This remarkable exchange of correspondence is largely between Calouste Gulbenkian, living in Lisbon, and his only grandchild, Mikaël Essayan, at a boarding school in wartime Britain in the 1940s. Mikaël’s parents are in Nazi occupied Paris and direct communication with their son in the UK is impossible or, at best, very difficult.

Gulbenkian assumes the responsibility of Mikaël’s education, who has to deal with the academic and social challenges of an English school, being a minority in a dominant culture, the absence of parents, a manipulative uncle, and a grandfather who deeply cares for him but wants to control every aspect of his life. Gulbenkian seems to be grooming his teenage grandson as the heir apparent of the family fortune and legacy.

The letters contain much advice and are reflective of Gulbenkian’s thinking. They are the closest we can come to understanding the inner thoughts and beliefs of Mr. 5%, an intensely private man, as he speaks of his values, as he gives advice on what to study, and as he takes decisions over both important and mundane manners in the life of his ‘Dauphin’. We get to learn what Gulbenkian considered ‘good’ education, what he thought of Armenian identity, how a ‘gentleman’ should act, and what would make a proper Christmas present…