With origins in the powerful earldoms of the Saxon period, the aristocracy is woven into the fabric of England. Going from Tudor and Stuart courtiers to Georgian and Victorian magnates, the noble families more recently suffered a decline before their rise from the ashes as guardians of heritage. In Dynasties, Patrick Coleman provides a history of sixteen noble families, including the Wellesleys of Stratfield Saye, the Cavendishes of Chatsworth, the Churchills of Blenheim Palace, the Grosvenors of Eaton Hall, the Spencers of Althorp, and the Herberts of Highclere Castle. These six alone are associated with some of the greatest names and most important events in English history: Waterloo, Churchill, the Second World War – and Downton Abbey.

Beyond the political and constitutional context, Dynasties considers the romances, tragedies and criminal behaviour of these families; it highlights the poets, politicians, architects and artists produced by the ‘great families’, not to mention the generals. Burke’s Peerage this is not!