24 JUNE 1938, Page 6

Castle Howard occupies a sufficiently notable place among the great

houses of England to make inaccuracies about its history undesirable. And there is, I think, an inadvertent but rather serious inaccuracy embodied in the paragraph in the preface to Miss Nancy Mitford's new book on The Ladies of Alderley, which suggests that Rosalind, Lady Carlisle, used her influence to induce her husbatit (the 9th Earl) to make an unjust will for the benefit of her favourite son (the Hon. Geoffrey Howard, who died a year or two ago). I am assured that nothing of the kind happened. Lord Carlisle left his property in the free disposition of his widow, who, though she was perfectly free to leave Castle Howard to her son Geoffrey, left it in fact to her eldest child, Lady Mary Murray, wife of Professor Gilbert Murray. The Murrays, however, prefer Boar's Hill to a castle, and a family conference was held, the chief purpose of which was not acquisition but renunciation. Geoffrey Howard was persuaded to take Castle Howard and certain financial adjustments were made in his favour in view of the cost of upkeep. The other family seat, Naworth, went to the present (11th) Earl, Geoffrey Howard's nephew. The matter is not of the first importance, but it would be a pity if a wrong impression gained currency.

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