The 11th Duke of Devonshire was the only duke I ever knew or am likely ever to know.
He told me that his father, who died as long ago as 1950, had been approached by several peers — hereditary peers the overwhelming majority in those days in the House of Lords — to see if they could not liberalise the law for homosexuals.
‘Throughout my lifetime’, he correctly stated, ‘it has been illegal. You’ll help to make it allowable. By the time your son inherits, it will have become
