 Moira made up her mother's status years ago, as an amusing lie to tell her friends, which suddenly became necessary to maintain when Gilbert wanted to partner with Moira to bilk his wealthy family (Moira's real mother, Claire gleefully confides, is currently serving a prison term in California, "learning respect for other people's property").Likewise, Moira has never had a trust fund; that was just a ruse to explain away her mother's inability to pay for the wedding.Winslow is a chemist, rather than a banker, who impersonated the Duchess on the telephone for Phillip and Gilbert's benefit.