- Hardcover: 264 pages
- Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books Ltd; First Edition edition (2 Mar 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1843171546
- ISBN-13: 978-1843171546
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.8 x 3.4 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 620,220 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
An entertaining and informative study of thirteen of Britain's great stately homes and the scandals, predominately sexual, which the owners and their families have been involved in from the sixteenth century to the present day. It details some of the most notorious scandals to have engulfed the British royal family and aristocracy and captures not only the events and their era, but also the essence of some of the world's greatest and most beautiful private dwellings. From the Hampton Court of Henry VIII to the modern scandals that saw the present Lord Brocket jailed, "Stately Passions" gives centre stage to the British stately homes that have played witness to centuries of aristocratic indiscretion. Whether examining the 'Profumo Affair', the call-girl scandal at Cliveden, the home of Viscount Astor, that eventually brought down a government, or the affairs of the lesbian Vita Sackville-West and her bisexual husband, Harold Nicolson, at Sissinghurst Castle; or considering the goings-on at Fort Belvedere, the Surrey bolthole where the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, conducted his affair with the American divorcee Wallis Simpson that eventually led to his abdication, "Stately Passions" provides a fascinating insight into the lives, loves - and morals, dubious though they may be - of some notorious denizens of the aristocratic world.
About the Author
Jamie Douglas-Home is a freelance journalist and author. He is a son of the late playwright (the Hon.) William Douglas-Home, and the nephew of the late Tory politician and former Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home.
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4.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Whispers of scandal, 5 Feb 2008
By Beverley Strong - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Stately Passions: The Scandals of Britain's Great Houses (Hardcover)
This is a fascinating account of thirteen stately homes and the scandals which occurred in them. The book includes the homes of royalty and the aristocracy, starting with Balmoral, the Scottish home of the present day Queen Elizabeth 11, and is the site upon which, in 1128, the Scottish King David proposed the building of an Abbey. The building was added to, remodelled, burned down, attacked by various armies and was the site of murders, and scandals, as were the other sites listed in this book. The author has added wonderfully entertaining snippets of the goings on in all of these premises, right up to and including the 20th century, which makes this book a most interesting read for admirers of these wonderful buildings and the people who inhabited them, throughout the centuries.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well Written Scandal Sheet, 7 Sep 2008
By Pauline E. Henderson "Readaholic" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Stately Passions: The Scandals of Britain's Great Houses (Hardcover)
This book is very well written and presents the information in an entertaining but not trashy manner--the author seems to have done research and not just rehashed various news accounts. The book relates a mixture of scandals from different eras that occur at the same houses--it is amazing how some houses seem to attract dubious behavior. I do not give it 5 stars because some of the stories have been throughly covered in other history books--the wives of Henry VIII for example and Mary Queen of Scots. However, overall an entertaining read.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining narrative of the underside of high society, 13 Jan 2012
By Michael K. Smith - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Stately Passions: The Scandals of Britain's Great Houses (Hardcover)
While writing this book, the author says, "the irresponsibility and lack of accountability shown, over the centuries, by the British royal family and aristocracy made me gulp in amazement with increasing and worrying frequency." Have these people no regard for the country and its inhabitants? Have they never heard of the French Revolution? This is a largely modern, middle-class attitude. Previous generations, especially before the 19th century, took a more pragmatic, "Them and Us" view of what the upper classes got up to and generally shrugged it off. And until very recently, the aristocracy was a relatively closed and protected subject, even where the press was concerned. The 7th Earl Beauchamp during the early part of the 20th century, for instance, held many political posts and received numerous honors (including the Garter). And, though well-married and with several children, he was also an active homosexual and everyone at the country house parties knew it -- but the public did not. Not until his brother-in-law, the viciously reactionary 2nd Duke of Westminster ("Bend d'Or"), outed him and forced him into unhappy exile in Venice, did his proclivities become general knowledge. Douglas-Home recounts a dozen stories like that one, from Victoria's possible relationship with John Brown (old news and hardly scandalous by today's standards) to the affairs and exploits of Vita Sackville-West, tying each to the family's country home at which much of the action took place. His style is immensely readable and the narrative is informative -- entertaining but not tabloid-ish -- though he doesn't have much to say about the wider implications of aristocratic misbehavior, his wide-eyed protestations in the Introduction notwithstanding. And while the author is a journalist, not an historian, he's also the nephew of the former prime minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, so one must suppose he knows something about his subject from the inside.
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