Luxury Estates of the Rothschilds: Secrets of Historic Britain

From renaissance style chateaus, grand country estates, architectural glass masterpieces. These are the remarkable homes, simply breathtaking, and magnificent landmarks. One day my son, all this will be yours. At the very heart of Britain's spectacular history. I have never seen one like this. Join me. I need to get there with all speed. Onwards driver. And a host of celebrities. Oh crikey. With a passion for the past. Wish me luck. As we travel the length and breadth of the nation. It is in between the walls. And with unparalleled behind-the-scenes access. From the highest heights. Now I'm through my blind panic. To the deepest depths. We'll uncover the secrets. Oh my goodness. Still hidden within these breathtaking buildings. These are the places that nobody else gets to see. And explore the riches. How spectacular. And treasures of one of our most loved institutions. This is an amazing story. Come on, I want to know the end. I want to know the end. Welcome to the secrets of the National Trust. Sitting in the heart of the English countryside is a thrilling surprise. A glamorous French chateau. So rich in treasures. It drew kings, queens and princes from around the world through its front doors. Inside, in these sumptuous and luxurious rooms. A multi-millionaire would host extravagant soirees. For a who's who of 19th century high society. Home to three generations of the wealthy Rothschild family. This pleasure palace was created with just one intent. To surprise and delight the visitors who flocked here. And boy does it do just that. Welcome to Waddesdon Manor. By discovering secret staircases. Oh my goodness. Revealing sparkling guest lists. The Queen. Victoria. Is everybody allowed to leaf through it like this? Absolutely not. And hearing from both family. So he's my great, great, great uncle. And the creator himself. Weeds will spread over the gardens. We'll uncover a man whose imagination was fuelled by tragedy. Filling the gap that she'd left. And who found comfort. How spectacular. Only in the happiness of others. Also tonight. Oh, that is rather sharp. Writer and journalist Clive Aslert visits the breathtaking new house on the estate with Lord Rothschild. So this house is full of things that you've collected. It really is a very large part of my life. Wow. Presenter Alison Hammond parties at Polesden Lacey. So you actually could get much closer. And writer Oz Clarke gets a little scare. We haven't broken it, don't worry. It's only dismantled. When a Waddesdon treasure gets a little TLC. That screw is very precious. When you're out for a jaunt in rural Buckinghamshire, the very last thing you expect to be confronted by is the French Renaissance. But as you approach Waddesdon's elegantly turreted chateau, well, it's exactly like stepping into a fairy tale. Built in the 1870s, its French architect, Gabrielle Hippolyte d'Etailleur, had worked on some of France's classic 16th century chateaus. And bequeathed to the National Trust in 1957, the manor and its gardens now enchant over 400,000 visitors a year. But for all its outward glory, Waddesdon and its estate is largely the creation of one man who was tragically widowed at the age of 27 and devoted the rest of his life to creating it. That man was Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, a member of the super-rich banking dynasty. From humble beginnings, the Rothschilds' financial empire expanded across Europe, both dazzling and offending a high society with their new money and extravagant spending, Ferdinand included. I'm meeting the Trust's Pippa Shirley at the front lobby. Lovely to meet you. As she takes me on an exclusive tour showing me the VIP treatment A-list Victorians would receive upon their arrival. Pippa, tell me about Baron Ferdinand. He was a particularly amazing kind of man to want to build a place like this. I think he was an extraordinary man in lots of ways. He was a complete kind of perfectionist and he was fascinated by arts and culture and architecture and he wanted a place where he could bring people to entertain them. So the extraordinary thing really about Waddesdon is that he starts from a completely blank canvas. This was a bare hill when he began and he created this whole world both for his entertaining and to act as a setting for the extraordinary collection which he was putting together. If you were invited here to be a house guest, when would you come? How long would you stay? You'd do one of the famous Saturday to Monday parties which is what the weekend was known as in the 19th century. So you'd arrive on Saturday and then you'd leave on Monday morning. Okay, so I'm going for the weekend. What would I have done? Where would I have started by weekend? Well, you'd have started in the red drawing room. So should we go and have a look? I have to tell you, I'm not really a party animal but then when I see this house, I think I could become one. Come on. As soon as you enter the house, you're immediately struck by its opulence. Whether it's views of Venice captured in the largest Francesco Guardi paintings known to exist or richly decorated mechanical elephants in glass cases, this was an entrance designed to impress. Oh my goodness. So this is your first glimpse of what is there when you come as a guest. Exactly, exactly. So this is the first room that you'd see. It was the main gathering space of the house as you kind of arrive. Crimson and gold. Painted ceiling. Great craftsmanship. Yes, well, you know, every detail thought about. They knew the moment they came in here, this is going to be a good weekend. Absolutely. No expense will be spared. Absolutely. What sort of people came here? Well, all sorts of people. I mean, Ferdinand, as you or I would if we were putting a house party together, you know, he started with his friends, his family circle, his political circle and of course also members of the royal family. Royalty? Yes, I've got the visitor's book here. So if you want to come and have a little nosy, you can see. Oh, we can see exactly who came and went. You can see exactly. Gosh. So visitor's books are actually quite valuable, aren't they? They give us a picture of society. They're astonishing documents. I mean, you learn who was here when, who they were with, what they might have been talking about. Completely fascinating. Many great houses had a visitor's book, but few rival Waddesdon's impressive signatories. It's rather like a little treasure trove. It is, it is. So here, for example, that's Edward. So that's the future Edward VII. Edward VII, yeah. Prince of Wales, obviously, at this point, who was a great friend and he came a lot, sometimes with a lady. Presumably not necessarily always with Princess Alexandra, there would be other friends. Unlike his mother, Queen Victoria, who was not amused, Prince Edward, a noted Victorian playboy, was amused with a variety of mistresses. So what's this one? This is a Shire of Persia, who rather famously came in 1889. And here, Ferdinand was acting really on behalf of the government. He was asked to host part of a state visit. So this is diplomatic work. The Shire of Persia was the king of what is now Iran. And as an absolute monarch, he was probably used to getting his own way. This was a famous occasion when the elephant, the mechanical elephant, the automaton, was pressed into service because the Shire had this great sulk because the Prince of Wales hadn't come. He was supposed to have come on this party, but he hadn't been able to make it. So by way of a sop and compensation, they turned on, turn on the elephant, he shouted. Exactly. Often made for rulers in India and China, this gilt-bronze mechanical elephant, sometimes known as a singsong, would have enchanted all of Ferdinand's guests. Built by a French clockmaker around 1770, it would have taken hundreds, if not thousands, of man hours to complete. But the results are oh so worth it. The elephant so enchanted the Shire that his good humour was completely restored. The elephant saved the day? Elephant saved the day. Wonderful. And this one? Yes, Anna, this is another red letter day. So you know who that is? Yes, yes. So that's 1890 and then members of the other members of the royal family. So is everybody allowed to leaf through it like this? Absolutely not. I'm being very careful, but this really is a secret of the National Trust. Yes, well it's very fragile, so most of the time we keep it carefully. I could just sit down with this now for hours. Absolutely. Leave me alone for a bit, I'm quite happy. After lapping up their envious surroundings, Ferdinand's guests would have made their way to the dining room. Oh, how spectacular. And a table fit for a queen. This is some supper table. So how many would they entertain here? Well, the table is set at the moment for 18, but it could expand for 40. What sort of things do they eat? Very elaborate meals, lots of courses, and the food of course here was completely legendary. A grand Victorian dinner was the host's opportunity to show their affluence and style with an endless procession of courses, and on grand occasions, sometimes as many as 13 of them. Ferdinand would end the meal with an extravagant and indulgent flourish. Often you'd finish with a Rothschild soufflé, which would be garnished with gold leaf, and Queen Victoria was immensely impressed. In fact, after she came for the famous lunch, she sent her own household chef back to learn the secrets of the Rothschild kitchen, and we know that she had two helpings of the beef, which is why she had to go for a little lie down afterwards. So what about Ferdinand? Did he love all this grandeur, all this entertaining? Well, we think he loved it, but on the other hand, I mean, guests commented that quite often their host would be sitting at the head of the table and having water and dry bread, and sometimes a little bottle of pills. He was also a teetotaler, of course, so his guests would be enjoying the finest, but... All this just for everybody else, but if it's all right with you, I'll just have a glass of water and me complain. No fun being a host, is it? Filled with fabulous treasures from around the world, the great and the good flocked to Waddesdon Manor, seduced by their host's generosity. But I want to find out more about who the man was behind all this lavish entertaining, so I'm about to meet Hannah, daughter of the present Lord Rothschild, in the Baron's private room to see if we can shed some light on this secretive character. How lovely to see you. Hello. Your relationship, then, to Ferdinand. What is he to you? Oi, well, this is where it gets difficult. I'm going to concentrate now. So he's my great, great, great uncle. Did you spend much time here as a child? Not very much, no, because the house was already open to the public when I was growing up, so we would be brought round in our kind of Sunday best as a member of the public, but I never grew up here or slept here or anything like that. This room here has a different feel to the rest of the house. Well, the furniture is as elaborate, but if anything, it's that little bit more friendly, it's a bit more cosy. This was obviously very special to Ferdinand, this room. Well, this was his private study and this is where he used to come to escape. If you look around, for example, you can see lots and lots of family photographs scattered around and what he particularly liked, rather unusually, was collecting paintings of the most glamorous actresses that he could find. I don't think that's unusual. I think that's laudable. And these are they. For example, you had Mrs Jordan, who was the, if you like, the Nicole Kidman or Jennifer Lawrence of her day. Or you had Emma Hamilton, who was, you know, not an actress, but a famous... Well, she was Nelson's mistress, wasn't she? Famous, you know, kind of scarlet woman, perhaps. There's a contrasting character here. A lavish house into which he invited masses of guests and yet, clearly, at some point, he just had to be on his own and be quiet. Was he a man of two halves, in a way? No, very much so. What Ferdinand liked most of all was being alone with his works of art and members of his family. He invited everybody down because that's what you did, but for him, I think it was agony. So he didn't really want or need people here. He did it, in a way, as a kind of duty. I think it was a duty. It was about expanding the business. It was about assimilating into society. The Rothschilds just wanted to be accepted. They wanted to make their homes here. They loved England. And they used, presumably, their money... Very much so. ..to help them get into society. Very much so. For example, you know, Queen Victoria didn't want to come to lunch here. She thought the Rothschilds were rather vulgar, but she couldn't resist seeing what all the fuss was about. So I'm afraid they did use that vulgarity and that ostentatiousness, you know, to get people to come here. Ferdinand realised hosting lavish parties brought him entry into high society, and he wasn't alone. At the beginning of the 20th century, another social climber, Margaret Greville, overcame the circumstances of her birth to become the party hostess of the day. Presenter Alison Hammond has quick-stepped her way to Polesden Lacey in Surrey to find out more. Margaret Greville was the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy Scottish brewer who rose to become a sparkling, socialised and society's best host. Despite being born out of wedlock, Maggie's father fully supported his daughter and bought Polesden Lacey as a country retreat for her in 1906. To give me an insight into the life of the party hostess of the early 20th century, I'm meeting conservation manager Jonathan Marsh. Thanks for having me. Yeah, welcome. So, Polesden Lacey, this was Maggie's home, her country retreat. Why was it such a great place to throw parties? Absolutely, well, I guess the first two things were probably setting and lavish interiors, so amazing views over the Surrey landscape. And then the interiors being remodelled by the same architects as the Ritz Hotel in London. And then it was Maggie herself who really understood her guests. Was it every weekend? Pretty much throughout the summer. So, right from Ascot in June all the way through, and then Christmas was a highlight as well here. So, what would she greet her guests here? That's right. So, all the guests would assemble here in the evening, say six o'clock, wait for their host to arrive downstairs. She paused for effect, like any good hostess, and then came down to then meet the guests. I love the fact that she added drama. And I can see she's got champagne. Absolutely. And we know even when Maggie gave the property to the National Trust that there were 140 full bottles of Bollinger in the cellar. Really? Oh, wow, they did party, didn't they? Absolutely. And with the pop of a cork, Maggie and her guests would take supper. So, yeah, so this is the dining room. This is beautiful. An Edwardian who's who sat around this dinner table, including the King and Queen of Spain and the Duke of York. King George VI also spent part of his honeymoon at Polston Lacey with the late Queen Mother. So, what would they do to entertain the guests all weekend? Yeah, so there was lots of outdoor pursuits. So, actually, Maggie had a tennis court, she had a golf course and croquet as well. For an evening's entertainment, Maggie's party goers would hit the dance floor. Right, I've got my dancing shoes on so I can learn some moves, so I can really immerse myself in the whole Maggie party experience. Teaching me a few Edwardian quick steps, wow, is historical dance choreographer Stuart Marston. Look at this room! With 18-carat gold panelling and a sparkling 4,000-piece crystal chandelier, the saloon was the perfect place for guests to try the latest fashionable dances. Why do you love Edwardian dancing so much? Oh, right, OK, as a dance historian, it's the first time that you can see stuff on film. It's a new era, it's a new century, and then you start getting corset-less dresses. It meant that the women didn't have to have lots of furniture underneath them, petticoats, and so it was a lot more freer, so you actually could get much closer. So, when Maggie used to have her parties here, what sort of dancing would they have been doing? She was a net girl, it was up-to-date, she would have been doing the one step, the two step, the three step, she would have been doing tango. So, what are you going to teach me today? The evil three step, and they're still dancing it today. OK. So, we hold hands, start with the outside foot, which is the one furthest from me, and we walk three steps forward. One, two, three, and then three steps back. After a practice, it's time to put my moves to some typically Edwardian music. By 1913, Maggie's guests would have been dancing the far more scandalous tango. Yes! If only these gold-gilded wolves could talk, they'd have some gossip about the rich and famous who once parted here a century ago. Maggie certainly was a hostess to rival the Rothschilds. Back at Wadsden Manor, Baron Ferdinand could throw an extravagant shindig too, but hidden behind the exuberant parties lay a much simpler man hit by a devastating personal tragedy, the loss of his beloved wife, Evelina. I'm back in the Baron's more intimate study with his descendant, Hannah Rothschild. Here is the picture of Evelina, his wife, which he always kept very close to him. And this is his favourite chair. Yeah, I know, it's posh, isn't it? All this glamorous furniture, and that was his favourite chair in the entire house. She's a statuesque figure, isn't she? She apparently had a fantastic sense of humour, and he absolutely adored her, and her letters are full of these very, very good asides. So how long were they married? They were only married for a year, but they knew each other since they were children. And how old was he when she died? 27, so it's very, very young to be widowed and heartbroken. Evelina died in childbirth, as did their child, and Ferdinand would never marry again. But it was a really tragic story, so I often think when I walk around this house that it is really a testament of love to one woman and one stillborn baby. This was his compensation. I think so, very much so. Filling the gap that she'd left. And he brought himself in here and just sort of disappeared. Yes, and then even better than that, so he disappeared in here, and then he had a very, very secret exit, which very few people know about. No. Oh, yes. I want you to find the secret door. You still can't see it? Ah, yes, I can. Ah, right. Oh, my goodness. Quite cool, isn't it? Snaking staircase. Go on, I'll follow you up. I tell you what, he'd have been ready for bed by the time he got there. It's a long way up. Well, we are going further than we should have done because, actually, they blocked off the exit to his bedroom, so now we're in the valet's room. Oh, so his valet's bedroom would have been above? Yes. How many staff in the house and the garden? So, in the garden, there were 160. I know, amazing. And in the house, there were about 26, so he was never alone. So, actually, to be able to escape up a staircase into your own private space must have been heaven. Can't imagine the frustration of never being alone. I would just want to be solo and Ferdinand found a way of doing it. Indeed. Your life has been tied up with this place. What does it mean to you now? What do you feel about the place? When I was young, I didn't like it very much. I found it very formal and constrictive. I was always worrying about knocking something off. But I think over the years, I've fallen in love with it. And it's partly because it's one man's obsession. And it's partly because every single thing here is excellent. You know, there is not one thing which isn't perfect. And you just think, gosh, human spirit is so extraordinary to create such beauty. Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire was home to the most fabulous parties of the 19th century. Getting an invite from Ferdinand de Rothschild was like winning Willy Wonka's golden ticket. But behind its glamorous facade, its magical creator has proven to be a more complicated and at times introverted character. But despite the many layers of his personality, Ferdinand remained committed to captivating and charming his many guests. And his efforts even extended into the garden. Designed to complement the manor, the garden was intended to be a pleasure ground. Elegant teas were held on the manicured lawn. Guests could visit an aviary filled with exotic birds or admire sculptures which drew them further into the garden. But if Ferdinand built the garden, it was his younger sister and eventual heir, Alice, who saw it blossom. Nowhere more so than on the Grand Parterre, a magnificent display of garden tiers filled with boldly coloured Victorian bedding. To find out more about the indomitable Alice, I'm taking a stroll in the Parterre with the Trust's Pippa Shirley. Pippa, tell me about Alice Rothschild. She was obviously very involved in the garden. She was hugely involved in the garden and she was absolutely passionate about horticulture. In fact, I think in lots of ways, it was the garden that really set her alight rather than the house and the collection. What's wonderful for me is coming here for a fabulous example of what proper Victorian bedding was like. It wasn't subtle, it was so in your face and vibrant and this is it. What was she like to work for with these 160 gardeners that she had? She was a dragon, I think, is the long and short of it. She was an absolute martinet. I mean, her standards were legendary. She used to walk around always with a weeding tool in her hands so that she could extract that kind of offending weed wherever she found it. But all of that, I think she would deeply respect it because she just knew so much. Even the Queen was impressed by Alice and her standards. In fact, she referred to Alice as the all-powerful, which I think... Oh, does that mean she was a bit intimidated by her as well? I think so, I think so. And there was certainly an occasion when she was told not to go on the grass. So Alice told the Queen not to go on the grass? She pulled no punches. I think for Alice, because she spent so much time in the garden, that there are a few interesting features, one might say, for example... It's a tree. It's a tree, but down at the bottom there... Yeah. ...that's a telephone point. No. Yes. I haven't got... Well, we've got mobiles now. Precisely. So what do you do if you're a very busy gardener and you want to keep in touch with your family but, you know, you want to be in the garden and you're a Rothschild, what do you do? You have a telephone point pushing a tree. I've heard of ring-a-ring-a-roses, but I've never rung a tree. Alice was Ferdinand's younger sister. What was their relationship like? I think it was really close. I mean, she came to be his companion, really, after the death of Evelina. She clearly also safeguarded his legacy because it's in no small measure due to her also, as well as Ferdinand, that we have the Waddesdon we know today. I think that's absolutely right. In lots of ways, she was the house's first curator because she cared for the collection, she introduced the housekeeping rules, things like protecting the collection against light, first and foremost. She introduced the cleaning methods, things like only cleaning the porcelain in silence so you couldn't be distracted, so things of that sort. I'm building up an impression of a woman that you would not argue with, but then Queen Victoria knew that, didn't she? Future generations of the family have continued Alice's work, preserving the manor and its collections. But the present Lord Rothschild has commissioned a stunning new space-age home with an eye on the future. Clive Aslett has ventured further into the estate to discover the breathtaking Flint House. As you approach the Flint House, you realise what an incredibly stark contrast it makes with Waddesdon Manor. It's on the same estate, but it could be on a different planet. I'm meeting the architect, Charlotte Skeen Cattling. Hello, Charlotte. It's lovely to meet you. To find out how she worked with the landscape to make this contemporary design a reality. When you first came here, Charlotte, what was it like? It's at the lowest point of the whole estate, and so all the water drains naturally to this point. And very, very beautiful, very quiet, very calm, but it felt like a slightly enchanted place, very, very different to the rest of the estate. And here we have Flint. Yes, yes, it's so beautiful, isn't it? I mean, it is sort of jewel-like and... Amazing. Each one... Oh, I think it's rather sharp. Each one different. Now, one of the Flint workers said, you must never get drunk close to this building. Historically, Flint was fashioned into tools or weapons, but where it was abundant, it could be used to construct whole buildings. It's incredibly durable and resists weathering better than almost any other stone. I sense it's a building which is changing. Here, when the trees have grown up, it's going to be hidden away. Exactly. A secret place. Yes, absolutely. As the site was when we first found it, you know, covered in lichen and moss, and I hope that landscape to sort of reclaim it. Charlotte might have been the architect, but the driving force behind the project was the current Lord Rothschild, Jacob, who, now in his 80s, commissioned this extraordinary house. How did you come to decide to build it? Quite a long story. I had been chairman of the Pritzker Prize for Architecture, so I developed some knowledge of architecture and thought it would be interesting, in England particularly, to try and do some interesting buildings. And what do you think Baron Ferdinand would have made of the Flint house? He had an imagination and he was prepared to do eccentric things. I think he would have loved it. Let's go and have a look inside. Yes, please. Yeah. As well as building striking homes, Lord Rothschild shares another passion with Ferdinand, collecting. So this house is full of things that you've collected. Yes, I'm afraid that by genes, it's almost impossible for me not to collect, because on the Rothschild side, my father collected quite a lot, and then in the 19th century, they collected intensively, and I've collected from the age of nine. So it really is a very large part of my life. Well, you've got this wonderful house. How is it going to be used? That was the problem. We hoped that the director of Watson might live here, but she prefers to go to her own home. Then I thought, well, maybe my children would like to live here. None of them wanted to. I rang up the Gattie Museum in Los Angeles and said, look, why don't we do a joint scholarship scheme? Flint House is now a home and place of study for a scholarship programme in the fields of conservation and history of art. We hope that one would be inspired to write a great article. By nature, how lovely. And it is very beautiful, isn't it? By building this astonishing house, Lord Rothschild is following in the footsteps of his ancestor, Baron Ferdinand, who I'm sure would have approved. Ferdinand's beloved Wosden was eventually bequeathed to the National Trust in the 1950s by Alice's nephew, James de Rothschild. He and Alice had both continued to entertain at Wosden and one treasured thank you letter from the family's vaults is particularly precious and never on display. We've got a letter here from Churchill. So this is in 1925. So this is James Rothschild. So this is James. So James, his great friend. And here he's thanking him. So it's Churchill writing from Chartwell saying, my dear Jimmy, how very kind of you to send me a token of your friendship in such an agreeable form. I shall smoke them with the greatest pleasure. We know what they were then, don't we? And see many visions in their wreaths of smoke. May the new year bring you health. It is the only thing you lack. Let 1926 fill the gap. Such is the wish of your sincere friend, Winston S. Churchill. That's a very nice thing. It's a very nice letter. And they were genuinely close friends. And of course, at this point in 1925, he's a big cheese politically. He's a big cheese, but he still remembers his thank you letters. Note to self, when I've gone away at the end, send you the little thank you note. Absolutely. And within the week, furthermore. The very next day, actually. I was pushing it a bit. It took Ferdinand many years to realise Waddesdon Manor, and he wanted to ensure it lasted. With that in mind, I'm being given rare access to one of the manor's greatest but rarely displayed artefacts. This is an impressive red book. What's in it? Well, it is the red book of Waddesdon Manor, and it's a photographic album, which Ferdinand put together in 1897. So this is the history of the house? It's the most wonderful record for us, because it records the house at a moment in time, at the end of the 19th century. There's the... The gardens out there. Yes, exactly. And then it moves inside. So there, for example, is Ferdinand in the room that you were in. In his favourite chair. In his favourite chair, exactly. Oh, that's exciting. Exactly. So I stood here. Yes. I always find that a wonderful moment, where you think, I've just leapt back 100 years. Yes, yes. One of the things which I find really interesting about this volume is that it was put together in 1897, and of course, a year later, very unexpectedly, he died. So, you know, the red book has this very kind of iconic status, probably more so than he ever intended. This is, in effect, his last will and testament. Sort of. This is what he bequeaths to his heirs and subsequently indirectly to the nation. Exactly. And the essay at the beginning, in it he talks about, you know, the efforts he went to to create Waddesdon and what he thought might happen to it at the end. It's an astonishing comment. A future generation may reap the chief benefit of a work which to me has been a labour of love, though I fear that Waddesdon will share the fate of most properties whose owners have no descendants and fall into decay. May the day be yet distant when weeds will spread over the gardens. Oh! The terraces crumble into dust, the pictures and cabinets cross the Channel or the Atlantic, and the melancholy cry of the nightjar sound from the deserting towers. And thanks to the National Trust, to all of us who support it, that's never happened. I mean, he couldn't have been more wrong, could he? No. 400,000-plus visitors a year. Ferdy, don't worry. It's fine. With Ferdinand's red book to hand, the Rothschild family and the National Trust continue to preserve Ferdinand's great collection. But missing from the morning room, where guests would have kept up with their correspondence, is an extravagant black lacquer desk in need of a little attention. Presenter Oz Clark is on its restoration trail in Kent, where it's under the care of esteemed conservator Yannick Chasteau. Oh, I didn't see you. Are you Yannick? I'm working. I'm Yannick. Good morning. I'm Oz. Nice to meet you. Welcome. Yannick is a specialist conservator in antique furniture and has worked on some of the finest pieces ever made. When you deal with a cabinet that is so historically important, we don't want to make it look new. The point is not to turn it into a new object. If you want to buy a new cabinet, you make a new one. We are preserving history. We are preserving the object for the next generation. The desk was already over 100 years old when Baron Ferdinand bought it in 1890 for a rumoured 40,000 pounds. That's five million pounds in today's money. Although it might not look it right at this minute. We haven't broken it. Don't worry. It's only dismantled. You've taken all of the drawers and all of the door and the gilt bronze. You'd remove them for conservation, obviously. What is that there? That's a clock face, which at the moment we're storing here because it's a very fragile glass, but that's going right at the top here. But what's interesting is when you're sitting at your desk writing your letter, then you want to check the time, but you can't because you bend your neck and you still can't see the clock at the top. So they have another clock just here. There is a clock face right at the front of you when you're writing. And the movement, there is not one movement for this clock, but it's communicating with the clock movement at the top. So it makes sure that it keeps exactly the same time, top and bottom. It's quite awe-inspiring, actually, to just see the guts of it. And it's been built, obviously, for projecting status. And it's as though it's the emperor without any of his clothes on. Fascinating. A lot of the desk's bronze and wood trimmings have been removed to give them a bit of love and attention, including some Japanese lacquer doors, which Yannick is currently working on. You want to start? But in order to get to all of the lacquer, the bronze will have to come off. If you just go down, you hold it there. So always hold your screwdriver with two hands. Oh, I see. Yes. Just in case you just, whoop. That screw is very precious. So we put the screw in the right place, where it came from on the map. You just pierce there, and it goes here. This way, in 10 months' time, we can put the screw back in the right place. So the bronze is coming off. But what's interesting is to see the condition of the lacquer. But also, as you can see, you've got a lot of white residues in the craquelure, and that is from previous cleaning. Craquelure, what does that mean? That's the shrinking of the lacquer. But because the lacquer shrinks too much, eventually it's going to start cracking everywhere. So that's a natural effect of 200 years. To see what Yannick is aiming for, he has another door he's just finished. The lacquer, as you can see, has been dramatically improved, just by removing the white residue. Was that like that? It was like that. That's fantastic. But still seeing the craquelure, and still seeing that it is an old 250-year-old. I think that works very well. And it's only at the beginning of the project, and we'll see in 10 months' time. Hopefully we'll get it all looking glamorous again. There's an awful lot of work still to do to conserve this stunning piece of furniture. But on its return, it will once again stand proud in Waddesdon's morning room. You come to Waddesdon for its elegant house, for its unrivaled collection, and its beautiful gardens. You come for the dazzling allure of the glamour attached to walking the same halls and pathways as the great and the good from the 19th century. But when you get to know it, you discover a man who not only had the vision to build it, but who hosted his famous parties so that others could share it. It's clear that Baron Ferdinand was a complex man who never got over the profound sadness of losing his wife Evelina at such an early age. But he devoted the remainder of his life to giving joy to others who visited Waddesdon. And that joy continues to this day.