Emma Rutland is the kind of person who clearly gets things done. Whether that’s bringing overseas business onto her vast estate at Belvoir, making the tough decision to lay off more than 100 staff, or meeting and greeting the great and the good.

As Duchess of Rutland and, for all intents and purposes, the chief executive officer of Belvoir Castle, she needs to be on the ball.

She runs a business empire that encompasses everything from weddings to lettings to corporate events and game fairs. It also continues to be a popular tourist attraction.

Annual turnover is in the region of £6 million across all the enterprises.

She is also a brand in herself. Much as UK manufacturers love the notion of having By Appointment to HM The Queen stamped across their tins, bottles and boxes, luxury marques are keen to have her as an ambassador.

For instance, the grade-I listed castle was built as a hunting lodge and Longthorne Gunmakers, of Lancashire, have worked with the family on a Rutland Range of game guns, with intricate designs including the Duchess’s logo.

Then there is her relationship with Oxfordshire-based Crown Pavilions. She has put her name to a range of wooden garden buildings appropriately called The Duchess Collection.

She has also helped develop a range of soft drinks called The Duchess Botanicals, through a business run by her brother in Wales, called Radnor Hills Water.

If that weren’t enough to keep her busy, she has developed The Emma – Duchess of Rutland Collection of traditional English furniture with a firm called Tetrad Furniture.

The collection has been created by restoring and reproducing original pieces from inside the castle. (She has a background in interior design, by the way).

Despite such apparent success – and the vast value of her home and 15,000-acre estate – she said things had not always been easy.

The duchess said: “About 15 years ago we were running very much as a loss – the castle was open to the public 180 days a year with occasional weddings and events in the park.

“I began to look at the bottom line and realised that by the time we had spent enormous amounts on vast amounts of publicity and staffing and the restaurant – not knowing if people were turning up or not – we decided that we had to either invest in another attraction here or turn it all around.

“I decided that I would look at taking it back to its roots.”

Doing so meant drastically cutting the number of days the castle was open to the public each spring and summer.

The castle, she said, was built as a hunting and shooting lodge 200 years ago with the original family spending their winter’s there.

The rest of the time they enjoyed the racing at their home in Newmarket and fishing at Haddon Hall, Derbyshire, which the family still own.

Through the winter the doors at Belvoir Castle are opened to shooting groups, offering partridge and pheasant shooting and clay pigeon shooting, for groups of up to 16.

The shoot is said to be one of the most sought after in the country, with a full season running from September 1 until January 31.

The scale and beauty of the estate and the breadth of service provided attracts guests from as far afield as China, Russia, the US, Scandinavia, Greece and Japan.

The duchess said it was perfectly located for guests to fly into East Midlands Airport, stay at the castle or nearby pubs and enjoy a couple of days of sport in the glorious north Leicestershire countryside.

Corporate events are also big earners.

She said: “We are bringing business to the area. There are people from overseas and a lot of British people as well. Lots of different people want to use the castle – to have corporate events or conferences.

“There are lots of break-out rooms, with screens that drop out of the ceilings, and every room has wi-fi.”

Despite that, savings have had to be made across the board while using local suppliers whenever possible.

The castle now has a biomass burner that cost £300,000 to install, which burns fuel from the estate’s own woods, while all of the 2,000 bulbs that light up the place are energy efficient.

The duchess said: “Together with that business model I’ve probably made 120 people redundant and out-sourced many departments. We now have around 20 people working for us.

“We’ve closed down the saw mill and works department, and I’ve out-sourced it to capable, local people. It’s efficient, so long as it’s managed.

“We had to close departments because we could not afford to run them. It’s always very concerning doing that to people whose lives it affects.

“However, one has to look at keeping a business going. It was over a long period of time and that’s all done.”

Staff work across woodland, farming, events, property management, the shoot and housekeeping. There is even an under butler apprenticeship scheme running with Melton College.

The estate overheads, as one might expect, are vast. She said they have spent £1.4 million getting all the houses on the estate up to scratch, while it takes £100,000 every year to look after the outside of the castle, and £500,000 a year just to keep the place ticking over.

Before the biomass burner went in, they were spending £80,000 a year on heating bills – a bit more than your average semi.

Last year, she said, was the first time in a decade and a half that Belvoir made a “very small” profit of £50,000.

She said: “We have no Government funding – there are a few grants for woodlands – so it all has to be run as a business and it only survives if we run it efficiently.

“Business acumen is key to the future of stately homes and anyone who takes their eye off that is always dicing with death.

“We’ve got 400 properties on the estate and I personally meet everyone who rents one and find out what they do and how we can support each other.

“I’m the chief executive here and know what the spend is per house and what the rent return is.”

The duchess grew up in the Welsh borders in a farming family, before training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

She had various jobs in her 20s, including land agent and tour guide, before starting her own interior design business.

She met David, Marquis of Granby – the eventual heir to the Belvoir estate and current Duke of Rutland – in 1990 and they were married in 1992.

The 2014 Leicester Mercury rich list estimated the duke had a wealth of £135 million. The couple have five children.

Two years ago they split up, but the pair continue to live in separate parts of the castle.

Although she would not talk about their marriage and working relationship, in September 2012 she wrote in the Daily Mail they continued to work together “more closely than ever”.

The duchess said she now had a “wonderful” team working alongside her.

She said: “We start each Monday with a 7.30am meeting to talk about what we are doing for the next two weeks.

“We are a tight, efficient, focused team and, at the end of the day, we are in the leisure business, giving pleasure to people who want an extraordinary experience.”