Writer on the aristocracy + old money; author of HEIRS AND GRACES, a history of the modern aristocracy, out now! Views my own, yours for £. [email protected]
Lincs/London
Joined April 2009
- Tweets27.4K
- Following893
- Followers3.2K
- Likes2.3K
Pinned Tweet
‘This is a marvellous book’
Heirs and Graces is reviewed in today’s Times and I am feeling rather emotional, again. Thank you @AlwynTurner
thetimes.com/article/68f2408…
The Telegraph’s Sunday interview today, by me – one of the most interesting and moving stories I’ve written for ages:
Viscount Long: ‘People are shocked that a lord could be a thalidomide survivor’ telegraph.co.uk/gift/f86ed26…
Very sorry to read that Jonathan Moyne has died, aged 96. I interviewed hundreds of peers for my book but my day with him, staring into what to me seemed like his mother Diana Mosley's eyes, talking about Nazis, anti-Semitism and Rhodesia was one of the best of my working life
For years I was curious about the house that lurked in the background of the Great British Bake Off, Welford Park. This year I wrote to the owners, the Puxleys, and they kindly agreed to be in Great Estates – and it's out now!
telegraph.co.uk/gift/647cb21…
Sticking to my strategy of always (not never) reading the comments below my work, just in case it gives me a laugh, and today it has paid off
![A screenshot of a comment below an article I wrote for the Telegraph interviewing the son of a baronet which reads: 'While the house is attractive it is disappointing nonetheless to see Eleanor scrapping [sic] the barrel as it were by profiling a Baronet. There are still around 800 hereditary peers in our land (counting the second divison from Ireland) and I would have thought that there would have been enough material there amongst their lordships for Eleanor to write about. Come on Eleanor – let's get back to the real aristocracy!'](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HUgxEtwWcAA9OqG.jpg?name=orig)
ALT A screenshot of a comment below an article I wrote for the Telegraph interviewing the son of a baronet which reads: 'While the house is attractive it is disappointing nonetheless to see Eleanor scrapping [sic] the barrel as it were by profiling a Baronet. There are still around 800 hereditary peers in our land (counting the second divison from Ireland) and I would have thought that there would have been enough material there amongst their lordships for Eleanor to write about. Come on Eleanor – let's get back to the real aristocracy!'
1
4
187
For this week's Great Estates I went to Hodsock Priory where the cricket-playing future baronet George Buchanan told me that Rachel Reeves' 2024 Budget will likely force the sale of the estate. He was very pragmatic about it – a different view on IHT
telegraph.co.uk/gift/a438342…
'You see the Green Party saying things like "the rich are hoarding money". But who is actually hoarding money?'
For this week's Great Estates I went to Skipton to see Roger Tempest on the Broughton estate, which has been in his family since 1097
telegraph.co.uk/gift/a917219…
'We are deeply sorry for what took place. People often ask, ‘you must have known...’ – No!'
For this week's Great Estates I went to Ampleforth to interview the abbot, Dom Robert Igo – about IICSA, monastery life and the cost of abbey living. It was a lot.
telegraph.co.uk/gift/37cdadf…
Catholics, a query: is it reasonable to say that Ampleforth is the most famous Benedictine abbey in the country?
2
2
647
'We need to take more risk. The UK has a lower GDP per capita than Louisiana. Why? Because the US takes more risk'
This week's Great Estates is at Cornbury with the insurance magnate David Howden! On new money, snobs, the City, Ascot and his horse trials
telegraph.co.uk/gift/f81d34c…
Lord Kimble Montagu didn't meet his father, the Duke of Manchester, until he was 21 – and he's never spoken about it before. This week's Great Estates is on the old Manchester pile, Kimbolton Castle, now a school, ft bankrupt dukes and Catherine of Aragon
telegraph.co.uk/gift/14973bf…
‘I don’t know what they teach them there but Etonians are always right’
I went to Holkham to see the inimitable @jake_fiennes: on the worst harvest in 30 years, wildfires, the phrase ‘the brother of…’, the king, and exactly how much rain we now need ASAP
telegraph.co.uk/gift/af7c0fc…
This week's Great Estates is on Revesby, Lincolnshire where I learnt how to herd deer, went stoat spotting and almost fell into the reservoir! A wonderful day had all by – with a young, clear-eyed custodian at its helm
telegraph.co.uk/gift/2d2198f…
This week's Great Estates is on the outrageously beautiful Broughton Castle where I had a gorgeous day with Lord Saye and Sele – or rather, Martin Fiennes as he prefers to be known. On new money, old money and why being posh doesn't cut it in the big house
telegraph.co.uk/gift/3a00d20…
Huh, so David Ross has a peerage at last. He's changed his tune. This here from my 2021 interview with him where he was brusque, if not rude – and his PR told me not to mention the fact that we were meeting behind a big black door with '10' on the front
telegraph.co.uk/art/artists/…
!["There is an EdStone in my garden." The original? "You'd have to go and look at it," he says. Where does the motivation for political donation come from? "Political donations are not philanthropic in [the same] sense." There is a pause while he taps a paperclip on the table. Would he like a peerage? "No."](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HNXF4gCWkAA6g-l.png?name=orig)
ALT "There is an EdStone in my garden." The original? "You'd have to go and look at it," he says. Where does the motivation for political donation come from? "Political donations are not philanthropic in [the same] sense." There is a pause while he taps a paperclip on the table. Would he like a peerage? "No."
3
326
I am too tired and weary to fully articulate what a dumb own goal this is, truly. Not for the first time, I miss Cameron
conservativehome.com/2026/07…
1
188
Slightly inevitably I wrote about George Cottrell, Nigel Farage and the aristocracy for the Spectator
spectator.com/article/the-ar…
This week's Great Estates is on BADMINTON and the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort – my third ducal couple of the years. Just excellent. They were FAB. Do read!
2
229
This week's Great Estates is a biiiiig one: it's Badminton and my third duke of 2026, the Duke of Beaufort. I've been trying to get him to give me an interview since 2018 and it's finally happened! It was a pleasure; I really do love my job very much
telegraph.co.uk/gift/35a37eb…
It was SO lovely to be mentioned on last week's @Countrylifemag highlights pod! – 'When it comes to knowing what there is to know about the British aristocracy, there is no one better working in the business than Eleanor Doughty'
My ep from March here!
countrylife.co.uk/podcast/th…
7
282