Sayers did have Peter become Duke - unofficially in her head, but also more officially in The Wimsey Family, which is a sort of jeu d'esprit genealogy compiled from letters she exchanged with CW Scott-Giles, who was official herald and so into that sort of thing professionally. It wasn't published until well after her death, but her correspondence with him is kind of her most formal writing on the subject. But I digress...
The letter I was referring to is in the third volume, Jan. 19149, and the relevant bit goes: "I have not heard from [Lord Peter Wimsey and his family] for some time, but I believe they are all doing quite well. Of course the family income from landed estate is considerably reduced; but as long as Harriet can turn out readable fiction they will probably still be paying super-tax".
In fairness to JPW, 1951 is before her books are set, and no doubt the Denver estate is less dependent for its income on housing that's been flattened in the war (not of course that Peter is anywhere near broke - just that immediately post-war he'd still be spending a lot of his income from housing on repairing/rebuilding it). Still, with death duties and post-war taxes etc. I bet that Harriet is providing a good deal of their spending money.
no subject
The letter I was referring to is in the third volume, Jan. 19149, and the relevant bit goes: "I have not heard from [Lord Peter Wimsey and his family] for some time, but I believe they are all doing quite well. Of course the family income from landed estate is considerably reduced; but as long as Harriet can turn out readable fiction they will probably still be paying super-tax".
In fairness to JPW, 1951 is before her books are set, and no doubt the Denver estate is less dependent for its income on housing that's been flattened in the war (not of course that Peter is anywhere near broke - just that immediately post-war he'd still be spending a lot of his income from housing on repairing/rebuilding it). Still, with death duties and post-war taxes etc. I bet that Harriet is providing a good deal of their spending money.