"From dust you came, and to dust you shall return; may the Lord's mercy be with you always, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen..."
The funeral of the Duke of Devonshire's Family sent shockwaves through the entire English aristocratic circle. Within a mere few days, three direct members of the family had passed away in succession, leaving the vast Duke of Devonshire Family with only a young son who had recently come of age. Such a devastating event had not occurred in England for many years – the last memory of such a scale probably dated back to World War II.
This time, the Cavendish Family's funeral was exceptionally grand. Not only did numerous nobles attend, but even His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales personally came to Derbyshire to participate.
"Lord Arthur, please accept my condolences..."
This was the first time in either of his lives that Arthur had personally seen a celebrity of the Prince of Wales' caliber. However, this was not the moment for excitement; the events of the past few days had already left him unperturbed by anything.
"Your Royal Highness, thank you so much for coming here..."
Through his recent understanding, Arthur realized that the Prince of Wales' personal presence might not solely be for his father, the 12th Duke of Devonshire, but largely due to his grandmother, the 11th Duchess of Devonshire. His grandmother, in her previous incarnation, was also an extremely famous figure. Her name was Deborah Cavendish, once one of the celebrated "Mitford Sisters" in English high society, born on March 31, 1920, the youngest daughter of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Arthur Redesdale, and Sydney Freeman-Mitford. Her family had been ennobled since the Germanic conquests (5th-6th centuries). During World War II, the "Mitford Sisters," with their differing personalities and political leanings, were one of the most well-known groups in the English aristocratic circle.
As the Prince of Wales stood for a long time in front of a photograph of Deborah Cavendish, he said to Arthur, "We will miss her greatly; she is not someone who will be easily forgotten. The joy she gave everyone through those books, and her contributions to Chatsworth, will not be forgotten..."
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After the funeral concluded, all the guests departed, and the entirety of Chatsworth House returned to silence. But the matter was far from over; what Arthur now faced was even more headache-inducing.
According to relevant English law, as the family's second son, the family's heavy burden should not have fallen on him. His predecessor had always believed this since childhood; his elder brother, as the eldest son, was destined to inherit the title of Duke of Devonshire. He was stable, mature, and had been cultivated as the family's heir from an early age, widely seen as the most suitable successor. As the second son, Arthur Cavendish would at most inherit a lower title and receive a portion of the family property. Moreover, everyone considered this young master, with his frivolous personality and fondness for nightclubs, to be erratic and hardly a "traditional noble," despite his handsomeness.
But fate, it seemed, had a dramatic twist: his father and elder brother both died in the car accident, leaving Arthur as the sole direct male heir. He was now first in line of succession, set to inherit the title of Duke of Devonshire and all of the family's property. Normally, this might seem like a smooth path to becoming a true English noble and living a comfortably scandalous aristocratic life.
However, things were far from simple. After inquiring with Butler Sean and reviewing the family's asset statements, Arthur fully grasped the predicament he was facing.
First, as the family's heir, to inherit the title and property, he first had to contend with a massive inheritance tax problem! Normally, England's inheritance tax rate is a staggering 40% (though currently lower; it once reached 80%!). Fortunately, the Cavendish Family had foresight, packaging most of their assets into trust funds, which could exempt a large portion of the inheritance tax. Yet, the remaining fees were still considerable.
However, the inheritance tax was likely not the most troublesome of his problems. The entire family's debt was what he most urgently needed to solve.
This story began with Arthur's grandfather. The Cavendish Family, passed down to Arthur's generation, is the 18th generation, and he is the 13th Duke of Devonshire. At the peak of their power, the Duke of Devonshire Family owned eight immensely large estates in England and Ireland, covering over 200,000 acres. The inheritance tax paid by the Duke of Devonshire Family alone once exceeded one million pounds—one million pounds in the early 19th century, a time when an ordinary person might not save a hundred pounds in a lifetime!
During the time of the 10th Duke of Devonshire (Arthur's great-grandfather), due to the previous Duke's mismanagement coupled with the Great Depression impacting the English economy, the family's financial situation became precarious. The 10th Duke, feeling the immense burden of inheritance tax, sought every means to evade the massive levy through a fund model, hoping to lighten the burden on future generations. According to regulations then, an estate packaged into a trust fund had to be held for five years to qualify for inheritance tax exemption. The 10th Duke, in his prime, didn't foresee any health issues and unhesitatingly transferred all his property to the trust fund.
Unexpectedly, at the beginning of the fifth year after the 10th Duke transferred his property, just three months before the five-year deadline, he suddenly died of a heart attack. His successor, the 11th Duke of Devonshire, Andrew (Arthur's grandfather), was then faced with an inheritance tax rate as high as 80%, requiring a payment of 7 million pounds.
Andrew faced two stark choices: sell off the inheritance to pay the tax and inherit the remainder, or earn the 7 million pounds through his own efforts. Ultimately, to preserve most of the family's inherited property, Arthur's grandfather chose the latter. He first sold a portion of the property to pay part of the tax, including nearly 60,000 acres of land, Hardwick Hall, and a segment of the art collection (including works by Rembrandt and Rafael). Then, he worked desperately to earn money, eventually paying off the 7 million pounds in inheritance tax through installments, a struggle that took a full 24 years, and finally settled in 1974. It can be said that Arthur's grandfather preserved hope for the family's future.
However, the problem resurfaced with Arthur's father. After the family finally began to generate a surplus by opening the estate to the public, hosting events, and establishing other businesses like hotels, he unexpectedly incurred huge losses due to investments.
After reviewing the family's assets and debt statements, and with explanations from Butler Sean and the family trust fund manager, Arthur discovered, speechless, that the entire family trust currently had debts exceeding 30 million pounds! Additionally, to successfully inherit the ducal title and preserve the family assets, he would need to come up with at least 35 million pounds in total funds, including inheritance tax.
At this moment, Arthur even had the fleeting thought of giving up everything and starting over.