Duchess champions the women behind Britain’s stately homes
PERIOD dramas have made Britain’s stately homes famous the world over, along with the dukes, lords and earls who, from inside these grand buildings, pulled the great levers of state and empire.
But less well known are the women who made sure these famous country piles did not crumble into dust with the passing years.
Now the holder of one of the country’s oldest female titles has called for greater recognition of female aristocrats’ efforts to preserve castles, palaces and manor houses.
As Emma Manners, Duchess of Rutland, likes to say, “behind every great man” stood a woman making sure their homes continued to thrive and retain their stately splendour.
“Our role has not really been recognised on the domestic front. It’s time for us to be recognised,” she says.
“It’s starting to happen. There’s an awakening to the story of female domestic roles in general. We’ve undervalued that role for too long.” For her that role has meant ensuring the economic survival of Belvoir Castle and the 1,600 acre Rutland estate by developing its retail and commercial opportunities, such as shooting parties, wedding hire, farm and provision shops, restaurants and cafes.
She is now busy preparing for one of the highlights of the year at Belvoir – a Regency-themed Christmas spectacular. Designed by Charlotte Lloyd Webber, the sumptuously decorated rooms and light trail open next month with
more than a nod to the Netflix costume romp Bridgerton.
But her role has also meant staying true to the artistic vision of her predecessors by restoring their magnificent castle home to its former splendour.
Chief among the Duchess’s achievements has been her decade-long project to complete Capability Brown’s unfinished design for the castle’s gardens and grounds. This began when she found his original drawings and resolved to finish the job he’d been unable to before his death in 1783.
“I’m very bad at detail. I’m a big picture person and when we found his
plans in 2005 it was a perfect opportunity for me,” she said.
The daughter of a Welsh farmer, Emma Watkins was not born into the landed gentry. But after meeting David Manners, 11th Duke of Rutland, at a London dinner party she – like many of her titled counterparts – assumed the mantle of responsibility for the upkeep of their estate.
“When I married David at 29 we lived in a converted stable block and this beast dominated the landscape, casting a shadow over us,” she says, waving her hand in the direction of the castle ramparts which dominate the Leicestershire and Lincolnshire landscape for miles.
“I didn’t understand the world of heritage. I looked at it in awe. But the great thing about having a woman at the helm is that each woman brings her particular strength to the house, to the tapestry of that home,” she says.
‘Our role has not really been recognised on the domestic front. It’s time for us to be recognised’