The Great Family Houses of Europe

This beautiful book reveals eight grand houses that have remained in the same families from the time they were built until the present day, and which are still lived in by those families.

The Great Family Houses of Europe reveals the secrets that kept these homes in private hands despite wars, revolutions and ever-escalating taxes. Each family found its own solutions to the problems, most involving compromises, but after the public leaves for the day, the beautiful rooms are again filled with candlelight and liveried servants, the Sevres or Nymphenberg services come out of the pantry, guests arrive in evening dress, entertaining conversation replaces the babble of guided tours.

This is the inside view we see in atmospheric photographs, and in a revealing text made possible by the author’s long friendships with the owners of these great houses.

The houses include:
Seville’s Casa de Pilatos, owned by Spain’s most illustrious grandee;
Harewood House in Yorkshire, owned by a cousin of Queen Elizabeth
Schloss Regensburg, occupied by the flamboyant Princess Gloria von Thurn and Taxis
Palazzo Sachetti near Vatican City, whose enormous Sala dei Mapi is entirely frescoed by Francesco Salviati (1510–1563).