LETTERS
Blood lines
Sir: Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, in his review of Debrett (Books, 5 May) fails to do justice to the estate workers who have, over the years, maintained the lines of British nobility. Quite apart from the jolly whoring that went on during the absence of masters, causing heirs to bear striking resemblances to footmen, gamekeepers, carters etc., there was the necessity for discreet impregnation of chatelaines when masters were impotent for one reason or another.
Consider the ducal line for long proud of swarthy good looks, supposedly inherited from a sovereign of dark appearance through a particularly kind and jolly little mistress. She happened to have, on the side, a lascar boyfriend.
What are the odds, over a century or two, against the integrity of a family line depen- dent upon the chastity of every woman in the line. Does it matter? I think not; it is all a great tinsel-covered balloon, less and less pretty as time goes on. But if it did matter, then the female line is the only constant; that is the secret every woman enjoys.
Robert Wythe
10 Manor Close, Walberswick, Southwold, Suffolk
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