Anyone watching / watched “A very British scandal”?

Anniebach

Yes Doodledog but not their private conversations and most of the series was just that.

I know, but all series' like this are the same. The private conversations are dramatic devices to explain what is going on 'offstage', in a 'Did you hear that the king has executed the Queen? People are saying she was a witch' sort of way.

History is made up of very few 'facts'. Mostly there are letters, diaries, and yes, newspaper reports, to flesh out the official records.

The Duchess did write an autobiography www.amazon.co.uk/Forget-Not-Margaret-Duchess-Argyll/dp/0491018258?tag=gransnetforum-21

No surprise

Anniebach

No surprise

No surprise that she wrote her autobiography?

nadateturbe

I have never heard of William's affair. I'm shocked. Is there proof I wonder.

No there isn't. But people will insist on perpetuating the rumour with no regard for his wife and children. It is very unfair.

trisher

The Duchess did write an autobiography ]]

Ah, but do we trust her anyway? She’s often lied in the past apparently and leopards don’t change their spots. In my humble.

Iam ?

I’m interested to read up about Jeanne Campbell. The eldest child who had that birthday that Margaret pointed out to her mother ‘that I paid for all this’.

Not good for one’s self esteem I dare say, wondering whether people like you for yourself or just your money. Luckily I have plenty of friends and they know we just live off our pensions and that’s it! “Learn to ❤️ the life you have” I read once. Settle into it and take pleasures where you can. Good advice I think.
?

The only proof ! of an affair was it was learned of by something
written in America , William leaked lies to the media about Harry to take attention away from this alleged affair.

Add to this the posts saying Kate was very thin at the time of the alleged affair and William took out a court injunction.

Considering what the press did to his parents can he be blamed
from taking out the injunction.

It has been reported the claims of the alleged affair came from
Megan supporters.

Seems loss of weight after having a baby is proof for some

GranJan60

Hearing the speech by “Maureen” in last episode after funeral I couldn’t help thinking how little some attitudes have changed in half a decade.

Exactly this GranJan! It seems in those days the “aristocracy” were very keen on keeping any appalling behaviour private. Now, with social media & the gadgets we have available, they can't do that anymore so have become used to their bad behaviour becoming public knowledge and they just brazen it out.
I wonder how the children of those people could ever grow up feeling loved or valued, never mind knowing what morals and integrity mean.

Well!
What a woman!
Backbone of steel.
Not only did she play the piano in public without any fanfare she apparently coped with an affair between her husband and a close friend.
Should it be true I doubt if we will see Katherine in her sitting room wearing too much black eyeliner and too short a skirt telling all to the nation and sod the effect on the children.
I admire her even more.

Amazing isn’t she eazybee.

Harry protects his wife so much because of the suffering his mother endured but William hurts his wife regardless of all
he was witness to. He described it as her paranoia caused by
the media

Too short a skirt

I think it's wrong to discuss an affair for which there is no proof.

Back to the duke/duchess -the fact that you barely saw any of their children confirms there wasn’t much hands on parenting amongst these so called aristocracy. It’s not as if any of them had an actual job is it?

Running the Estate, don't ya know?

eazybee

Running the Estate, don't ya know?

Which employed a lot of people, both in the house, gardens and on the estate as well as providing housing for them.

the fact that you barely saw any of their children confirms there wasn’t much hands on parenting amongst these so called aristocracy

Ditto. There was the maternity nurse, the nursemaids, the nanny and the governess.

Jobs for the skilled, the locals and impoverished genteel middle class spinsters.

If you look at old censuses, not all were members of the aristocracy or Ag Labs. There was a vast swathe of skilled and unskilled people employed on the huge estates.

Looking back, the variety of jobs was very interesting.

Yes, I planned to become a parlour maid, based on the duties detailed in my grandmother's Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management.
"Open the door to visitors, show them into the drawing-room, bring up afternoon tea, a little light dusting, arrange the flowers for the dining room, assist the mistress to dress when required, make up the fire and look after the breakfast, tea and coffee china, wearing a fresh print dress and a cap and a white apron. No rough apron required."
How did we manage without one?

vegansrock

Back to the duke/duchess -the fact that you barely saw any of their children confirms there wasn’t much hands on parenting amongst these so called aristocracy. It’s not as if any of them had an actual job is it?

I know vegansrock!
I’ve just finished watching it. Children were definitely to be ‘seen (v occasionally) and not heard’. Not real parenting at all, in my opinion. I suppose children shunted off as boarders mixed with other like-minded families and what you don’t know you don’t miss. Perhaps.

I have just finished watching it .I thought it was rather boring.I watched all 3 episodes hoping it would improve but for me it didn't.

It wasn't just the aristocracy who hushed up scandals. it was common throughout society.

Many of those women who were forced to give their babies up for adoption in the years after WW2 (and before) were pressurised into it by their families because they didn't want anyone to know that a daughter of theirs had got pregnant out of marriage. The fathers in these families could be manual workers or professional workers, it didn't matter, families hid scandals of every kind.

Maureen's speech was very interesting. The aristocracy needed the plebs more than the plebs needed them. Without their admiration, awe and envy they would be revealed as pointless people with no achievements who were contributing absolutely nothing to society.

Anniebach

The only proof ! of an affair was it was learned of by something
written in America , William leaked lies to the media about Harry to take attention away from this alleged affair.

Add to this the posts saying Kate was very thin at the time of the alleged affair and William took out a court injunction.

Considering what the press did to his parents can he be blamed
from taking out the injunction.

It has been reported the claims of the alleged affair came from
Megan supporters.

Seems loss of weight after having a baby is proof for some

The rumour of an affair between Prince William and Rose Hanbury was started soon after Harry and Meghan’s wedding. It was discussed on Twitter and Giles Coren, who had recently spent a weekend socialising with Harry and Meghan at the opening of Soho House in Amsterdam, made the comment that everybody knew it was true. Recently Coren said on Twitter that he lied and that it wasn't true, he probably did this because it was stated in a book about the Princes, I think it was called Battle Of The Brothers. So the rumour is quite old but it surfaced again on Twitter soon after the popularity of the video of Catherine’s piano accompaniment to Tom Walker’s song, quite a coincidence.

It's a pretty vicious thing to do. Giles Coren must be a nasty piece of work.

Jane43 thank you, yes just a coincidence it started on Twitter
when Catherine was applauded for her concert in Westminster Abby.

Giles Coren is indeed a nasty piece of work. He recently mocked the death of an Irish journalist who upset him.

The picture of the'aristocracy' as described on this thread reads more like the product of reading too many Mills & Boone books.

I discovered a few years ago that someone I know was the Earl of somewhere or another. He is known as John Smith and has earned his own living as an accountant all his life. The family home and what was quite a small estate, have long gone. Yes, some people with titles have large estates, but they have to pay their way, and you have only to visit any big stately home, like Woburn or Chatsworth to see that these are major business enterprises and running them is a full time job.

Of course there are those who run estates badlyand some that do have enough money from other sources to live as has been portrayed on this thread. But one of the biggest landowner in this country is James Dyson, of floor cleaner fame.