It seems like the British Aristocracy was still prominent as recent as a hundred years ago when World War 1 was going on. If you look at Britain today, you don't really see them anymore. The House of Lords essentially has minimal power and the aristocracy seems to have disappeared.
So..what happened? Where did all these old money families go? How did they lose their money and land?
If they are still around, then why don't we notice them anymore?
Please let me know if I seem to be completely misinformed about anything...
(As per subreddit rules, please keep answers restricted to the state of the aristocracy no later than 1996)
High death duties applied over several generations mostly took away the extreme wealth that some of the aristocracy had. Some of the grand houses and palaces remain with in their old families, but are made to "earn their keep" and are used as reception centres, hotels and even zoos. There are still lots of inherited titles, but people with them tend to live fairly normal upper-middle class lifestyles.
By the way, these days the House of Lords consists of "Life peers", people who have been made barons and baronesses, but whose children cannot inherit the title. People who have inherited a title are no longer permitted to sit in parliaments House of Lords. Life peers tend to be semi-retired politicians and those who have made special contributions to society, in a way a life peerage is a higher form of knighthood.