From Edwardian idyll to meetings with Nehru: the life of Lady Ursula D’Asbo

This is the Real Thing, an evocative account of English upper-class life throughout the 20th century. It begins amidst the Edwardian feudal splendours of Belvoir Castle, where Ursula d’Abo spent much of her childhood with her beloved grandfather ‘Appi’. At the coronation of George VI she was a maid of honour to the Queen. During the second world war she worked with 2,000 women making bullets. Postwar life was hardly less varied and amazing, with an other-worldly stay in princely India, and meetings with Nehru. Married life at West Wratting Park and Kensington Square, two beautiful Georgian houses she restored, was followed in her widowhood by five years with Paul Getty at Sutton Place.

The most moving part, however, is her childhood and closeness to her father John, 9th Duke of Rutland. The inquisitive child’s-eye view is perfect. Not questioning but taking in everything with equanimity, from orchids and gold plate in the dining room to helping the whiskery pig-man feed swill to his squealing piglets.