The Accidental Duchess: From Farmer's Daughter to Belvoir Castle

Product Information

It's rare to have the chance to listen to a member of a different social class talk candidly about themselves. Geographically, Mrs. Manners and I live near each other. But we may as well live in different universes - our daily routines, our expectations from life, our worries, etc. are so wildly different. (PS. We live near enough that I have heard rumours about what it's like to work for her... not good!) Today, the Duchess runs the commercial activities of Belvoir Castle, including shooting parties, weddings and a range of furniture. She has presented on various television programmes, including ITV’s Castles, Keeps and Country Homes, and has produced a book about Belvoir Castle. Princess Anne’s son-in-law Mike Tindall has a special relationship with the Duchess of Gloucester because they have a shared interest in finding a cure for Parkinson’s.

I gave the book 3.5 stars (rounded up because it is Madeline Hunter and I love her work- usually) because it was well written and we final get some answers to questions that have been lurking since the first book. She had to cope with five boisterous children while faced with a vast estate in desperate need of modernisation and staff who wanted nothing to change—it was a daunting responsibility. Yet with sound advice from the doyenne of duchesses, ‘Debo’ Devonshire, she met each challenge with optimism and gusto, including scaling the castle roof in a storm to unclog a flooding gutter; being caught in her nightdress by mesmerised Texan tourists; and disguising herself as a cleaner to watch filming of The Crown. She even took on the castle ghosts... At times the problems she faced seemed insoluble, yet with her unstoppable energy and talent for thinking on the hoof, she won through, inspired by the vision and passion of those Rutland duchesses in whose footsteps she trod, and indeed the redoubtable and resourceful women who forged her, whose homes were not castles but remote farmhouses in the Radnorshire hills. He had previously given her his business card which said David Manners, Marquess of Granby, which should have been a clue but she assumed the Marquess of Granby was a pub. Anyway, she was soon invited to a shooting weekend at Belvoir Castle and met David’s parents and when her father asked his usual question “How many acres?” she was able to tell him “Around 17,000.” The Duchess of Gloucester during a visit to Good Hope hospital in Sutton Coldfield (Image: Birmingham Post and Mail)

Capability Brown & Belvoir: Discovering a Lost Landscape

I really enjoyed these two and that they had a rather muddy past and one that haunts them both in different ways. There's a nice fire between them because of it and it was interesting watching as things slowly changed as they were forced to spend time together and the truth about their past was revealed.

Alexander is next in line for the Gloucester title,, followed by his son Xan Windsor, known as Lord Culloden. But the royal dukedom will devolve into an ordinary one because he will only be the great-grandson of a sovereign. There are many reasons for me to recommend this well-crafted, interesting and romantic story to you; but the biggest is that I loved it and didn’t want to put it down at all! I have come to believe that if I forget to take notes while I read then a book is so good, I get so caught up in it that I just read and enjoy it. And, that more or less happened here!Sometimes I feel like I should be awarded a medal for slogging through some of the tiresome tripe I bother to read. Then I realize I've only myself to blame and any awards would just be a sad confirmation of my limitless drive to torture myself. Penthurst long ago concluded Lydia was a woman in search of ruinous adventure, but even he is surprised when she arrives at his house ready to bet her innocence against his ten thousand pounds—a wager he only proposed to warn her off gambling. It really is a rare treat among romance; one of the best I have ever read. I think it is a must read for lovers of historic romance! The studious young man she married was a ‘spare’ who ended up on the front line so this is the fascinating story of the accidental Duchess of Gloucester.