And it was all about money, and keeping it in the families. Can't imagine how I would have dealt with an arranged marriage to a cousin, or a rich old fogey. I wished I'd had the time to visit Chatsworth and other homes on the two trips I took to the UK. I got to Blenheim Palace, Hampton Court, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and a home or two in Ireland and Blair Castle, and Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. There are so many stately homes to see, but it's only a fraction of what was once there. So many were allowed to rot, or were torn down. To avoid having to pay taxes on some of these properties, the families took the roofs off of them to make them uninhabitable. What a shame.
I love historic houses, and I’ve been fortunate to see many, because this is also an enthusiasm of my mother’s. I’ve been to England only once, and visited Windsor, the Tower of London, Oxford (which looks just like Hogwarts ... or Duke), and to some sites of variable ruination in Northern Ireland, where Mom is from.
The Devonshires have been very methodical about maintaining what’s left of their Ducal patrimony. The original article mentioned that the 11th Duke set up a fund to invest the tourism earnings for the upkeep up Chatsworth.