The Duke of Wellington sits at the candlelit dinner table chatting nonchalantly to the cream of Regency society. Ladies in silk ball gowns and officers in dress uniform hang on his conversation as they sip from crystal glasses.
Next door, in the ballroom, carefree couples twirl beneath vast chandeliers and kilted Gordon Highlanders perform a sword dance to the skirl of pipes.
It is June 15, 1815, and Charlotte, Duchess of Richmond, is entertaining 540 guests and army commanders at her rented home in Brussels.
But this soiree is about to end in tears and tragedy, making it the most famous ball in history. And tomorrow the events are recreated in the opening episode of new ITV drama Belgravia.
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