My rage that we’ve been booted out of Brideshead ... by my brother-in-law

EXCLUSIVE: The ousted chatelaine of Castle Howard breaks her silence on the coup that has torn her family from its iconic ancestral home

SHE had been the chatelaine of one of Britain’s grandest stately homes – until being unceremoniously ousted by her brother-in-law and his wife in a dramatic coup that stunned the aristocracy.

Now Rebecca Howard has spoken for the first time of her ‘shock and rage’ at being forced out of Castle Howard – the magnificent location for the classic TV series Brideshead Revisited – three years ago.

Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday’s You magazine, Mrs Howard, 51, said: ‘Whenever I drive past Castle Howard now, a shudder goes through me, as though someone were walking over my grave.

‘My husband Simon was born there, my children grew up there and I felt proud and privileged to be part of its history. We had so many happy times, but all those memories have been tarnished.’

Simon had been running the house for more than 30 years when his photographer brother Nicholas and his wife Victoria, the former chief executive of publisher Harper Collins, announced without warning that they wanted to take over, as The Mail on Sunday revealed in 2014.

At the time, Simon was battling throat cancer, for which he was successfully treated.

Simon stepped down as chief executive and chairman of the board that runs Castle Howard but hoped to be allowed to stay on in part of the house.

But Nicholas served him with an eviction notice just before Christmas 2015, sending fresh shockwaves through the 10,000-acre estate that has been home to ten generations of the Howard family.

Simon, 62, has also now broken his silence, saying: ‘Being told I was no longer in charge of Castle Howard was far more devastating that the diagnosis “you’ve got cancer.”

‘My whole raison d’etre was swept away in the course of a single conversation. It was appalling. When we told the household staff, a lot of them cried.’

Mrs Howard added: ‘I still feel shock and rage at the injustice done to Simon, not to me. It was like the end of the world for him.’

The couple now live happily with their 16-year-old twins Octavia and Merlin in Welham Hall, a rambling manor house ten miles from Castle Howard. Revealing that she had not spoken to her in-laws since their coup, Rebecca said: ‘My husband has shown such grace and dignity – too much in my opinion – and still speaks to his brother.

‘He made me promise not to get involved, but I am so upset on his behalf and that of our children. I’m not a Howard: my place is with my husband, wherever that may be. But Simon belongs at Castle Howard and it hurts me to see him so crushed.’

As to what lies behind the eviction, Rebecca hinted that ‘a truth will come out’, if her ‘explosive’ dairies are ever published. She said: ‘Nick’s wife Viccy joined the board, and not long after Simon was simply told he would no longer be chairman and managing director; take from that what you will.’

But Rebecca’s new life after downsizing to the manor house is not without its compensations.

She said that sharing Castle Howard with the public meant ‘we had everything we needed apart from privacy’, and added: ‘I’d grown weary of entertaining 60 people to dinner. Ten or 12 for lunch is quite enough.

‘Another positive is that I don’t need to bring my handbag down to dinner because I can fetch anything I need by just popping upstairs.’

Simon has another reason for liking his new home, saying: ‘I can walk round stark naked if I want and no one can see me.’