The Aristocrats

9 May 2013

1/4: Blenheim Palace, Thursday 22nd November, 9pm, Channel 4

The Aristocrats, directed by Bafta-winning film-maker Patrick Forbes (The Force, English Heritage, Wikileaks: Secrets and Lies, The National Trust), explores modern day high society through historically prominent families.

With unique access to names of note and notoriety, The Aristocrats opens a window onto a so-called privileged world, as aristocrats share their daily lives and give their own views about their place in a changing society.

Offering exclusive insight into one of the most famous father and son relationships in Britain - and historically the bitterest - the first film, The Aristocrats: Blenheim Palace, follows a story of reconciliation and redemption. ‘Sunny', 11th Duke of Marlborough, 86 years old, is courteous, fastidious, and a former Guards Officer. His 56-year-old son is formally known as the Marquess of Blandford, and less formally as Jamie Blandford. Jamie's excessive lifestyle and battles with drug addiction have been widely covered British media for most of his life. This is the first time he has appeared in a documentary.

At stake is the inheritance of the biggest palace in Britain, Blenheim. The Duke, John ‘Sunny' Spencer-Churchill, has dedicated his life to maintaining and safeguarding it. Bigger than Buckingham and Windsor, with 187 rooms, measuring 200,000 square feet - the palace was given to the Marlboroughs as a gift from a grateful nation after the first Duke fought the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. But after falling out with Queen Anne, the Duke was saddled with paying for the rest of the construction, and the family joke that they have been fighting the ‘Battle of Blenheim' ever since.

Sunny's solution was to open it up to mass tourism, and every year Blenheim receives 500,000 visitors. Worried about the potential repercussions for Blenheim of his son's addiction, Sunny went to court in 1994 to disinherit his son - the first time an aristocrat had done so for a hundred years. Jamie contested the case and eventually the two men reached a compromise - when his father died Jamie would inherit the title and the right to live in the palace, but a group of trustees would control the place and decide how much influence any Duke has.

Now clean, and reconciled with his father, Jamie is back living on the estate, hoping to prove to Sunny and the all-powerful trustees that he is fit and able to take on the ‘Battle of Blenheim'. The cameras are there during the peak tourist season, often thwarted with bad weather, and in the run up to the completing of a £2million new block at the palace - opened by the local MP, David Cameron. Jamie speaks openly about the regrets about his past, feeling daunted but ambitious about running this incredible and grandiose estate. But will his father entrust him with his life's work and the Marlborough legacy?

 

Prod Co: Oxford Film and Television
Exec Prod: Nick Kent
Dir: Patrick Forbes
Comm Ed: Mark Raphael