In 1792 the estate was bought by Petr Biron, Duke of Kuron and Zaháň. This scholar and lover of art and science had a colourful life full of dramatic twists and turns. He grew up in the environment of the Tsar's court, and in 1740, at the age of sixteen, he followed his father into a long exile in Siberia. In 1769, he succeeded his father as ruler of the Duchy of Kuron, reforming the backward education system there, promoting the arts and sciences, and striving for the country's economic prosperity. The troubled internal political situation and the interference of Poland and Russia in Kuron affairs led the duke to abdicate in 1795. In just a few years of his reign, he significantly raised the level of cultural life on the Náchod estate. He established a theatre right in the castle, organised opera performances, singing performances and theatre plays. Among other things, he demonstrated his progressive and enlightenment-reforming spirit by converting labour duties on the local estate into wages, following the example of the chamber estates. After the Duke's death in 1800, the estate was inherited by his eldest daughter, Kateřina Bedřiška Vilemína, known as the princess from the novel Grandmother by Božena Němcová. This Duchess of Zaháň has made her mark in history mainly by her active participation in the formation of the last anti-Napoleonic coalition in 1813.