Life in a castle isn't always a fairytale, as the Duchess of
Rutland vividly illustrates in her fascinating, revealing and funny
autobiography. When Emma Watkins, the pony-mad daughter of a Welsh
farmer, imagined her future, she imagined following in her mother's
footsteps to marry a farmer of her own. But then she fell in love
with David Manners, having no idea that he was heir to one of the
most senior hereditary titles in the land. When David succeeded his
father, Emma found herself becoming the chatelaine of Belvoir
Castle, ancestral home of the Dukes of Rutland. She had to cope
with five boisterous children while faced with a vast estate in
desperate need of modernisation and staff who wanted nothing to
change - it was a daunting responsibility. Yet with sound advice
from the doyenne of duchesses, Duchess 'Debo' of Devonshire, she
met each challenge with optimism and gusto, including scaling the
castle roof in a storm to unclog a flooding gutter; being caught in
her nightdress by mesmerised Texan tourists and disguising herself
as a cleaner to watch filming of The Crown. She even took on the
castle ghosts . . . At times the problems she faced seemed
insoluble yet, with her unstoppable energy and talent for thinking
on the hoof, she won through, inspired by the vision and passion of
those Rutland duchesses in whose footsteps she trod, and indeed the
redoubtable and resourceful women who forged her way, whose homes
were not castles but remote farmhouses in the Radnorshire Hills.
Vividly written and bursting with insights, The Accidental Duchess
will appeal to everyone who has visited a stately home and wondered
what it would be like to one day find yourself not only living
there, but in charge of its future.
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