But with a new year comes the opportunity for a fresh start – for her and for Longleat, which she wants to use in ‘the most diverse way possible’. It’s clear she is bursting to begin again. ‘I have my list,’ she says, clapping animatedly. ‘Dolce & Gabbana launched a jungle collection recently. Could you imagine a fashion show at Longleat?’ She has modelled for the brand before, in 2018 at Lake Como alongside her best friend and Henry’s godmother, Lady Kitty Spencer.
Another project keeping her upbeat is Emma’s Kitchen, a café and shop on the estate that draws on its historic recipes, which she hopes to reopen soon. ‘I want to bring everything back to Longleat: the Capability Brown-designed kitchen garden; I’d love a floristry. And pineapples. They used to grow them in huge quantities because they were such a status symbol.’
It’s clear she misses the days when Longleat was a social hub, as it was originally intended to be. ‘The last party we had before we closed the house was for my Strictly partner, Aljaž [Škorjanec],’ she says mournfully. Have they stayed in touch? ‘He’s been a real rock through lockdown,’ she says. ‘We all had Strictly Zoom quizzes to keep our spirits up.’ Given her past foray into acting, would she have another go? ‘I think I’m more suited to presenting,’ she says. But if offered the role of Bond girl, she concedes with a grin, she would ‘definitely say yes’. In the meantime, she’d like to follow in Mary Berry’s footsteps, and hopes one day to have her own cookery show.
In years gone by, a marchioness of Bath would hardly have been expected to pursue her own career. But Ceawlin is ‘very supportive’ of Emma’s ambitions, and as the first lockdown eased, she was delighted to get back to work, filming a show about black history in schools. She was also moved to be asked by her ‘role model’ Doreen Lawrence to appear in a campaign for the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, commemorating Doreen’s murdered son.
Lockdown lows have been eased by the quiet tranquillity of animals on the estate, though Emma is worried the sea lions have become lonely since visitor numbers dropped. And what of the late Lord Bath’s colourful effects? The Kama Sutra room, she says, will probably remain. ‘It’s always fun choosing who can stay in that room.’ The rest will be ‘up to Ceawlin to decide’.