Blenheim

Blenheim Palace is a splendid, lofty place, still home of the present Duke. I can't remember what he is duke of. It is Winston Churchill's birthplace--his mother was at a party and went into premature labour. The most interesting part of the palace is the library. The library in the Disney cartoon "Beauty and the Beast" must have been inspired by the library at Blenheim Palace. The gardens were designed by Capability Jones. In those days they didn't believe in flowers near the house (or much in flowers at all), instead laying out formal water gardens and topiary gardens, and a circle rose garden about a half a mile from the house. What Jones believed in were vistas, and when you own all the land for miles around, that's what you can afford to have. The garden creation required nearly 500,000 trees to be planted. You can imagine. There is a huge artificial lake, with boat tours to the various temples and grottoes and so forth. The old bridge across to a lovely island once contained art galleries and even a small theatre (waterlogged and unsafe now). Most of the kids again had a strong reaction against such conspicuous consumption and wealth. (1997)

Blenheim Palace is, as ever, a gorgeous example of human inequality and exploitation. But just because aristocratic inheritance is fantastically obviously unmerited, doesn't mean that other forms of inequality and exploitation (cue: American versions) are more palatable. Even so, it must be especially rotten in this era to be an aristocrat - one would have to choose between being 1) a rabid reactionary, 2) a blithering idiot, or 3)a raucous reformer - in simple defense against the cognitive dissonance. On the other hand, I may be giving an insular aristocracy too much credit - the royals don't seem to mind being 1) and 2) of the above (e.g., Prince Harry). (2007)