She endured jungle hardship on I’m A Celebrity to help pay for a new roof on her ruined mansion. Now Lady C’s magnificent country pile is restored to its former glory

speaks with accent. Because of a genital deformity she was mistakenly registered as a boy and christened George William. Then aged 21 George had surgery to correct nature’s mistake and became Georgie. When Lady C was in her 20s she worked as a model in New York, where she met Lord Colin Campbell, younger son of the 11th Duke of Argyll and the Queen’s cousin. After a whirlwind romance they married and Georgie officially became a lady. She says of Colin: “He had the strongest personality of anyone I had ever met, he simply exuded strength, decisiveness and charm.” He proposed to her the first evening they a distinct Jamaican met and married her within a week. She was a little put out that he spent the day before their wedding driving round drugstores in search of uppers and downers but he explained he needed them for his jet lag.

He apparently did not bat an eyelid when she said he ought to know she had been brought up a boy. His legendary response was: “So?” The marriage only lasted nine months and because Lady C couldn’t have children she went to Russia and adopted two boys, Dima and Misha, who live in the castle with her.

For two years Lady C has been overseeing the work to keep her castle from falling down. Now the ITV documentary captures the full drama of the mad scramble of the last 10 weeks as she prepares to launch her new business.

“We have a deadline of June 18,” she tells the camera, “because that’s when we’re having the housewarming ball and pretty much everything will be ready by then. I would be very surprised if it’s not. Believe me, when I’m very surprised I ball and squawk. I don’t believe in suffering silently. Everyone will be suffering along with me.” One priority job that requires a lot of squawking is levelling the sloping garden ready for the marquee but Lady C isn’t confident the laser level is accurate and puts in an urgent call to her events team.

SHE says: “Hi Dan, it’s Lady C, I really need to speak to you urgently. You’re in Devon, how dare people in Devon eat when your presence is required here… what are the dimensions of the marquee?”

At this point Lady C still needs to raise more money and we see her heading back to her London residence to rehearse a one-woman show at the Edinburgh Festival. “I will be taking this old bod up to Edinburgh and flogging my wares. To keep this greedy monster Castle Goring fed.”

She also finds time to squeeze in a few social engagements, including a lunch at Sotheby’s and a book launch at the Royal Academy, before there’s trouble at the castle when a falling branch causes damage to the exterior. Showing clear signs of stress Lady C says: “Quite frankly I’m heartily sick to death of this sort of thing happening.”

There’s a lot riding on the opening ball, designed to impress some special guests, and Lady C is feeling the strain. There’s a crisis with the weather then Lady C has a medical matter to attend to. The last straw is when she notices the tarpaulin she ordered to cover the leaking dome has not been put on.

She fumes: “Let me just go down and see what the **** ing damage is… one piece of **** to cope with after the other. Because what’s supposed to be done is never **** ing done when it’s supposed to be.”

What happens when the 140 dinner guests arrive, followed by another 100 for the music and dancing? I’d hate to spoil the surprise but suffice to say Lady C takes everything in her stride. In her words: “There are times in life when you realise that if you put in the graft you get the reward. Effort requires effort.”

At least she didn’t have to contend with bug-eating bushtucker trials this time. Lady C And The Castle is on ITV on Friday at 9pm.