Defrauded by Detmar
Sir: Simon Blow's distressing account of his father's descent into alcoholic dementia (The Duke who killed my father', 7 December) attempts to pin the blame on Bendor Westminster's treatment of his grandfather, Detmar Blow.
I once asked an administrator of the Grosvenor Estate if there was substance in the accusation that Detmar had defrauded the Duke in his handling of the Grosvenor Mayfair leaseholds.
Yes, he said. The evidence was clear and the sums substantial and, he added, if the Duke's dismissal of Detmar as a crook was unfounded, why did Detmar take no action?
The story of the architect Detmar Blow, in his time the only rival of Lutyens, is truly a tragedy, but to pin the awfulness of the Blow family's subsequent alcoholic nightmares on the Duke of Westminster is fanciful.
No doubt the details of Detmar's mal- practices are available in the Grosvenor Estate's records, but I suspect it would be unwise of Simon Blow to delve into them too deeply.
Roy Wright
Girards, Broadchalke, Salisbury, Wilts
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