Baroness von Kielmansegg, half-sister of King George I, was made countess of Darlington in 1722.
During the 1930s, the Earl hosted numerous conferences and secret meetings between Germany, the United Kingdom, and other European powers in Darlington Hall.
The Germans manipulated the Earl so that he persuaded the British government to negotiate the appeasement peace treaty in its favour, which eventually resulted in the outbreak of the Second World War.
Afterwards, his heirs auctioned off Darlington Hall and all of its belongings in order to raise money to pay for death duties and other taxes.
The novel was adapted into a 1993 film by Merchant Ivory Productions starring Anthony Hopkins as Stevens and Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton.