Peer pressures
THIS gives viewers a peek behind the posh, privileged doors of the British aristocracy – extraordinary modern-day blue bloods living in stately homes.
And it’s not all tweed and china cups (although there is plenty of that too).
These lords and ladies don’t always fit into the mould you might expect.
We meet Princess Olga Romanoff, whose great uncle was Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, before he was murdered by the Bolsheviks.
She’s mowing her own lawn and swearing like a trooper, before explaining that she’s running tours of her stately home for £14 a head to raise costs of upkeep.
A plaque reads: “It’s not easy being the Princess.”
Currently single, she’s hunting down her ideal man – ‘a trained killer’ no less…
We also meet her cousin, Lord Ivar Mountbatten and his husband James. Ivar, whose father is a first cousin to Prince Charles, is the first royal to have a same-sex marriage.
They also need to earn a crust to pay the £100,000 a year costs of running their home, which features an ornamental lake, gothic chapel and deer park. The couple decide to gamble their reputation, and that of Michelin-starred chef Jean-Christophe Novelli, by hosting the first pop-up restaurant at their stately home of Bridwell, with tickets costing £165. Elsewhere in this amusing insight, Lord and Lady Fitzalan-Howard are hoping to help fund the exorbitant running costs of their 126-room home, the imposing Carlton Towers. They plan to turn part of their 3,000acre estate into a vineyard. But can their first bottle of sparkling wine pop the market?