Toff times for lords & ladies
You’ll see how the other half live in this new three-part documentary – and it’s not quite how you thought.
Britain’s most-prominent aristocratic families open the doors of some of the country’s most beautiful estates.
And while they may live in stunning buildings, often the family pile is crumbling and the upkeep requires a constant stream of cash the families simply don’t have. So, the sometimeseccentric lords, ladies and even a princess, have to earn a crust.
In the opening episode, we meet Lord Ivar Mountbatten, whose father was a cousin to Prince Philip, as he and husband James try to expand the money-making opportunities at their stately house of Bridwell – a home with 100 windows, all of which Ivar cleans.
“These places don’t run themselves,” said Ivar, who in 2018 was the first member of the Royal Family to have a same-sex marriage when he wed James after divorce from his wife of 17 years, Penny. “And I’m the sort of person who’d rather do things myself than pay someone.”
The couple set up a pop-up fine-dining restaurant in their home, alongside Michelin-starred chef Jean-Christophe Novelli. One of the guests is Ivar’s cousin Princess Olga Romanoff, whose great uncle was Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Olga has also opened up her home in Kent, hosting tours of the property to find the £50,000 a year for the upkeep.
She said: “I realised the house was literally falling down when I inherited it. And £2.5million later, it’s still falling down. Every penny we make goes straight to the house.”
But while Olga keeps busy with work, she’s on the search for new romance and we see her head to the Royal Windsor Horse Show, held in the Queen’s private grounds at Windsor Castle.
She said: “I always went for an SAS type – a trained killer with a good body – but in actual fact, they turn out, generally speaking, to be absolute s***s.”
The first episode also features Lord and Lady Fitzalan-Howard, who are hoping to help fund the exorbitant running costs of their 126-room home, Carlton Towers, by turning part of their estate into a vineyard.