"I can't get too upset because it's drama. As long as you know it's entertainment," he says.

"It's beautifully photographed. It's big-budget - or at least not an inconsiderable budget - but you know, it's obviously selecting elements based on history and it does say very categorically it's fiction based on fact."

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Lord Iveagh in the beer garden of The Guinness Arms(Image: Lucy Taylor)

House of Guinness is about a subject close to his heart - his family history.

The earl is head of the Guinness family - a brewing dynasty made famous by its thick, black creamy stout made for centuries at St James's Gate Brewery in Dublin.

He was born in Dublin and raised on the family estate at Farmleigh - now owned by the Irish state - and divides his time between Suffolk and County Meath in Ireland.

The harp in the Guinness trade mark(Image: Lucy Taylor)

His home is an estate house on the beautiful Elveden Estate - set in the scenic Brecklands on the Suffolk/Norfolk border near Thetford.

The estate contains the gorgeously decorated Elveden Hall - a frequent backdrop for films and TV series. It is no longer a family abode as it is considered too large for modern living.

But it was once the home of the last ruler of the Sikh empire - Maharajah Duleep Singh - who created the stunning Marble Hall.

After the Maharajah's death in 1893 the estate was purchased by the First Earl of Iveagh - the current earl's great-great-grandfather, born in 1847, who would become the richest man in Ireland.

This first earl is one of the main protagonists in the Netflix series. In 1876 at the age of just 29, he became sole owner of the brewery after buying out his older brother.

The siblings at the centre of the Netflix House of Guinness drama - Arthur, Benjamin, Edward and Anne - with their parents(Image: Lucy Taylor)

As it happens, Lord Iveagh - known to his friends as Ned or Edward - has just published his own history of the first generations of the famous brewing dynasty to coincide with the series' release.

More: Earl's heirlooms sale

The Guinness heir was invited to the premiere of House of Guinness where a select audience was shown the first two episodes of writer Steven Knight's ahistorical romp, including members of the Guinness family.

St James's Gate, Dublin(Image: PA)

Riding roughshod over recorded Guinness family history, the Peaky Blinders creator fuses fact and fiction as beer barrels burn and siblings seethe.

The series' basic premise is that four Guinness siblings - Arthur, Edward, Anne, and Ben - gather for their father Sir Benjamin........

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