Overview

The House of Drogo Montagu is the family name of the Dukes and Earls of Manchester who served the British monarchy for five centuries. But by 1927, when Alexander, the eldest son of the 9th Duke, married an enterprising young Australian woman named Nell Stead, the family was on its knees financially. Faced with war and a legacy of excess and indulgence, 'Mandy' and Nell tried to rescue the family's fortunes and revive a dying estate that included Kimbolton Castle, the home of Catherine of Aragon in her final years. This compulsive account of extravagance and eccentricity shows how one house crumbled through four generations.

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9781838959579

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Reviews

The Montagu story provides enough diverting specificities - bankruptcy, gambling dens and colonial exile - to make this a dramatic and pathos-inducing read * New Statesman * Ably demonstrates how rapidly a grand inheritance can be eroded by poor decisions but sketches in the historical challenges such estates faced too * Telegraph * My jaw kept dropping as I devoured Robert Wainwright's wonderfully racy biography, full of comedy and tragedy and populated by some of the most dissolute and eccentric aristocrats of the 20th century -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Daily Mail, on ENID * As social history Sheila Chisholm's life is fascinating... it's undeniably enjoyable to read of all that glitter and gold -- Selina Hastings * Daily Mail, on SHEILA * Jolly gossipy reading, easily digested * The Telegraph, on NELLIE * [A] lively chronicle...paints a memorable picture of how post-war British aristocrats had to adapt or die -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Daily Mail *

Author Information

Robert Wainwright has worked as a journalist for over 30 years and is the author of fourteen books, including Enid, Sheila and The Maverick Mountaineer, which won The Times Biography of the Year prize at the British Sports Book Awards in 2017. He lives in London.

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