The Real Life Downton Abbey - Jacky Hyams

Using the characters and setting of the popular television show as a point of reference for the reader, this is a closerlook at the Edwardianperiod. They were the super rich of their times, pampered beyond belief-the early 20th century Edwardian gentry, who lived like superstars, their every desire or need catered to by an army ofbutlers, servants, footmen, housekeepers, and grooms.Class, money, inheritance, luxury, and snobbery dominated every aspect of the lives of the upper crust Edwardian family.While below stairs the staff inhabited a completely different world, their very lives dependent on servicing the rich, pandering to their masters' every whim, and rubbing shoulders with wealth and privilege. While privy to the most intimate and darkest secrets of their masters, theyfaced ruin and shame if they ventured to make the smallest step outside the boundaries of their class-ridden world. From manners and morals to etiquette and style, this book opens the doors to the reality of the era behindTV's favorite stately home.