The new BritBox series Outrageous is hilarious, fast-paced, and—to borrow a British phrase—an absolute blast. But how accurate is its portrayal of the Mitford sisters’ lives?

Diana, Jessica, Unity, Nancy, Deborah, and Pamela Mitford were among the most talked-about women of their era, so it’s natural to question whether the stories in Sarah Williams’s screenplay—based on Mary S. Lovell’s 2001 book The Mitford Girls—are rooted in reality. Don’t worry—we’ve sorted fact from fiction so you can enjoy the first two episodes without constantly checking Wikipedia to confirm just how fascist Diana Mitford really was. (Spoiler: Very.) Here’s what you need to know about the real history behind Outrageous:

### Was Diana Mitford really married to one of London’s richest men?
Yes! Before Diana married Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists, her first husband was Bryan Guinness, heir to the Guinness brewing fortune and the Moyne barony. Guinness was part of London’s “Bright Young Things,” a group of wealthy socialites known for their wild parties and extravagant lifestyles. His family’s fortune would be worth around $983 million today, making him one of the most eligible bachelors of his time.

### Was Nancy Mitford’s fiancé, Hamish Erskine, really gay?
Yes—Erskine was as openly gay as one could be in pre-WWII England, even having an affair with Nancy’s brother, Tom Mitford, while at Eton. Despite this, Nancy was deeply infatuated with him, basing the male lead in her first novel, Highland Fling, on Erskine.

Art historian Lisa Hilton, author of The Horror of Love, recently told the New Zealand Herald: “Hamish was a perfectly ghastly character, but Nancy was still quite prim. I wonder if she stayed with him as a form of self-protection—by not marrying young like her peers, she preserved herself. Many more suitable men wanted to marry her, yet she stuck with the giggling Hamish. That says a lot about her own hang-ups—maybe she just didn’t want to marry at all.”

### Did hunger marchers really protest at the Mitfords’ door?
There’s no direct evidence that hunger marchers demonstrated outside the Mitford home (as shown in Outrageous), but Jessica Mitford, a lifelong pacifist, developed strong socialist views early on. In her 1960 memoir Hons and Rebels, she described London’s political climate:

“Hunger marches, small at first, then swelling with entire communities, filled the papers… Patriotism and jingoism were under attack by young writers. Pacifism, born from a fear of another war, swept through my generation. Like many, I became a pacifist first, then embraced socialism.”

### Were Unity and Jessica Mitford really close?
Despite their wildly opposing politics—Unity adored Hitler, while Jessica was a communist—the sisters were indeed close in their youth. Born three years apart (Unity in 1914, Jessica in 1917), they shared a bedroom, decorating their sides with clashing symbols: Jessica’s with hammer-and-sickle posters of Lenin, Unity’s with swastikas and Hitler portraits. However, their relationship was also marked by long estrangements.Yes, Unity Mitford did have a pet rat. According to Lauren Young’s 2022 book Hitler’s Girl: The British Aristocracy and the Third Reich on the Eve of WWII, Unity would sometimes wear her pet snake, Enid, around her neck at parties. When she got bored—which happened often—she would let her rat, Ratular, loose to liven things up.