My ancestor was called a Titanic traitor. but I'll stick up for him

Star on family history of 'treachery' at sea

- BY MARC BAKER

CELIA Imrie insists she has no treachery in her DNA ahead of The Celebrity Traitors next week, despite having an ancestor who was accused of skulduggery aboard the doomed Titanic.

Her ancestral cousin, Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, was alleged to have bribed the crew with a £5 cheque for him and his wife Lucy to board the first lifeboat.

They were among 12 people rescued in the boat, which had capacity for 40, despite the captain having declared it was for women and children only.

But Celia, 73, is having none of it and is quick to defend the Scottish baronet, whose wife was a famous dress designer, declaring: "I will stick up for him."

Research shows Sir Cosmo gave the money to the crew for a new life, she said, not knowing the liner would sink after hitting an iceberg on April 10, 1912, claiming 1500 lives.

Celia said: "He thought he was doing a good thing and, at that point, I am sure they thought they were all going to get off. They could not possibly have known what was to follow." Recalling Lucy with some admiration, Celia added: "She invented the tea gown, the slip skirt and the catwalk. She was very famous and made dresses for the Hollywood stars."

But the scandal was so onerous for his family that Celia says when she played a fictional passenger in a 2012 Julian Fellowes drama, Titanic, she was asked if the Duff-Gordons could be left out.

Celia said: "One of his distant relations said, 'Please tell Julian Fellowes not to bring all that up again', because it clearly upset the whole generation."