It was the top of an period for the Kardashians after 14 years and 20 seasons of drama.
But 4 upper-crust households in Britain are set to take over screens subsequent week, as ITV follows their each day lives as they attempt to earn sufficient cash to outlive in a brand new three-part collection known as Protecting Up With The Aristocrats.
An unique teaser clip exhibits right this moment’s Aristocrats fretting about pay for the maintenance of the grand homes which have develop into magnificent albatrosses round their necks.
‘I am not your strange princess’: New ITV collection Protecting Up With The Aristocrats follows 4 upper-crusts households in Britain – together with Princess Olga Romanoff (pictured)
Nevertheless, it additionally options the households having time with lavish events, polo and loads of booze.
Princess Olga Romanoff, 71, who has a Thirteenth century house in Kent, is amongst its stars.
She’s a bona fide member of the Russian aristocracy, whose great-uncle Tsar Nicholas II was murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
Olga ia additionally a cousin of the Queen, is expounded to Prince Philip and was as soon as thought-about an eligible match for Prince Charles.
Whereas Olga’s blood could also be as blue because the Danube, she’s much more prone to be seen mucking out at her Thirteenth-century house in Kent than quaffing Champagne.
Household: She’s additionally a cousin of the Queen , is expounded to Prince Philip and was as soon as thought-about an eligible match for Prince Charles
‘I am not your strange princess,’ she says. ‘At house you may discover me shovelling s***, sadly, not consuming caviar.’
‘Solely kids count on a princess in a tiara and a frilly costume,’ she says.
‘Adults may generally elevate an eyebrow as a result of I scent of horses and do not put on make-up, however they’re too well mannered to say so.’
Olga’s pile is medieval Provender Home close to Faversham, which she inherited 21 years in the past upon the dying of her mom (her father, Nicholas II’s nephew, had escaped to England).
By then the cash had run out and it was a ramshackle wreck. ‘It is nonetheless falling down, £2.5 million later,’ says Olga dryly.
Grand: Others within the present embrace Alexandra Sitwell, 63, and her husband Rick. She inherited the Seventeenth-century Grade I-listed Renishaw Corridor (pictured) in Derbyshire
Work laborious, play laborious: Olga hopes the collection will reveal the fact of life for right this moment’s blue bloods
‘I needed to promote a few of our Russian heirlooms to fund it.’
At this time she generates earnings by renting out a wing of the home through Airbnb and by giving £14-a-head excursions to busloads of vacationers.
But Olga grew up within the grandest of circles as a result of a long time in the past cash was no object for her dad and mom, till tax issues and her mom’s spending habits noticed it whittled away.
At 17 she was touted as a possible match for Prince Charles in high-society journal Harpers.
‘They had been attempting to line up appropriate international princesses for Charles,’ she says. ‘Most of us had been the mistaken faith – I am Russian Orthodox.
Life’s a race: It additionally options the households having time with lavish events, polo and loads of booze
Social gathering: To usher in cash, Lord Gerald and his spouse Girl Emma host weddings at Carlton Towers, which has 17 bedrooms for paying visitors and 6 for the household
‘I bear in mind studying the article with horror, as a result of my mom did not inform me it was popping out. She was attempting to promote me.’
In 1968, Princess Anne delivered a pointy kick to Olga’s leg on the Queen’s annual Ghillies’ Ball at Balmoral.
‘We each favored the identical younger man and we had been dancing an eightsome reel with him within the center.
‘At one level you are holding the hand of the lady on the opposite facet, which occurred to be Princess Anne, and I used to be barely sluggish on the flip, so the royal foot got here out and gave me an eff-off bruise on my shin.’ On objective? ‘Most likely,’ smiles Olga.
Additionally showing within the collection is Lord Ivar Mountbatten, 58, a cousin of each the Queen and Prince Philip who cleans the 100-plus home windows of his mansion, 18th-century Bridwell Park in Devon, himself.
Lord Ivar Mountbatten (left), 58, who lives in 18th-century Bridwell Park in Devon, tries to earn a crust by organising a pop-up restaurant on the home
The divorced father-of-three made historical past 4 years in the past when he grew to become the primary British royal to enter right into a same-sex marriage, with airline steward James Coyle.
Within the collection, Lord Ivar and James attempt to earn a crust by organising a pop-up restaurant on the home in collaboration with French chef Jean-Christophe Novelli, charging visitors £165 a head for an unique dinner.
Different toffs within the present embrace Alexandra Sitwell, 63, and her husband Rick. She inherited the Seventeenth-century Grade I-listed Renishaw Corridor in Derbyshire the place her household has lived since 1625.
There’s additionally Lord Gerald Fitzalan-Howard, 59, whose father was the Seventeenth Duke of Norfolk.
When Gerald’s elder brother Edward inherited Arundel Citadel in Sussex, in addition to 126-room Carlton Towers in North Yorkshire, he gave the latter to Gerald, who’s lived there since 1991. Who wants two stately mansions?
Costly style: The clip exhibits right this moment’s aristos fretting about pay for the maintenance of the grand homes which have develop into magnificent albatrosses round their necks
Lord Gerald can be associated to royalty – he is a descendant of Anne Boleyn. The upside of getting a stately house for Gerald is that he can practise taking part in his drum equipment on the roof with out annoying the neighbours (Carlton Towers sits in 1,000 acres).
However with a heating invoice of £70,000 a yr, he is all the time dreaming up new methods of incomes cash.
‘I am all the time stuffed with concepts, some good and a few fully garbage,’ confesses Gerald, 59.
To usher in cash, Lord Gerald and his spouse Girl Emma host weddings at Carlton Towers, which has 17 bedrooms for paying visitors and 6 for the household.
However Gerald can be instructing himself to smoke fish and meat in a shed he purchased from Homebase (‘It is such an eyesore!’ moans Emma), which he finally hopes to serve to visitors and he is additionally planted a winery so the property can produce its personal glowing wine.
‘The second the vines begin rising, we’re immersed in that,’ explains Emma, 60. ‘We’re pruning all day lengthy. It is back-breaking but it surely’s so rewarding.’
The wine and smoked meats companies are nonetheless embryonic, however the Fitzalan-Howards hope they’ll carry much-needed further earnings.
‘Having a stately house is a privilege,’ says Emma, ‘but it surely comes with an enormous emotional price ticket.’
Olga Romanoff hopes the collection will reveal the fact of life for right this moment’s blue bloods.
‘Hopefully it’s going to present those who we do not sit on our backsides doing candy FA,’ she says bluntly. ‘We truly get off them and attempt to make the place pay.’
Protecting Up With The Aristocrats, Monday 17 January, 9pm, ITV.
Champagne Supernova: There’s additionally Lord Gerald Fitzalan-Howard (pictured), 59, whose father was the Seventeenth Duke of Norfolk