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“He lives like a duke”... This phrase entered the English language, making you mentally see yachts, country estates, crowds of faithful servants - and in general a luxurious life. People still equate the aristocratic title with the concept of "born in a shirt" or, literally, "born with a silver spoon in his mouth", when a person always lives in clover, knows no worries and has no responsibilities. Not life, but a solid holiday with family jewels, hunting seasons and champagne.
I often wonder if the thousands of visitors who come to Woburn Abbey every year don't think that's the kind of life I've led. They see a beautiful building that has belonged to the Russell family for more than four centuries, and quite logically decide that it has always been a part of my existence. But I first saw him as a teenager - and then I learned that the head of our family is considered the Duke of Bedford. I was kept out of school and other children, and then practically left to fend for myself in a student boarding school in Bloomsbury, assigned me an annual allowance of ninety-eight pounds. During this time, my parents' marriage fell apart. My father disinherited me when I decided to marry the woman I loved. I worked as a real estate agent, journalist, and clerk for an export firm until, convinced that I couldn't get along with my father, I went into exile in South Africa to become a gardener.
And then the father was found shot dead. I became the head of a family whose fortune was on the verge of extinction...