Dame Harriet Walter delves into her family history on Thursday's episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, uncovering her mother's secret wartime role in naval intelligence.
The 75-year-old actress, known for Downton Abbey, Succession, and Killing Eve, explores her lineage, including her flamboyant Italian great-great-grandfather Girolamo Carindini, an aristocrat who fled to Tasmania and married Australia's first opera diva.
Mother's secret war work
In an exclusive clip, Walter shares old photos of her mother, Xandra Lee, elder sister of actor Sir Christopher Lee. She describes her mother as "a very sweet woman" with "the most amazing sense of humour", but who was "slightly belittled by the men in my family."
Walter recalls her mother's vague account of her war service: "She worked in naval intelligence in the Admiralty, but she said, you would never in a million years tell your best friend, your husband, anybody what you were doing... She said she was one of thousands of cogs in the machine."
Using an archive database, Walter finds a 1935 Tatler article showing her mother at a debutante ball, exclaiming, "This isn't war work mummy!" Later in the episode, she discovers her mother played a key part in the war effort, never revealing it.
Family history and ancestors
The episode also traces Walter's ancestors from Whitehall to Italy and Australia, including Girolamo Carindini, an Italian aristocrat who fled into exile and settled in Tasmania. A synopsis notes: "Here, he married Australia’s first opera diva. But drama and trouble followed Girolamo as he made as many headlines for his appearances in the debtor’s court as he did for his theatrical performances."
Who Do You Think You Are? airs at 9pm on Thursday 30 July on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
