Eleanor Doughty was born in 1992 in Wiltshire, England. She began her career in journalism as an intern at The Times, before taking a staff job at the Daily Telegraph. Having worked at the i newspaper as deputy comment editor, she went freelance to concentrate on writing in 2019. She has written the Great Estates column in the Telegraph since 2017, and specialises in writing about the British aristocracy, the moneyed and titled classes, the rural economy and in particular country houses and their owners.