Hughenden - a beautiful house owned by the National Trust is set deep in the rolling greens of the Buckinghamshire countryside. This was the home of Queen Victoria’s favourite Prime Minister - Benjamin Disraeli. But Disraeli was so much more than a Queen's favourite. He was a writer, a performer, a dandy, a friend to some, a rival to others and the man who coined the phrase, ‘the greasy pole’. But how did he make his way to the very top?
Alice Loxton heads to Hughenden Manor to investigate this incredible man and to dig deeper into the foundations of the place where Disraeli created his most famous character, himself. Alice goes behind the scenes exploring how the collection at Hughenden holds his most precious items, even his curls are saved in special envelopes collected by his wife Mary Anne!
Find out how this bankrupt dandy, an outsider to Victorian society, put the pieces together to become one of the biggest political players of the 19th Century. A man who was admired by Bismarck and the leaders of Europe and closest friend to the most powerful woman on earth, Queen Victoria, crowning her the Empress of India and changing global history forever.
Up Next in If These Walls Could Talk
-
Paestum: A Tale of Three Cities
The story of ancient Italy is so much more than just Rome. Tristan Hughes visits the extraordinary site of Paestum in southern Italy, home to some of the greatest ancient Greek temples from anywhere in the world.
From majestic temples to pristine wall paintings more that 2,500 years old, he exp...
-
Stourhead: The Grand Tour
Kicking off our new series, Great British Houses, we join Alice Loxton and Dan Snow on a journey through one of the gems of the National Trust’s collection, the magnificent Stourhead.
In this documentary Alice and Dan set off on a whirlwind tour of the social and cultural movements which influen...
-
The History of Westminster Abbey
Sir David Cannadine shows Dan around the iconic Westminster Abbey, in the heart of London. With an unrivalled arrange of monuments - ranging from grand royal tombs to the grave of The Unknown Warrior - and spectacular architecture spanning nearly 1,000 years, join the two historians as they explo...
11 Comments