What comes from the dust will be dust. May the love of the Lord always be with you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen..."
It can be said that the funeral of the Devin Hill family shocked the whole British aristocratic circle. After all, within a few days, the direct members of the three families passed away one after another. There is such a large duke family, leaving only a young son who has just grown up. Such a thing has not happened in England for many years - the last time I remembered Recall, I'm afraid it will be traced back to the two world wars...
This funeral of the Cavendish family was also quite grand. Not only were many nobles present, but also the Crown Prince of Wales came to Derbyshire in person to attend this funeral.
"Lord Barron, please be on the sage..."
This is also the first time in two generations that Barron has seen a celebrity at the level of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, but now is not the time for him to be excited. What he has experienced in a few days has allowed him to be calm about anything.
"Your Highness, thank you very much for coming here..."
In fact, through this period of understanding, he also understood that the reason why His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales came in person may not be for his current father, the 12th Duke of Devin Hill, but because of his grandmother, the 11th Duchess of Devin Hill.
Speaking of the grandmother of her predecessor, she is also a very famous figure.
Her name is Debrah Cavendish. She was once one of the famous "Mitford Six Sisters" in British upper class. She was born on March 31, 1920. She is the youngest daughter of David Freeman Mitford and Sydney Freeman Mitford, Baron Ritzdale II.
Her family has been canonized as a noble since the Germanic Conquest (5-6th century).
It can be said that throughout World War II, the "Mitford Six Sisters" with very different personalities and political tendencies was one of the most famous labels in the British aristocracy.
Just like the Prince of Wales standing in front of the photo of Deborah Cavendish for a long time and said to Barron:
"We will miss her very much. She is not a person who will be easily forgotten. The happiness she gave everyone through those books and her contribution to Chasworth will not be forgotten..."
...
After the funeral, all the guests left, and the whole Chatsworth Manor returned to calm.
But it's not over. What Barron needs to face is a more headache!
According to the relevant British law, as the second son of the family, it can be said that the burden of the family will not fall on him - his predecessor has been thinking so since childhood. His brother, as the eldest son, will inherit the title of Duke of Devin Hill, and the other party is stable and mature, and has been carried out as the heir of the family early on. Cultivation, in the eyes of everyone, is also the most suitable successor.
As the second son of the family, Baron Cavendish will inherit another second-level title at most, and well, he will get part of the property at most...
Moreover, no matter who sees it, the young master, who is light-minded and likes to ring in nightclubs, although he is more handsome, his jumping personality is really not like a "traditional aristocrat".
But the matter is so dramatic that his father and brother died in a car accident at the same time, so as the only direct member of the Cavendish family, Barron became the heir of the first order, who will inherit the title of Duke of Devin Hill and all the property of the family.
Normally, he can successfully become a British aristocrat with the rice flag, so that he can live a boring and shameless aristocratic life...
But it was not that simple. After asking Sean's housekeeper, especially after checking the family's asset bill, Barron realized what kind of dilemma he was going to face.
First of all, as the heir of the family, if he wants to inherit the title and the family's property, he must first solve the huge inheritance tax problem!
Normally, the inheritance tax rate in England is as high as 40% - now it is much less, up to 80% at most!
However, the Cavendish family had a long-sighted package most of the family's assets in the form of trust funds, so that a large part of the inheritance tax can be exempted, but the remaining fees to be paid are still quite a lot...
However, I'm afraid that inheritance tax is not the most troublesome of the troubles he has to face, because the debt of the whole family is what he needs to solve at this time!
This is about to start with Barron's grandfather.
The entire Cavendish family passed on to the generation of Barron, the 18th and 13th Duke of Devin Hill.
At the peak of the Dukes of Devinhill, there were eight huge estates in England and Ireland, covering an area of more than 200,000 acres. The Duke of Devinhill alone paid more than one million pounds of inheritance tax at one time, which was 1 million pounds in the early 19th century!
Let's say that at that time, ordinary people may not be able to save hundreds of pounds in their lives!
At the time of the tenth Duke of Devinhill, that is, Barron's great-grandfather, the economic situation of the Duke of Devinhill's family was worried due to the poor management of the previous Duke of Devinhill and the economic environment of the whole British economy at that time was in the Great Depression.
Duke X of Devin Hill felt that the previous huge inheritance tax brought to the family, so he tried his best to avoid the huge inheritance tax through the fund model to reduce the burden on future generations.
According to the regulations at that time, the estate was not eligible for the estate tax exemption until five years after the estate was packaged into a trust fund.
Duke X of Devin Hill was at that time when he was rich and strong. He did not hesitate to hand over all his property to the trust fund without considering the special circumstances of his health.
There was an accident. At the beginning of the fifth year after the Duke of Devon X handed over the property, he died of a heart attack three months before the five-year period, while Andrew, the XIth Duke of Devonshire, also the grandfather of Devon, faced an inheritance tax rate of up to 80% - he had to pay 70. An inheritance tax of 0,000 pounds.
There are two options in front of Andrew. One is to sell the estate and pay the property tax and inherit the estate; the other is to earn the 7 million pounds through his own efforts.
In the end, in order to save most of the family's property, Barron's father chose the latter.
He first sold part of his property to pay part of the inheritance tax - including nearly 60,000 acres of land, a Hardwick estate, and some collections, including Rembrandt and Raphael's paintings...
Then, he worked hard to pay off the inheritance tax, and finally spent 24 years paying off the inheritance tax of 7 million pounds in 1974 in installments, thus becoming the real Duke of Devin Hill.
It can be said that Barron's grandfather reserved hope for the family in the future...
But the problem lies with Barron's father. The family was finally able to have a surplus by opening the manor, undertaking activities, opening hotels and other industries, etc., but he didn't expect that he had a huge loss at this time because of investment!
After checking the family's list of assets and debts, under the explanation of Sean's housekeeper and the family trust fund manager, Barron was speechless and found that the debt of the whole family trust exceeded 30 million pounds at this time!
In addition, if he wants to successfully inherit the dualty and keep the family's assets, then the total, plus inheritance tax, he needs to spend at least more than 35 million pounds!
At this moment, Barron even had the idea of giving up everything and starting again...