章 3: Chapter 3 Inheritance Tax and Debt
"From dust you are, to dust you shall return. May the mercy of the Lord be with you forever. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen..."It can be said that the funeral of the Devonshire family shook the entire British aristocratic circle. After all, within a few days, three direct members of the family passed away one after another. Such a large duke family only had a young son who had just come of age left. Such a thing has not happened in Britain for many years. The last time such a memory occurred was probably during the two world wars...
This time, the funeral of the Cavendish family was also quite grand. Not only were many nobles present, but even the Crown Prince, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, came to Derbyshire in person to attend the funeral.
"Lord Barron, please accept my condolences..."
This was also the first time in two lifetimes that Barron had seen a celebrity of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales's level in person. However, now was not the time for him to be excited. What he had experienced in the past few days had already made him calm about everything.
"Your Highness, thank you very much for coming here..."
In fact, through what he has learned during this period of time, he also understood that the reason why His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales came in person might not be because of his current father, the 12th Duke of Devonshire, but because of his grandmother, the 11th Duchess of Devonshire.
Speaking of his grandmother, she was also a very famous person.
Her name is Deborah Cavendish. She was once one of the famous "Mitford Six Sisters" in the British upper class. She was born on March 31, 1920, the youngest daughter of David Freeman Mitford, the second Baron Ridsdale, and Sydney Freeman Mitford.
Her family had been ennobled since the Germanic conquests (5th-6th centuries).
It can be said that throughout World War II, the "Mitford Six Sisters", who had different personalities and political inclinations, were one of the most well-known labels in the British aristocratic circle.
Just like the Prince of Wales stood 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 someone who will be easily forgotten. The joy she brought to everyone through those books and her contribution to Chatsworth will not be forgotten..."
…
After the funeral, all the guests left and the entire Chatsworth House returned to silence.
But the matter was not over yet. Barron had to face a more troublesome matter!
According to the relevant laws of England, as the second son of the family, it could be said that the burden of the family would not fall on him. His predecessor had always believed this since he was a child. His elder brother, as the eldest son, would inherit the title of Duke of Devonshire. The other party was a steady and mature person, and had been trained as the heir of the family early on. In everyone's opinion, he was also the most suitable heir.
As the second son of the family, Barron Cavendish would at most inherit a lower-level title, well, at most get a share of the property...
Besides, no matter who looks at it, this young master who has a frivolous personality and likes to hang out in nightclubs, although he looks more handsome, his eccentric personality does not really look like a "traditional aristocrat".
But things are so dramatic. His father and brother died in a car accident at the same time. Then, as the only direct member of the Cavendish family, Barron became the first heir and would inherit the title of Duke of Devonshire and all the family property.
Normally, he would be able to successfully become a British nobleman with a Union Jack flag and live a boring, shameless aristocratic life...
But things are not that simple. After asking Butler Sean, and especially after checking the family's asset bills, Barron finally understood the dilemma he was facing.
First of all, as the heir to the family, if he wants to inherit the title and family property, he must first solve the huge inheritance tax problem!
Normally, the inheritance tax rate in the UK is as high as 40% - now it is much less, and at most it can be as high as 80%!
However, the Cavendish family had foresight and packaged most of the family's assets in the form of a trust fund, which could exempt a large part of the inheritance tax, but the remaining fees to be paid were still not small...
However, inheritance tax is probably not the most troublesome thing he has to face, because the debt of the entire family is what he needs to solve most at this moment!
This has to start with Barron's grandfather.
The entire Cavendish family was passed down to Barron's generation, the 18th and 13th Duke of Devonshire.
At the peak of the Devonshire family, there were eight huge estates in England and Ireland, covering an area of more than 200,000 acres. The inheritance tax paid by the Devonshire family alone exceeded one million pounds at one time. That was 1 million pounds in the early 19th century!
It can be said that at that time, ordinary people might not be able to save hundreds of pounds in their lifetime!
By the time of the tenth Duke of Devonshire, Barron's great-grandfather, the economic situation of the Devonshire family was worrying due to the poor management of the previous Duke of Devonshire and the Great Depression in the entire British economy at that time.
The tenth Duke of Devonshire felt the burden of the huge inheritance tax on his family, so he tried every means to evade the huge inheritance tax through the foundation model to reduce the burden on future generations.
According to the regulations at the time, an estate had to be packaged into a trust fund for five years before it would be eligible for exemption from estate tax.
The 10th Duke of Devonshire was in his prime at the time, and without considering any special conditions with his health, he transferred all his property to the trust fund without hesitation.
Unexpectedly, at the beginning of the fifth year after the tenth Duke of Devonshire transferred his property, he died of a sudden heart attack three months before the five-year deadline. His successor, the eleventh Duke of Devonshire Andrew, Barron's grandfather, faced an inheritance tax rate of up to 80% - he had to pay an inheritance tax of 7 million pounds.
Andrew had two choices: one was to sell the estate and inherit it after paying the property tax; the other was to earn the 7 million pounds through his own efforts.
In the end, in order to preserve most of the family 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 manor, and part of his collection including Rembrandt and Raphael paintings...
Then, he worked hard to make money to pay off the inheritance tax, and finally paid off the inheritance tax of 7 million pounds in installments over a period of 24 years in 1974, thus becoming the real Duke of Devonshire.
It can be said that Barron's grandfather retained hope for the family in the future...
But the problem lies with Barron's father. After the family finally started to make a profit by opening the manor, undertaking activities, and opening other industries such as hotels, he did not expect that he would suffer huge losses due to investment at this time!
After checking the list of family assets and debts, under the explanation of housekeeper Sean and the family trust fund manager, Barron was speechless to find that the entire family trust had a debt of more than 30 million pounds at this time!
In addition, if he wants to successfully inherit the dukedom and keep the family assets, then in total, plus inheritance tax, he needs to come up with at least more than 35 million pounds!
At this moment, Barron even had the idea of giving up everything and starting over...
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