Lord Montagu

As the youngest member in parliament and sole heir to his family's 7,000-acre English estate, Lord Edward Montagu's life was rich and privileged. However, in 1954, Edward Montagu, then aged 25, became England's most infamous aristocrat when he was arrested for homosexual offenses and became the focus of a landmark trial known as “The Montagu Case.” His guilty verdict sent off shock waves and became the catalyst to overturn a centuries old law, but Montagu’s once pristine reputation and career were all but ruined. After serving a year in prison, Montagu rose back into the spotlight when he boldly transformed his private estate and family home into a public tourist attraction. He created spectacles at his home, most notably Britain's first motor museum, and thus invented a new form of tourism known as “the stately home business.” His showmanship and success inspired a new breed of aristocrats to open their doors and transformed Edward Montagu into a prominent and esteemed national figure.