A reality show on Jacob Rees-Mogg’s wife and six children had many rolling their eyes – but similarly attracted a flurry viewers who were baffled by how watchable they’d found the inside look into the self-admittedly, deeply ‘posh’ family.
And for many critics, there is one specific standout act – 47-year-old Helena, who met her future politician husband when they were both children and is reportedly set to inherit her family’s ‘£45 million’ fortune.
‘My obsession with Jacob’s wife runs deep,’ the Guardian’s TV reviewer Lucy Mangan admitted.
‘Helena quickly becomes the star of the show. The general election is announced. “The mood in the country,” she says, without moving her lips or jaw, “is anti-Conservative. Possibly with some justification, unfortunately.” It’s incredible.’
Elsewhere, the Times’s Carol Midgley found that Helena was ‘the most grounded and funny’ of the family.
In another article, the Telegraph praises that ‘Helena copes admirably with the chaos of such a large brood (admittedly, three are away at boarding school) and is capable of poking fun at herself’.
However despite her seemingly grounded nature, Helena – whose full name is Helena Anne Beatrix Wentworth Fitzwilliam de Chair – comes from far from humble beginnings.
She grew up in a sprawling 18th-century built estate, Bourne Park in Kent – cared for by a nanny – which comes with its own cricket ground. It is currently a Grade I listed property.
A reality show on Jacob Rees-Mogg ‘s wife and six children had many rolling their eyes – but similarly attracted a flurry viewers who were baffled by how watchable they’d found the inside look into the self-admittedly, deeply ‘posh’ family. Jacob and Helena in 2006
The couple appeared on the ITV programme by hosts Cat Deeley and Dermot O’Leary to promote their new fly-on-the-wall documentary after a trailer was released last week
The couple got married in Canterbury Cathedral in 2007. Pictured together on their wedding day 17 years ago
However despite her seemingly grounded nature, Helena – whose full name is Helena Anne Beatrix Wentworth Fitzwilliam de Chair – comes from far from humble beginnings
Speaking to the Telegraph , she admitted that it was only after being sent off to boarding school aged 10 did she realise how wealthy her upbringing was. Pictured with her husband and kids
Her father, Conservative MP Somerset de Chair was ‘elderly’ by the time Helena was born (her dad was 65) but ‘loving’.
Meanwhile her mother Lady Juliet Wentworth-Fitzwilliam was the sole heiress of the wealthy 8th Earl Fitzwilliam.
When Juliet was only a teenager, her father passed away in a plane crash with his mistress, Kathleen Cavendish – whose brother, JFK, would go on to be US President.
The family fortune – allegedly worth several millions – is now set to be owned by Helena one day.
Speaking to the Telegraph, she admitted that it was only after being sent off to boarding school aged 10 did she realise how wealthy her upbringing was.
‘Helena, is it true you live in a mansion?’ they ask. ‘I had no idea what a mansion was,’ she admitted.
After graduating, Helena enrolled at Bristol University to study chemistry – and was set for a career at Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI).
However, she soon found the idea of being in a lab all the time restless, choosing instead to work as a journalist at Argus Media, specialising in the oil industry.
Her father, Conservative MP Somerset de Chair was ‘elderly’ by the time Helena was born (her dad was 65) but ‘loving’. Pictured with Jacob and their baby in 2017
In 2003, she would cross paths with Jacob for the second time in her life – the first being when she was only a toddler. Pictured in 2017
By 2010, Helena had quit work and already had Peter, now 17, Mary, 16, and Thomas, 14. Pictured in 2017 with their family
In 2003, she would cross paths with Jacob for the second time in her life – the first being when she was only a toddler.
As their parents were old friends, Lady Juliet Tadgell and Gillian Shakespeare Morris had hosted a lunch together which both the children attended.
However, they have no memory of it – given that Helena was one, and Jacob, nine.
Decades later, the politician had showed off his smooth-talking prowess at a party in Mayfair, hosted by his younger sister Annunziata. The cause célèbre? A campaign for a referendum on the European Constitution.
‘He delivered a 20-minute lecture on my ancestor Thomas Wentworth, first Earl of Stafford, who was a prominent supporter of Charles I,’ she told the Telegraph.
‘I staggered away after about 20 minutes. But I do remember that evening I was wearing a white Jasper Conran trouser suit from Debenhams.’
It’s clear the efforts paid off – just four years later, the couple got married in Canterbury Cathedral.
By 2010, Helena had quit work and already had Peter, now 17, Mary, 16, and Thomas, 14.
Although he was not around to help change the nappies – the former MP’s wife told the outlet that he has ‘never changed one in his life’ – Helena praised Jacob as a doting father and husband
Although, she admitted, his romance lies on the eccentric side – as she revealed he once gave her an ‘amethyst shaped like a heart on a chain when we were engaged’
They last had a baby in 2017, and now have six children all together, with the addition of Anselm, 12, Alfred, eight, and Sixtus, seven.
Although he was not around to help change the nappies – the former MP’s wife told the outlet that he has ‘never changed one in his life’ – Helena praised Jacob as a doting father and husband.
‘I think they imagine he is rather austere and cold. But he’s not at all. He’s very light hearted and fun,’ she told the outlet.
Although, she admitted, his romance lies on the eccentric side – as she revealed he once gave her an ‘amethyst shaped like a heart on a chain when we were engaged’.
‘Evidently Jacob is not one for spontaneously buying flowers,’ she added.
Since their marriage in 2007, Jacob and Helena have also bought two properties in which they live.
The first is a house in his North East Somerset constituency which they purchased outright in 2010 for £2.9million; the second is a house in Westminster which they bought in 2018 for £5.6million.
The politician lost his Somerset North East & Hanham seat in July’s General Election to Labour’s Dan Norris by more than 5,000 votes.
Since their marriage in 2007, Jacob and Helena have also bought two properties in which they live
For many critics of the show, there is one specific standout act – 47-year-old Helena, who met her future politician husband when they were both children and is reportedly set to inherit her family’s ‘£45 million’ fortune
Afterwards, he said he could not ‘blame anybody other than myself’ and that it had been ‘a very bad night for the Conservatives’.
Elsewhere, Jacob left viewers stunned when he compared himself and his wife Helena to Tyson and Paris Fury in a baffling This Morning interview on Wednesday.
The couple appeared on the ITV programme by hosts Cat Deeley and Dermot O’Leary to promote their new fly-on-the-wall documentary after a trailer was released last week.
Cat asked the duo: ‘Have you ever seen anything like it before? You say in the show “I’ve never seen The Kardashians” but did you start watching The Fury’s or something?’
‘We did watch it in the summer,’ admitted Jacob, with Helena chiming in with: ‘We did watch The Furys together’.
‘As your homework? joked a stunned Cat, to which Helena added: ‘It was too late by then we’d started’ and Jacob agreed: ‘We were well into it by then’.
The politician added: ‘But I thought, and this is what’s happening now with this programme, I thought Mrs. Fury was wonderful and I think Helena comes out of this wonderfully.
‘Mr. Fury and I are sort of the old grumps in the background but I don’t mind that. Helena and Mrs. Fury are great stars in all of this.’
Suddenly, the interview took another bizarre turn as Helena jumped in to say: ‘Very kind, I think she’s much, much hotter than me so.’
‘Don’t talk yourself down,’ quipped Dermot, before laughing: ‘I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.’
At Home With The Furys was hugely popular on Netflix when it was released last year and immediately rose to the top of the streaming service’s charts.
With a similar concept to Meet The Rees-Moggs, their entertaining reality TV show gave an insight into their life parenting their six children.