The Secret Life of the Savoy

The story of the Savoy's founders, through three generations and a hundred years of luxury

In 1889, Victorian impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte opened The Savoy, Britain's first luxury hotel. Allowing the rich to live like royalty, it attracted glamour, scandal and a cast of eccentric characters, with the D'Oyly Carte family elevated to a unique vantage point on high society.

THE SECRET LIFE OF THE SAVOY tells their story through three generations: Richard (a showman who made his fortune from the Gilbert and Sullivan operas), Rupert (who expanded the D'Oyly Carte empire through two world wars and the roaring twenties), and Bridget (the reluctant heiress and last of the family line).

In this, the first biography of the family, Olivia Williams revives their extroardinary cultural legacy, told through the prism of their iconic hotel and its many distinguished guests.

Olivia Williams graduated with a scholarship in Modern History from St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where she remained for her master's degree.  She workd as a journalist before writing her first book Gin Glorious Gin, and now works as a freelance writer living in Lond.

The Secret Life of the Savoy

Olivia Williams

Hachette Australia

RRP: $32.99

Buy this book