Chapter 27 The Decline of the Nobility

The master bedroom has been greatly changed from before. Both the bedding and many furniture and decorations have been rearranged according to Barron's previous room.

To be honest, even so, it is not particularly in line with Barron's preferences at this time, but considering that the entire manor will be completely renovated in the future, there is no need to adjust it now.

The room next to this bedroom is almost filled with many things, leaving only a circle of passages.

According to the butler Sean, it will be up to him to decide whether these things should be kept.

Among these things, the most numerous ones are a whole row of boxes. Inside these boxes are all clothes. Many of them look new and are obviously well-preserved.

In the aristocratic life of the old days, many women could change three outfits a day. You can imagine how much space was needed to store their clothes.

Therefore, including the clothes left by the old lady and many female relatives of the family, plus Barron's father and brother, so many clothes, even if they are placed in boxes and displayed here, are extremely spectacular.

In fact, many times in this manor, Barron always has the feeling that time passes very slowly here.

The outside world is changing and developing rapidly; but in this manor, even though it has entered the new century, it still has a strong shadow of the Victorian era.

What suddenly came to Barron's mind were the words of the American mother-in-law in the previous life's "Downton Abbey":

"You British nobles are not only flashy, but also extremely boring. The reason why I traveled thousands of miles to come here is because I want to participate in this kind of event one last time before I can still move around. I feel like you are getting worse every year."

And what she said to the old lady:

"My world is an upcoming future; your world is a history that is gradually receding."

Barron's soul had been living in China in his previous life, where the monarchy had long been overthrown and the nobility no longer existed. When I watched the show at the time, I didn't feel deeply about it.

It wasn't until I came here, in the manor that represented the family's past glory, and as the Duke of Devonshire, that I experienced the life of the nobility, as well as the lives of many nobles at this time that I had seen and heard about, that I had Personal feelings.

Yes, the British nobility, and even the royal family, are in decline.

This decline is particularly evident in terms of economy and power.

Traditionally, land is an important source of income for the British nobility. It can be said that the nobility once occupied a large share of the land in England!

At the end of the 18th century, 400 noble families owned 20% of the country's real estate.

By the end of the 19th century, this share reached 24%!

It is precisely because of the large amount of land owned by the nobles that they can live a luxurious life with hordes of servants by relying only on land rent and not doing production.

Just like in "Downton Abbey", the old lady once directly asked her eldest cousin:

"What is a weekend?"

Well, for the aristocrats at that time, every day was a weekend, and there was no concept of working days. Ladies could change three sets of clothes a day and party from time to time.

From the perspective of British history, the turning point in the economic strength of the aristocracy from prosperity to decline occurred in 1894.

This year, the Liberal Party cabinet announced that an 8% inheritance tax would be levied on those with property worth more than 1 million pounds.

This is the first time England has levied an inheritance tax on nobles, but it is just the beginning.

Between 1909 and 1914, the tax rate was increased to 15%, and has been increasing year by year since then.

By 1939 it had reached 60%!

After World War II, the Labor government increased the inheritance tax rate to 80% for those with a family fortune of more than 1 million pounds!

The nobles now gave up and shouted in the House of Lords: "This is simply robbery at knifepoint!"

The result is that it does not help, the tax will still be collected, and defaulters will have to pay an additional 8% interest.

The Conservative government that subsequently came to power showed no mercy and continued to implement the policy of "robbing the rich and giving to the poor."

The direct consequence of high inheritance taxes is that when family inheritance issues arise, nobles have to sell manor houses and family collections of art to make up for financial shortfalls.

After several inheritances and inheritance taxes being paid again and again, no matter how strong a family fortune is, its vitality will be severely damaged.

By 1976, the estates of the nobility had fallen by 76% in England and Wales and by 69% in Scotland.

As time went by, the British aristocracy owned less and less real estate, and their luxurious life became unsustainable.

There are even many British nobles who, forced to make a living, have to put aside their status and open their manors and private territories to the public to make a little money.

Just like the Duke of Devonshire family, their vitality was severely damaged because of this.

His grandfather encountered an inheritance tax of up to 80% at that time. Faced with this policy, many nobles began to pass on family assets in the form of trust funds, which could avoid most inheritance taxes.

Barron's grandfather, the then Duke of Devonshire, inherited the family property just five years after his father established the family trust.

Because the family trust fund was established less than five years ago, it must pay inheritance tax at a rate of 80%, resulting in the Duke of Devonshire having to pay an inheritance tax of 7 million pounds...

In order to preserve the family property, they had to sell part of the land, open the manor for the public to visit and rent, open hotels, hold horse racing meetings, etc. It took 24 years to earn the 7 million pounds and late fees, so that the property belonged to the family and became A model among the nobility of the time.

But in the face of such high inheritance taxes, there are not many aristocratic families who can work as diligently as the Devonshire family to maintain their family business, otherwise they would not become models.

Other nobles were either lucky enough to turn their family assets into trust funds during that period, or they had to sell their properties, and many even declined.

Even the highest-ranking ducal family among the remaining non-royal nobles is not immune!

Generally speaking, the ceremonial order of British dukes is generally sorted according to the year when the title was conferred - the earlier the year when the title was conferred, the higher the ranking.

For example, among the 24 non-royal dukes still alive, the 17th-ranked Duke of Manchester family had their family property squandered by successive generations. Later, the current duke moved to the United States, made a living by fraud, and was arrested many times.

Interestingly, he himself was defrauded by others at the beginning.

Their family is a standard declining noble.

Coincidentally, the family of the Duke of St. Albans, ranked sixth, was also wiped out by taxes.

They are not like the Duke of Devonshire family, who can spend 24 years to earn 80% of the ancestral property and keep the family property.

This is true even for the Duke family, let alone other nobles...

If we look at the industries run by aristocratic families with good economic conditions so far, land-related industries such as real estate, agriculture and tourism still account for the most.

For example, the Duke of Westminster family, which is considered wealthy among the 24 duke families, is mainly engaged in real estate. This family has a wealth of several billion pounds at this time, ranking among the top 15 richest people in the UK...

The reason why their family is so rich, in addition to injecting family assets into trust funds early to avoid high inheritance taxes, is mainly because they own a large amount of land in London - more than a quarter of the land in London. Belongs to the Duke of Westminster family.

Relying on these lands and through real estate, they gained a large amount of wealth, and were able to use this to acquire the land of other down-and-out aristocratic families, and purchased many properties in the United States, Australia and Canada.

As for the Duke of Devonshire family at this time, it is very typical. In addition to Chatsworth Manor, the properties held by their family trust funds are distributed in Scotland, Ireland and three castle estates in Scotland. In addition, the rest of the industries involve agriculture, tourism, hotels, horse racing, etc. It can be said that those industries except agriculture were originally developed by Barron's grandfather in order to increase income and earn the 7 million pounds of inheritance tax.

In addition to the poor economic situation, the weakening of political power is also a major manifestation of the decline of the British aristocracy.

The British Parliament is divided into two houses, the Upper House and the Lower House. The House of Lords is composed of members of the nobility, so it is also called the House of Lords.

Initially, the House of Lords had veto power over bills passed by the House of Commons, and the upper and lower houses often disagreed.

At that time, the House of Lords was still relatively powerful.

After the passage of the Parliament Act of 1911, the relationship between the upper and lower houses changed.

According to the 1911 Parliament Act, any financial bill passed by the House of Commons will become law as long as it is signed by the King one month after it is sent to the House of Lords for consideration, regardless of whether it is approved by the House of Lords.

All other social bills, if passed by the House of Commons three times within two years, can be submitted directly to the King for approval and become law, even if they are rejected by the House of Lords three times within two years.

Then, in 1949, the Labor government enacted a new Parliament Act, reducing the period for the House of Lords to "delay the power of veto" from two years to one year.

After these reforms, the House of Lords has basically become an institution without real power, and the British aristocracy can no longer exercise political power through the legislative process.

Although the official website of the British House of Lords clearly states that "noble members play an important role in supervising the government's decisions," since the House of Lords has no actual power at all, it is the same as whether to go or not. 60% The above nobles rarely attend meetings, and only one-sixth of the nobles attend half of the meetings every year.

Among the regular attendees, there are some members of the nobility not for the purpose of "supervising government decisions", but just to receive dozens of pounds of food and transportation subsidies.

In 1999, the current Prime Minister Brilliant went even further and directly eliminated more than 600 members of the House of Lords, leaving only 92 members. It can be said that the nominal nature of the House of Lords was directly exposed.

What's even more ironic is that Burler's reform to streamline the House of Lords did not receive much resistance, and many nobles even supported this decision...

In fact, the more powerful nobles simply do not like the "nursing home" of the House of Lords. For some members, the biggest impact of the reduction of its staff is that the dozens of pounds of subsidies for occasionally attending meetings are gone. That’s all.

The data during the new book period is related to subsequent recommendations, so follow-up reading is very important. I beg you not to keep it all the time. If you feel that it is okay, read it every day to help increase follow-up reading. Thank you very much.