Book description
The origins of the non-royal dukes in the British peerage divide
nicely into Tudor looters, Royal bastards, opportunist generals,
territorial, metropolitan or Scottish magnates. Lloyd George said that
a duke, fully equipped, cost more than a dreadnought to maintain and
with their palaces, possessions and retinues, they are nearly all
splendid. Some of them are, of course, now poor; some of them have
great wealth; some of them hit every headline and others are obscure.
But within each duchy, Brian Masters tells the story of quaint
grandees determined to survive.
The Dukes is an essential guide that provides vital
biographical information and explores the history of the dukes in
unprecedented depth. This revised edition includes new information
which was not available on first publication, and brings up to date
the accounts of families whose titles have passed to a subsequent
generation in the intervening years.
Brian Masters has written on a wide range of subjects, from dukes to
gorillas to murderers. His account of the addictive killer Dennis
Nilsen,
Killing for Company
, won the Gold Dagger Award in 1985, and he followed this with studies
of Jeffrey Dahmer and Rosemary West. In between, there were biographies
of John Aspinall, Georgina Duchess of Devonshire, Marie Corelli, and E.
F. Benson, as well as a book on India and a celebration of
Great Hostesses
(such as Cunard and Colefax). His book on moral philosophy was entitled
The Evil That Men Do.
He also published his own memoirs,
Getting Personal,
in 2002.
