Splendour & Squalor: The Disgrace and Disintegration of Three Aristocratic Dynasties First Edition
Author(s): Marcus Scriven (Author)
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Publication Date: 1 Dec. 2009
Edition: First Edition
Language: English
Print length: 397 pages
ISBN-10: 9781843541240
ISBN-13: 1843541246
Book Description
They were the black sheep of aristocracy and this is their story. They kept monkeys in West End hotels, and rent-boys in Deauville and Kensington; they used firearms with convincing disregard for their own and others’ safety, and drove their Rollses and Bentleys with seemingly suicidal intent. They acquired yachts and helicopters as they shipped the family silver to California and disposed of Old Masters at auction; married frequently and unsatisfactorily, humiliating their wives and withholding from them family secrets of schizophrenia and insanity; sought consolation in ferocious expenditure, alcohol and narcotics, and experimented with burglary, shop-lifting, vagrancy and fraud whilst shrugging off the advice of sane relations. In Splendour & Squalor Marcus Scriven tells the riveting and cautionary tales of Edward Fitzgerald, 7th Duke of Leinster, who died by his own hand having forfeited a £400 million inheritance; Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol, playboy, jewel thief, fantasist and fraudster; Angus Montagu, 12th Duke of Manchester, a four-times-married, twenty-stone, one-time inmate of a Federal Correctional Institution who died soon after being crane-lifted out of his two-bedroom flat in Bedford; and of John Hervey – ‘John Bristol’ – 7th Marquess of Bristol, who turned his estate into ‘an adult Disney’, equipped with helicopters and heroin….and handcuffs
Editorial Reviews
Review
“A highly entertaining tale of decadence and debauchery.” –Tatler
Scriven…treads a fine line between elegy and disapproval. By pitching his tone right, and providing plenty of juicy details, he has produced a work of wide appeal. –Observer
A witty, gossipy and profoundly researched portrait of four particularly dysfunctional 20th century aristocrats. –The Sunday Times The Sunday Times
Salutary reading for these cash-strapped times. –Independent
Compelling…so riveting that it is hard to put down. –Scotsman
Wickedly entertaining. –Yorkshire Post
“Witty, gossipy and profoundly researched” –The Sunday Times
“Scriven…treads a fine line between elegy and disapproval. By pitching his tone right, and providing plenty of juicy details, he has produced a work of wide appeal.” –Observer Observer
“Salutary reading for these cash-strapped times.” –Independent
“Compelling…so riveting that it is hard to put down.” — Scotsman
“Wickedly entertaining.” –Yorkshire Post
‘Scriven guides us through each catalogue of errors with relish and wit.’ –Daily Telegraph
About the Author
Marcus Scriven read history at Oxford before becoming a journalist, initially at the Sunday Telegraph, then at the Evening Standard. He is a leading contributor to Channel 4’s documentary on Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol, which broadcast in spring 2009. Splendour & Squalor is his first book.
Wow! eBook
