- [Woman] You look gorgeous!
- [Michael] As daughters of a duke,
they take the courtesy title of Lady,
along with the family name.
Lady Violet,
Lady Alice,
and Lady Eliza Manners.
Do you ever think, as the oldest,
about not being able to inherit?
- I wouldn't want to break tradition, actually.
I think, for me, personally,
I think in years to come, I think it will be welcomed,
and I think it should happen,
that the eldest should be allowed to inherit.
But I'm quite happy that it hasn't changed, for me.
My brother, I think, he's got broad shoulders
and he'll be able to carry the weight properly, I think.
- [Michael] So, genuinely, no tinge of-
- No tinge, not at all. I mean, I really...
I have been asked a lot and I just...
I really, really am just so lucky
to have been able to enjoy it.
- [Michael] Did you play in this room when you were a kid?
- Yeah, definitely. This was our-
- Halloween party special, this room was for.
Yeah, Halloween parties.
- And we came up with the most amazing game called runner.
So, there was no structure to it,
you would just chase each other around
until you caught each other or found each other.
Or someone got really lost.
- [Michael] For inheritance tax reasons,
the castle has to be open for a certain number of days.
- We renegotiated with the government,
we looked at reducing our days
that we're open to the public.
I took the business right back to its roots, really.
- [Michael] The duchess got the open visitor days
down to around 30 a year
and replaced them with high income,
upmarket shooting parties.
- I 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 and looked after,
as they had been 200 years ago.
- [Michael] In the 15 years since she took over,
the duchess has transformed the 16,000-acre estate.
She got rid of large numbers of employees
and reordered priorities.
- I think, Nick, your family have been here
for how many generations?
- Hundreds of years.
I mean, it's the best part of 50 years
I've been on this estate, on and off,
and I've just seen a total change.
- [Michael] What happened to it?
- [Emma] I made them all redundant! (laughs)
- Well, I don't know about that.
- Well, I did.
It wasn't that anyone was wrong,
it was just, for me,
it was just that people became accustomed
to it the way it was.
- [Michael] So, what did you do?
- So, I made a lot of people redundant.
- It's brought this place back
to being a properly run estate.
- [Michael] Bet it was controversial.
- Yeah, it was controversial. Yeah, definitely.
But change is gonna be controversial.
(majestic music) (birds chirping)
- [Michael] The old seat of power for the aristocracy
was the House of Lords.
Tony Blair's government managed to abolish
all but 92 hereditary peers.
Amongst them, there are only three dukes.
The Duke of Montrose
is a former Conservative Shadow Minister for Scotland
in the Lords.
- I'm going down the corridor towards the House of Commons,
where the pictures are all to do
with the time of the Civil War
and this picture here is a picture
of my ancestor's execution, which took place in 1650.
- [Michael] The duke's most famous ancestor,
the first Marquess of Montrose, led the army for Scotland
and then switched allegiance to the English throne.
- But he was finally defeated and captured
and taken to Edinburgh,
where he was hung for three hours off a gibbet
and then cut down and dismembered,
and his limbs sent and hung on the gates
of all the main cities of Scotland.
I mean, our family has been involved
in most of the events that have defined Scotland
and its battles with England, one way or another.
We then go on to the fourth marquess,
who, as president of the council,
he supervised the signing of the Act of Union
and that's his picture there.
- [Michael] As he had been instrumental in getting Scotland
to join with England in the Act of Union,
a grateful king created for him a dukedom
and the fourth marquess became the first Duke of Montrose.
- And then you get my grandfather, who's the sixth duke.
He 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.
- [Michael] As well as his duties in the House of Lords,
the duke is a working hill farmer.
What have you seen?
- A sheep on its back. (sheep bleating)
I hope it's not dead.
It's still heavy in lamb.
Well, that was well-caught.
So, she'll be better off that way round.
- [Michael] Do you sometimes get the sort of sycophancy?
- It would be very rare, I would say.
It might be different in some areas
where there are still people
who can afford to be very grand, but I think sycophancy
mainly comes to people who are very rich.
- [Michael] When they were very rich,
their stately pile was built in the Victorian era
by his great-great-grandfather.
- They had the idea that life would go on
in a very grand style,
but, of course, it belonged to a lifestyle,
which was about to just vanish away.
- [Michael] Today, Montrose lives
in a more modest 1930s house,
stuffed with mementos of the family's 1,000-year history.
- These are the socks and the hat he wore at his execution.
And then this cloth here was supposed to be
where his heart was wrapped.
As with so many bits of history,
one is charged with keeping something alive
for other people to appreciate and understand.
(majestic music) (bell tolls)
So it's...
- [Michael] Do you want me to be your valet?
- (laughs) These are my robes
for the opening ceremony of Parliament.
Dukes are allowed to have four bands of ermine
that go right around the body, like that.
If I was an earl, I would have three bars
and, if I were just a baron, I would have two bars.
- [Michael] At some point, there will be a new monarch.
Will you attend?
- One would have to wait to be invited.
I don't know what the protocol will be
by the time there is a successor to the Queen.
May find that dukes are no longer
in the House of Lords at all by that time
and probably not considered to be very important people.
(rousing music)
- [Michael] As the last vestiges
of their constitutional power fade,
how will dukedoms with a real sense of grandeur
survive in the centuries to come?
This year, Blenheim Palace will have 700,000 paying visitors
tramping through its very grand doors.
James, formerly the Marquess of Blandford,
only recently became the 12th Duke of Marlborough.
He had a sticky time in his early life.
A publicly documented drug addiction
and a passion for fast cars hardly prepared him
for the now professional business
of running such a vast estate.
Today, he will open a vintage car event.
- Hey, Caspar, come on!
- How are you? - His name's Andrew,
do you know what he does?
He organizes the whole event.
- [Andrew] Which one would you drive?
- The green one.
- Your daddy drove that
about a month ago? - Yeah!
- All the way around the palace grounds.
- Sir, it's a pleasure- - Well done.
- You allowing us into your home,
it really is. - Don't be silly!
It's an honor having you here, it really is.
- [Michael] The duke's sister
is Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill.
- Hello. - Ah, hello.
- [Michael] Their father was the last duke to live full-time
in the private quarters.
- So this is the butler's pantry.
This is, again, on the private side.
You'll get your bearings in a minute,
but, if you went through that door,
you would end up on the public side.
- [Michael] So what's here? What are we looking at?
- This is our bar.
You know, when we have guests, this is where
either they help themselves to drink
or the butler helps them to drinks.
Faux books. In here, there's a...
Behind the scenes the cupboards.
And then this is a sort of service staircase,
which goes all the way up.
- Can we just have a peek? - Definitely can. You can.
Not very interesting, but...
So, that goes down to the basement level
and the lower ground,
and then, actually, if you go all the way up,
you can get into one of the towers.
Which, of course, is where
we spent a lot of time as children,
'cause it was much more fun
going to all the places you weren't supposed to be.
Well, this is the family dining room.
As you see at the moment, the table is set for eight people.
If it's just en famille,
we actually have a round table or just a small table
in the bow part of the window here.
The family sitting room.
So, it's really our telly room, too.
It's actually, as you can see, very cozy,
although probably fairly large proportions.
- [Michael] As early as the late 19th century,
the financing of an estate like this became a huge issue.
In the case of Marlborough,
there was then a relatively simple solution.
- The ninth duke was very much told he had to (laughs)
marry an American heiress.
It was, as you know, very much an arranged marriage
between Consuelo Vanderbilt, who came with a large dowry,
and it's really thanks to her and the Vanderbilt money
that the house is in such good shape today.
He sort of, I think, bit the bullet
and said, "Right, I've gotta
"not necessarily marry for love,
"but for the love of Blenheim."
And they duly got married, produced the heir and the spare,
as she always referred to her two sons
and, you know, it wasn't a particularly happy marriage.
In a funny way, it's probably easier today to make it work
than it would have been in the past.
- [Michael] Why?
- Because it's run like a business,
so we have a lot more opportunities to make money
in order to keep the upkeep of the house.
Whereas before, you were perhaps relying just on
farming or investments.
Now, it's actually-
- [Michael] Or American millionairesses?
- Or American...
Exactly, yes.
Well, we might have another one of those, you never know.
Might be China or somewhere next time.
James has slotted into the role.
Things are, really, carrying on just as normal.
- My 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 Prive event at Blenheim.
- [Michael] The duke presents the public face of Blenheim,
now owned by a trust and run by a professional team.
- Well, I was very fortunate to be appointed, in early 2003,
as the first chief executive of Blenheim.
And that was, really, the duke at the time
and the trustees deciding that this was the time
to really commercialize the business
and to really get to grips
with everything Blenheim had to offer
and really drive the business forward.
- [Michael] How does it work hierarchically?
Who's in charge?
- Well, 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.
I report into a board of trustees,
who work very closely with the duke,
so, really, above the duke
and above me is a board of trustees.
- [James] My operation as director!
- [Michael] Have you ever seen the palace from above?
- Only when I went up and regilded the balls on the top.
- [Michael] Did you?
(man laughs)
Was that fun?
- Yeah, hard work.
- [Michael] Is it gold?
- Yeah, gold leaf.
If you put gold paint, it comes off every year.
- [Michael] When did you do that?
Were you the duke or was it before?
- No, no, no. Heather, when was it?
It was over 20 years ago.
- [Heather] Yep, yep.
- I'm going inside.
Thank you very much. - Thank you so much.
Bye-bye.
What do you think of the hereditary principle?
- I think it's part of our DNA,
I think it's part of the heritage.
I think it's what makes us special.
We're the envy of the world because of places like Blenheim,
and the heritage and the private historic houses
are utterly unique.
But 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 the family, over generations,
to keep their end up, if you like,
because no incumbent wants to be the incumbent
that doesn't hand on
in a better condition than they received it in.
(upbeat majestic music)
- [Michael] In 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.
(upbeat majestic music continues)