Chatsworth House (featured on television)
Holker Hall, the duke's "country estate".
Bolton Abbey
Lismore Castle, where his son lives in Ireland.
They own them. To avoid newly-invented "duty taxes" and inheritance taxes, the ducal Cavendish family sold these estates:
Hardwick Hall, where a duke's widow was still allowed to reside until her death in 1960.
Burlington House, in London.
Chiswick House
Compton Place
Londesborough Hall
The elderly duke represented himself as the Queen does: just keeping up tradition, busy with responsibilities, sharing their historic beauty with the public, and toddling along. Not so.
In reality, they managed a great coup. With consideration for modern times, the nobility still gets to live like their ancestors did.
At the turn-of-the-last-century, American financiers schemed a way to create "a wall" (or barrier or seal) around themselves. Only they would know the loopholes to sneak through. The scheme would also financially ruin competitors and would forever keep down any "new money" individuals/entities. "King-pin" financier, Morgan, concocted an Income Tax, and he quarantined a group of bankers on a place called Devil's Island until they brought it to life. Then, he pushed it through our federal government--which was empty just before Christmas vacation--essentially without the public's approval. Ironically, America was founded against "Taxation Without Representation"... but hypocrisy is one of America's fundamentals.
The new taxes--in conjunction with Financial Panics (orchestrated by powerful men), wiped out the fortunes of many wealthy families. Around the world, the scheme was copied and caused the same results. The same "kingpin" directed federal anti-trust legislation against his competitors to weaken them. Sure, he allowed a "token attack" on one of his lesser companies--and his allies' assets never suffered. Less fortunate families, ones whose "time had passed", or ones who didn't support the new "world leaders" were destroyed. If that didn't work, two World Wars ensued (practically duplicates of each other), and each war put an end to more and more monarchies/aristocracies:
1910 - Emperor Sunjong of Korea abdicated.
1910 - King Manuel II of Portugal was deposed.
1911 - Sultan Sayyid of Zanzibar abdicated.
1912 - Emperor Puyi of China abdicated.
1912 - Sultan Abdelhafid of Morocco abdicated.
1914 - Prince William of Albania fled/was deposed.
1916 - Emperor Iyasu V. was deposed.
1917 - Grand Duke Nicholas II of Finland abdicated--also called:
1917 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated before being killed.
1918 - Emperor-King Charles of Austria/Hungary was deposed.
1918 - Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria abdicated.
1918 - Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany abdicated.
1918 - King Mindaugas II of Lithuania was deposed.
1918 - King Nicholas I of Montenegro was deposed.
1922 - Sultan Mehmed VI of Turkey was deposed after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
1924 - King George II of Greece was deposed.
1925 - Sheikh Khaz'al of Persia was deposed.
1929 - King Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan abdicated.
1931 - King Alfonso of Spain was deposed (the monarchy was restored in 1975).
1941 - Shah Reza of Iran abdicated.
1943 - King Victor of Italy abdicated.
1943 - King Tomislav II of Croatia abdicated.
1943 - King Julius of Macedonia was deposed.
1944 - Regent Frasheri of Albania was deposed.
1944 - King Christian of Iceland was deposed.
1945 - Emperor Bao of Vietnam abdicated.
1945 - King Peter II of Yugoslavia was deposed.
1947 - King Michael I of Romania abdicated.
1948 - Prince Osman of Hyderabad wad deposed.
1948 - King George VI of England ceased being Emperor of India.
Where did all their fortunes go? They were pillaged--just like the Egyptians or Incas--into the hands of the new "money managers".
Can all of that be premeditated? An answer might linger in a quote from a BBC mini-series called "Dancing on the Edge". In 1932, a wealthy but guilt-ridden wife of a financier divulges events that happened at her husband's Freemasons Temple in London. "My husband is a Mason, just like members of the government, civil service, and all sorts of rich people. A very powerful octopus with arms stretching all over. These people are not easily impressed. But just before the Great Financial Crash, a new member called Mr. Luke did the most extraordinary thing. He prophesied the Crash, and not just that; he was right about every firm that 'went under' and which ones managed to survive! He advised others what to do with their stocks. This wizard made money when everybody else was ruined. After a time--because Mr. Luke was a funny little man and his manners were very abrupt--they started referring to him as The Complete Fluke. During the Great Depression, those who had lost their fortunes sold some of their assets, and life was good again because they were still quite rich. They began to ignore Mr. Luke and wondered how he joined their Lodge. One day, Mr. Luke said that he joined another lodge--one much nicer. Half the lodge followed him. During the War, due to the airship bombing, rich families built luxury homes in catacombs under London. That is where the new temple exists. There, Mr. Luke predicted, 'Soon, millions will die... old horrors repeated. Whole cities will be destroyed. But because we know what will happen, we can take advantage of what will follow.'"
It's prefaced by the wife's wealthy friend, who said, "It has something to do with the world of my parents, and their friends, and their country house parties, and all the things they hate... They hate Niggers, they hate Jews, they hate the Irish, everything American, they hate actors and gypsies, they hate homosexuals--even though some of them are queer themselves! So many hates, and they find new ones all the time. The funny thing is, they spend an awful amount of time in their beautiful houses, amidst wonderful gardens... but they never look at what they've got. They move around lovely properties with so much loathing going through them."
The second half of the TV program about the Dukes of Devonshire shocked me. The duke's ancestry was the first in England to "marry an American heiress for her money". You know, the same plot as "Downton Abbey"'s fictitious earl marrying Cora for her money, to save his estate. But it happened plenty of times throughout turn-of-the-century history. I never knew it was the Cavendish family that began the trend.
They were also one of the first families to have a "fairytale romance". Everyone thinks of American actress, Grace Kelly, marrying the Prince of Monaco. Twenty years before Grace Kelly, the 9th Duke's second son, Charles, married Adele Astaire... the sister of famous American tap-dancer / film star, Fred Astaire!
In the 1920s, Adele was more popular than her brother; they were dance partners on Broadway and in London. Following her back to NYC, Charles wooed her (while working for JPMorgan & Co.).
In 1932, Adele got married, moved into the castle in Ireland, and ended her career. The next year, her brother Fred seemed to end his relationship with her, returned to America, went to Hollywood, and began a long career--starring with Ginger Rogers in RKO movie musicals. (Having read/watched many Fred Astaire biographies, I've never heard him mention this!) Was he bribed with success to abandon her and stay away from his new in-laws? Or did he shine better without her as competition? (It might explain why so many of his early films involved him snubbing stuffy old-world monied people).
To put it mildly, the duke's family wasn't thrilled with their new member. They were probably aghast at the thought of having "theatre celebrity" American offspring. The couple had 3 children: a daughter in 1933 and twin sons in 1935... who all died after only a few hours. Well, that stopped any heirs from that marriage. Several years later, Charles died, without ailment, aged 38. Charles' will stipulated that if Adele remarried, the castle in Ireland would go to his nephew (the 11th Duke)... which is what happened. Adele returned to America... but oddly refused all offers to be in films (for fear of upsetting her brother). A strangely abrupt ending to a fantastic romance.
But, another ensued.
Several years after, the 10th Duke's firstborn son/heir fell in love with another famous American: the sister of future President JFK. The Kennedy father hated the idea as much as the duke did: religious and political contradictions. Not to be put asunder, the happy couple eloped and spontaneously married in 1944.
The only Kennedy to attend the service, Joe Jr. died suddenly, two months later, when his plane exploded. Quickly, the duke's son realized that the woman he married was not the type of person that she previously pretended to be. Faced with her spoiled temperament, tantrums, greed, and moodiness, their honeymoon was horrific. The young man eagerly left her to participate in World War Two. He "died in battle" in France, four months after his wedding. His troops reported that he dressed in easily-noticeable outfits and almost seemed to want to be killed. Per his family's instructions, he was buried where he fell. His widow, Kathleen Kennedy (now Lady Cavendish), stayed in England. The ducal family shunned her. Seeking another opportunity, she expressed an attraction to the 8th Earl of Fitzwilliam, who was married. She insisted that he should divorce his wife and marry her. Her family protested again, threatening to disown her. Determined, she took the earl aboard a private plane to see her father, who was in Paris. Mr. Kennedy disallowed their matrimony because of the repercussions and possible fallout that might overshadow his son--whom he maneuvered to become a US President. Ungrateful for decades of his extraordinary favoritism, his daughter defied him. She and the earl never saw him again. After their plane left Paris, the young couple died in its mysterious crash.
[If I didn't know better, I'd say it sounded like the doings of corrupt mogul, Li Hung-Chang! He was notorious for getting rid of disliked competitors/relatives to protect his power in China's last dynasty.]
Two years later, the 10th Duke died. That caused his heirs to pay 80% death duties on the value of the entire estate. Selling rare books, priceless artwork, and land saved them.
So, if the Dukedom of Devonshire survived since the 1600s, as one of Great Britain's most powerful, it has strategically been "ahead of the curve". Through new battlefronts, technologies, allies, boundaries, financial stratagems, and adversities, the Earls-then-Dukes know how to come out on top. Ergo, I don't believe the current duke is an old man puttering in his garden. It's similar to how American families like Rockefeller and Vanderbilt realized that they didn't need to pay year-round for "seasonal homes". So, they bequeathed their estates to the government. Taxpayer money maintains the estates and still allows the families to use them for certain holidays.
Not a bad arrangment.
But, certainly not "just like everybody else".
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