VICTOBER 2025 discussion

Hey everyone! I was wondering if anyone could give me recommendations for books focusing on the aristocracy and the wealthy?

Hi Whitney, I recommend Lord Gower's diaries. Lord Ronald Gower was an aristocrat (son of the 2nd Duke of Sutherland), politician, artist and more who published two volumes of his edited journals in 1883 and a third in 1902. These diaries are a who’s who of aristocrats, politicians, artists, etc. of Victorian society. My Reminiscences vol. I covers 1845-1872, vol. II covers 1871-1880, and Old Diaries covers 1881-1901 ending with the death of Queen Victoria. The diaries are filled with descriptions, anecdotes, quotes from letters (including letters from the queen), photos, etc. and include detailed indices at the end of each book. Lord Gower never married, was part of the LGBTQ set, and is reportedly Oscar Wilde’s model for the character Lord Henry Wotton in The Picture of Dorian Gray. All three diaries are scanned to pdf and are freely available on Google Books.