James Lees-Milne

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James Lees-Milne (1908–1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses. He worked for the National Trust from 1936 to 1973, helping to transfer many country houses into its care. He was also a novelist, biographer and, most famously, the author of twelve volumes of diaries that reveal his wit, honesty, and love of art and architecture. Born at Wickhamford Manor in Worcestershire, he studied at Lockers Park, Eton, and Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1951 he married Alvilde, Viscountess Chaplin; they were both bisexual, and she died in 1994. Later life saw him living at Essex House on the Badminton estate in Gloucestershire and serving as a trustee for Bath Preservation Trust and Beckford’s Tower Trust. He declined a knighthood in 1993 and died in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, in 1997, with his ashes scattered at Essex House. He was connected with many notable figures of his day and wrote biographies of people like Harold Nicolson.