FAQ

The script for Kind Hearts and Coronets was written by British screenwriters John Dighton (1909-1989) and Robert Hamer (1911-1963), who very loosely based it on the novel Israel Rank (1907) by Roy Harniman.

It's from an 1842 Tennyson poem titled Lady Clara Vere de Vere. The reference is in the 7th verse: Trust me, Clara Vere de Vere, From yon blue heavens above us bent The gardener Adam and his wife Smile at the claims of long descent. However it be, it seems to me, 'Tis only noble to be good. Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood.

Ascoyne d'Ascoyne: Mazzini releases his punt from its moorings, and he falls over a weir with his mistress.

Henry d'Ascoyne: His darkroom goes up in flames after Mazzini has replaced the paraffin (kerosene) with petrol (gasoline)

Canon d'Ascoyne (The Parson): Poisoned port

Lady Agatha d'Ascoyne: Mazzini bursts her hot-air balloon with an arrow, and she falls to her death

Admiral d'Ascoyne (The Admiral): "Goes down with his ship" after a naval disaster (not murdered)

General d'Ascoyne (The General): blown up by a bomb concealed in a pot of caviar

Lord d'Ascoyne Ethelbert (The Duke): caught in a man-trap and shot

Henry d'Ascoyne, Sr. (The Banker): already weak from a stroke, dies after a heart attack after hearing that he is now the Ninth Duke of Chalfont

No, it is fictional.