Julie Montagu/American Viscountess/Mapperton

[verybighouseinthecountry]

She's not on TV so telly addicts board didn't seem apt. Does anyone else watch her/their YouTube channel? So many questions....her husband looks like Boris Johnson's younger brother, is the walking definition of a posho and very politely keeps mocking her. What did she see in him? What did he see in her? Where did they meet?
I think she's quite remarkable, she seems to do absolutely everything and he just seems so...posh....in a very unattractive way. Watched him today constantly insulting her and can't for the life of me see what she sees in him.
And yes, I'm very jealous that she lives in a country estate, but it's falling apart and he appears to have made this her problem to solve!

I think I read once that her husband was addicted to painkillers at one time so she really hasn't had it easy.

Yes he was in bed for years with an addiction and that's why she became a yoga teacher as they had zero income. The restoration of the 30 properties is her job, as is the upkeep of their place in Italy, as is animal management, and today he was telling her she was late in picking the apples in the orchard do she better round up some volunteers....no wonder she's so bloody thin, the poor woman doesn't get a minute.

If you watch Ladies of London you will see a glimpse into her earlier life (I think at the time she still had three children so it’s not at the start of their relationship). I watched it so long ago but my vaguest memories is that it follows the time period when she was teaching yoga and trying to get energy balls (like deliciously Ella) off the ground. Then she has to move to Mapperton and basically make it work with nothing.

I had one of her cookbooks and it was really good. Everything was vegan but never once used the word. The recipes were nice.

From Ladies of London I summised that American girls could somehow leapfrog the class divide differently to a British girl. So aristocratic men could marry an American but not a working or middle class girl very easily.
But I am not of the world, so I don’t know.

Haven't watched LoL, will look that up. She seems to be a fairly down to earth woman, I don't get the impression she was moving in upper echelons of American society beforehand. She has 2 DC from a previous relationship, and didn't know of his background until months into their relationship. Where/how did they meet? I can't see him frequenting the local Weatherspoons... I'd also love to know how his parents took it, and if her 2dc were welcomed into the family. Will they inherit? She always seems to want to give the impression the older DC are his.

I liked her in L of L.

She's a go getter and miles nicer than most of the British birds, particularly the ghastly one that ended up in Dubai. The Danish woman was also nice.

@verybighouseinthecountry no, you are right. I sort of remember she was from an ordinary town in America. Definitely not an old money American vibe. I do think she talks about how she met her husband but I can’t remember the story.

She came across very nicely on LOL. Softer than some of the other women and definitely hard working. It’s on Amazon Prime.

I went down a bit of an Insta rabbit hole with her recently, and had a good look at the Mapperton website. She seems pretty remarkable; I like her. I think she met her husband through work. I’m sure I read that she was working at an agency in London I think, and he was a client. I might be wrong though!

This seems rather mean-spirited. Julie is lovely. Luke is lovely. They’re doing an amazing thing at Mapperton. It’s really hard work and the industry they display is frankly extraordinary. They’re absolute leaders in what they do. You say that he’s the ‘walking definition of a posho’ – well, he is literally the Earl of Sandwich.

I have just written an entire book on the subject of the aristocracy, interviewing hundreds of people like them, and it came out three days ago. It’s really not all sunshine and rainbows, far from it.

What's mean spirited? I said I think she's remarkable in my OP. She literally does everything. I'm sure he does something behind the scenes, but she's very much the go getter and appears to do the grafting. She's willing to turn her hand to anything, yet he quietly insults her at every step. I watched an old episode today where she was trying to set a table, and he was talking down to her constantly, albeit in a vair polite way. I don't know what she saw/sees in him.

Is that you Julie? I'm sure Luke is lovely deep down, tell him to be a bit nicer on camera!

And when I say what did he see in her, obviously she's very nice and successful, but hardly moving in the sort of circles Luke would have been expected to marry within. I do wonder if he was a bit of a lost cause in the family and they were very relieved that someone wanted him.

@verybighouseinthecountry no, absolutely not – my username is the same here as on Instagram where you can see ongoing evidence of my new book on the subject! I just think you're being unkind about people I know.

Spill the beans then...anyway, I doubt the Earl of Sandwich gives a toss what I think of him 🤣

As far as I can see everyone has been very positive about Julie on this thread. I even thought it will probably come up on some Google alert she has about herself, and wouldn’t she be happy, to see how people consider her to be lovely and hard working.

Well, you seem to be advertising your book, so that probably makes you quits?

I’d never heard of any of these people until this thread. So aristocrat with addiction issues marries down, to a smalltown American with two children from a previous relationship, and now they’re both hustling to keep the Woolf from the portico?

I suppose in the past the Americans brought cash. This sounds more interesting.

It is very interesting, hence why I'm asking. I'm sure Julie could write a tell all, although I fear we'll just have to suffice with brushing's book.
On that note brushing, with your extensive knowledge, would Julie's older two DC likely inherit, or are these things very strict?

@SquaredPaper of course I'm advertising my book in a general sense, I've spent five years writing it! But I didn't seek this out, I just scrolled and saw it. I recommend the book, it's very interesting!

@verybighouseinthecountry Whatever any individual peerage family's marital or familial situation, if there is an eldest legitimate son then he inherits the title, except only in very very few cases where women can inherit. If there isn't such a son then it goes to the next legitimate eldest male, wherever he may be in the family. Could be an eighth cousin etc. These things are extremely strict. In the past – and in Luke's case – it was a given that the same eldest son would inherit the estate too. Things are looser in those cases now but not by much.

So in the case where a woman had DC from a previous relationship, they wouldn't inherit? It's a strictly bloodline thing? It must feel really rubbish to know your siblings will inherit massive amounts and you potentially nothing! I assume these aristo estates are all in trust anyway, it's not the case that Luke can just write a clause into his will splitting things 4 ways rather than 2?
I'm sure Julie is busting her gut to level things out, and I hope the extended family at least treat her 2 DC as if they are family.

@verybighouseinthecountry Yep – the title can only go to the bloodline. There are examples of families where the parents weren’t married when they had the first son so now the title will pass to the second son, who was born after their parents married. Peerage law is pretty tight. Very few titles go to women, and even when they do they generally revert to the male – ie if a woman inherits and then has a son and a daughter, if the son is older it'll go to him next.

And about feeling awful, also yep! There are so many examples of this (many of which are in my book) but to give you an idea, using very rough figures: someone I know will one day inherit an extremely large estate. He will get roughly 95pc of it, and the remaining 5pc will be split between his siblings, but not equally so even within that 5pc the girls are still penalised. Of course, that 5pc represents an enormous amount of money/stuff but the principle is pretty barbaric.

Well as it's a blood line thing, even if there were several legitimate children, with the earl or whatever he is as baby daddy, then it would still all go to one child. Perhaps there are family trusts which would be private, to cater to the other children. The whole thing seems a bit of a poison chalice anyway.

Yep – it's male primogeniture in this case (eldest male) but even if the practice was to use ultimogeniture (youngest child) it would still be unfair. You can't split a title, in this country a least. On the continent it's different but here there are only 793 hereditary ones to go around.

So brushing does all the money/estate pass onto whoever inherits the title?
How would the aristocracy generally feel about their heir marrying 'down'? Do they try to discourage it? Could/would they try to cut them out of the heir inheritance?
Poor Julie and DC, she really got a shitty deal! Luke must be totally amazing behind the scenes.

Caroline stanbury is the one who ended up in Dubai.

You’re right. She is ghastly.

Julie is lovely, met her a few times as I have a small business and sold through the shop and at Christmas fairs, really hard worker

I’d imagine in a situation like that Julie would leave her own money to her kids, and potentially Luke could leave some money that he has earned to those kids.

But the title and the estate would have to go down the bloodline.