Hearst created “the greatest publicity machine in history" but he had a private obsession: Forbes Magazine called him, “quantitively the world's number one collector of objets d'art” and The New York Times stated that during the 1920s and 30s, he alone accounted for 25% of all the world's art market activity.

But to where was this king's ransom headed and hoarded? Some of you will already know of Hearst Castle in California, but lesser known is his 5-story Gothic castle hidden within a Manhattan apartment block; his weekend home on Long Island that was the inspiration for the castle in The Wizard of Oz; his sprawling 12th century castle in Wales; and, the Bavarian village he built around a 7-story schloss deep in the forests of Northern California.

Told through the extravagance of the places he called “home”, join me on a rollercoaster ride through the riches-to-rags story of the extraordinary man parodied as “Citizen Kane”.

“Europe has a great deal of art, and America has a great deal of money,” remarked Joseph Duveen. It was a simple enough observation, but there was only one man who was perfectly positioned to combine his quintessential English charm with an unparalleled gift for creative salesmanship, allowing him to convince the tight-fisted titans of Wall Street (Frick, Huntington, Morgan, Rockefeller, Mellon, etc.) that there was indeed one thing more important than money - art - and “when you pay high for the priceless, you're getting it cheap”.

Without Duveen, the Frick is distinctly worse off and, without Duveen the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the National Gallery of Art in D.C. would struggle, even fail, to be considered world-class today. But was he just a charismatic crook milking millionaires, or was he indeed truly deserving of the title, 'world's greatest art dealer'?

The mansions built during America's “Gilded Age” came in all shapes and sizes, but a significant number of them were inspired by a varied selection of English country houses.

They were all resurrected and lived in by an eclectic mix of millionaires, all with their own aims and ambitions staked within.

Through the splendour of the architecture on both sides of the Atlantic we'll bring to life the quirks, characters (some immortalised in classics of literature), and eye-opening stories behind the houses both in England and America, which more often than not - though centuries apart and quite unbeknownst to their owners - will surprise you with their remarkably similar backstories.

Between 1870 and 1914, at the height of the Gilded Age, no less than 454 heiresses exchanged their crisp, new American dollars, for musty, old European titles.

Aside from the new lease of life now afforded to the previously cash-strapped aristocrats, the first task was to restore their crumbling, ancestral piles - many of which are counted today among our best-loved international treasures. But just who was taking advantage of who?

Buckle up for a raucous ride as we take a closer look at the most significant - and most entertaining - protagonists central to the “transatlantic marriage bureau” and learn about a very different side to the history of some of Europe's best loved architectural gems.