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STATELY HOMES SPILL THEIR SECRETS

A new series tells the priceless stories behind the people, paintings and gems at 14 ancestral piles

Thanks to Queen Camilla, the name of Margaret Greville is once again famous. The Queen’s favourite tiara, a stunning honeycomb-style diamond piece she wore to a state banquet in Germany last year, was part of a collection given to the Royal Family by the love child of an industrial­ist who climbed her way to the top of society.

Margaret’s story, and how a very special house helped her make her way in the world of the aristocrac­y, is one of several scintillat­ing tales in the new series of Hidden Treasures Of The National Trust, which is a bit like The Repair Shop meets Downton Abbey and drew more than 2 million viewers when it launched on BBC2 last year.

This new series features 14 more incredible stately homes and some of the precious items to be found within them. But the series is about more than that. It not only examines the people who owned the objects and lived in the houses, but also the people who safeguard them now – from restoratio­n experts to volunteers who work there for free.

Polesden Lacey in Surrey was a present to Margaret from her father William Mcewan, the Scottish brewing magnate, and it helped cement her position in society. Her mother was a humble cook who had been her father’s mistress for years before they finally wed when Margaret was 21.

Margaret married Conservati­ve politician Ronald Greville, and with his contacts and her millions they were unstoppabl­e. ‘Women who didn’t have much of a voice in the public arena were able to use their houses to be at the heart of things,’ says National Trust curator Helen Antrobus. ‘Prior to women having the vote they could have a say on how the country was run by influencin­g politician­s they met and introducin­g people to each other.’

Margaret became close friends with Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and when she died she bequeathed her jewels to the

Royal Family; Princess Eugenie wore a tiara at her wedding in 2018 while the Princess of Wales has worn her diamond earrings.

Another episode focuses on Cliveden House in Berkshire. Like Polesden Lacey, Cliveden was close enough to London that it could attract the great and the good for weekends away. From 1906 it belonged to Waldorf Astor and his wife Nancy and their invitation­s attracted everyone from Winston Churchill to Charlie Chaplin. These events fired up Nancy’s political ambitions and she became the first female MP to take her seat.

In the series we see an iconic

painting of Nancy by John Singer Sargent being given a thorough clean for the first time by the

Trust’s restorers. There to see it is Nancy’s granddaugh­ter Emily

Astor, who lived at Cliveden until her father’s death in 1966, five years after it hit the headlines as the place where Christine Keeler met John Profumo.

‘It was incredible to see the painting cleaned up,’ says Emily. ‘There were things I had no idea about such as the gorgeous pink of her sash and the way the folds of her dress are depicted. That portrait is Cliveden, it’s so iconic there.’

The series shows how National Trust curators balance the need for the public to see these treasures with protecting them for the future. And the work ranges from the very big – a replica carpet for Regency pile Saltram is commission­ed – to the small, such as upholsteri­ng a chair used by Benjamin Disraeli.

‘Through looking at some of the stories of the owners we see how these houses helped shape society,’ says Helen Antrobus. ‘Often the people who made the biggest difference didn’t play by society’s rules and it’s an honour to protect their stories and their homes.’

Hidden Treasures Of The National Trust returns Friday, 9pm, BBC2.