| Aristocrats
Hutchinson, 1983.
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 lue
blood and noble birth have always captured the
imagination. This book traces the modern history
of the aristocracy through the six great noble
families who formed the subject of Robert's
BBC television series of the same name:
- Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster,
landlord of Mayfair and Belgravia and the
wealthiest man in Britain.
- Dona Victoria Eugenia, Duchess of Medinaceli,
the most titled woman in the world and the
owner of over ninety castles in Spain.
- Johannes von Thurn und Taxis, the German
prince whose family started off as postmen
and whose Bavarian home contains more rooms
that Buckingham Palace.
- The noble house of Frescobaldi, exiled,
executed and twice bankrupted, but still living
in style after 800 years in Florence at the
same address.
- Jean Louis, Marquis de Ganay, compelled
by France's wealth tax to open his chateau
to the public, and carefully following the
Duke of Bedford's advice: 'Provide good loos
- and plenty of them.'
- Prince Franz Josef II of Liechtenstein,
who lost twenty-two castles to the Red Army
in 1945, but who has since helped his pocket-sized
Principality to Europe's highest per capita
income, on the basis of postage stamps, false
teeth and tax evasion.
What is the secret of such enduring power
and wealth? Can it survive? And what is that
lingering magic that can still persuade people
to grant reverence to an ancient title?
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