You don’t need to be an avid watcher of Downton Abbey to know that following the First World War, the landed aristocracy struggled to keep afloat. While it’s not the case for the Granthams, many stately homes opted to open to the public, with on-site farm shops and the like providing a new income for the upper classes. Longleat, the family seat of the Marquesses of Bath since the 17th century, was the leader of the pack - becoming the first to open to the public in 1947.
Longleat has been the backdrop to many firsts, long at the forefront of British society. Another came in 1966, when Henry Thynne, the 6th Marquess of Bath, not content with simply opening the house and gardens to the public, decided to add a safari park, too - the first in the world outside of Africa. Perhaps most significantly to today, it has also welcomed Britain’s first black Viscountess - now Marchioness - into the fold, with the marriage of Emma McQuiston to Ceawlin Thynn, 8th Marquess of Bath in 2013. She was photographed at her home for the January 2021 cover shoot, resplendent in couture and every inch the regal Lady.
The Marchioness - who participated in 2019’s Strictly Come Dancing, has modelled for Dolce & Gabbana and has her own cookery brand, Emma’s Kitchen - is just the latest in a long line of fascinating figures who have walked the halls of Longleat.
Her father-in-law, the late Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, was certainly an eccentric character. Known for his talents as an artist - and his quirk of painting murals on the walls of his own home, including several depicting the Kama Sutra - he lived at Longleat with his so-called ‘wifelets’ (read: mistresses) who lived on the estate in cottages.
His own father, Henry Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath, was once dubbed one of the ‘Bright Young Things’ in 1920s high society, and was responsible for opening the house to the public and installing the safari park. His first wife, the Hon Daphne Vivian, was a famous author, writing a number of society novels, including the Cecil Beaton-illustrated Before the Sunset Fades. His fascination with the paintings of Adolf Hitler - owning more than anyone else in the world - was a rather unsavoury hobby.
Longleat also has a ghostly member, too. Louisa Thynne, the second wife of Thomas Thynne, 2nd Viscount Weymouth, who according to myth haunts the house, pining for her murdered lover (although no evidence of an affair exists).
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