FALL OF THE HOUSE OF MONTAGU

"The Montagu story provides enough diverting specificities - bankruptcy, gambling dens and colonial exile - to make this a dramatic and pathos-inducing read." - New Statesman. Here is a scandal drenched account of the fall of one of England's great aristocratic dynasties. 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 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. It is wonderfully jolly and gossipy social history which demonstrates how rapidly a grand inheritance can be eroded by poor decisions but sketches in the historical challenges such estates faced too. "[A] lively chronicle...paints a memorable picture of how post-war British aristocrats had to adapt or die." - Ysenda Maxtone Graham. 336 pages, fairly large print, 16 pages of colour and archive photos.