Their wedding was without a doubt the wedding of the year, with guests including everyone from Queen Camilla to Mick Jagger – accompanied by Jerry Hall – not to mention Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley.
But it seems that now, in the year they celebrated their silver wedding anniversary, Henry Dent-Brocklehurst and his wife, model Lili Maltese, are experiencing something of a cost crisis – albeit the kind that plagues the castle-owning class. .
For tomorrow, at Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire, which Henry’s family acquired in 1837 after making their fortune as glovemakers, they flog an amusing collection of movables – everything, in fact, from a Gainsborough watercolor and 18th-century Flemish tapestries. , down to some of the clothes from Henry’s back.
Among the 141 lots, which include some ‘blingtastic’ jewelery such as a gold and ruby red ‘skull bracelet’ (£800-£1,000) and a Versace gold and diamond ‘dress ring’ (£600), are three of his leather jackets, each with an estimate of £600-£800.
It is an extraordinary contrast to previous Sudeley sales featuring astonishing works of art worth millions of pounds.
Hard times: Henry Dent-Brocklehurst and Elizabeth Hurley, who attended his wedding
Grand: At Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire, which Henry’s family acquired in 1837 after making their fortune as glovemakers, they flog a distracting collection of possessions
The year before his wedding, Henry brought a 17th-century masterpiece, Poussin’s Temps Calme, to the Getty Museum in America for £15 million. Constable’s The Lock also sold for £10 million. The following decade a Turner went to an American buyer for £5.4 million.
Henry’s mother Elizabeth – who, after her first husband, Mark Dent-Brocklehurst, died aged 40, married Camilla’s uncle Lord Ashcombe – expressed her regret: ‘We had to sell to keep the castle. We have very high bills and only a small income from farm rent.’
This time Lady Ashcombe, who has an apartment in Sudeley, is refraining from commenting. That includes Henry, 57, and his sister, curator Mollie, who at one point fueled the artistic ambitions of Roman Abramovich’s third wife, Dasha.
A local grande expresses his condolences. “It’s the most fucking enormous house. Keeping the roof on is a constant strain,’ he assures me. ‘The income of people going around (the castle) will never be enough.’
Grandson of hero hardly ‘bombs’ it
His grandfather, ‘Bomber Harris’, inspired the adoration of his men as the uncompromising head of Bomber Command in World War II.
But Tom Assheton, co-host of the Bloody Violent History podcast, has just been shot in proverbial flames – for driving 25 miles per hour in his 60-year-old Morris Minor.
“Sadiq Khan continues to impose a 30 km/h limit on roads you have been driving on for 30 years, with a 50 km/h limit,” a glowing Assheton tells me.
“You turn the corner and it’s thirty miles an hour. They’re popping up everywhere. I don’t know how much money they make from it, but it must be a fortune.’
He doesn’t think about how his grandfather Arthur would have reacted to the 30 km/h limit. “He was driving quite fast,” Assheton says, mentioning an incident during the blackout when a police officer warned Bomber to slow down to avoid killing someone. The bomber didn’t miss a beat.
“I kill people every night,” he replied.
Wyman is under his wife’s thumb
Bill Wyman reunites with The Rolling Stones on their new album, but his once hard-living bandmates might be shocked when he invites them to dinner.
Bass: Bill Wyman reunites with The Rolling Stones on their new album, but his once hard-living bandmates might be shocked when he invites them to dinner
Because his wife has banned alcohol from their home in Chelsea, west London. “We keep it dry,” says Wyman. “It started when my girls were little.” The bass guitarist, 87, has three adult daughters with businesswoman Suzanne Accosta, 64.
Wyman has never been a big drinker, but when he fancies a drink he heads to the local pub where he drank with the late footballer George Best.
Mother’s night out for Rosie
As a Marks & Spencer lingerie model, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley isn’t shy about showing off her underwear, even when she goes out on the town.
The Devon-born model, 36, wore a sheer black lace dress with a plunging bodysuit underneath to the inaugural Mother’s Ball at the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, west London.
Model: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley isn’t shy about showing off her underwear, even when she’s out on the town
Rosie, who has two children with Hollywood hardman Jason Statham, says she has found it difficult to adjust to motherhood.
“For a period after I had my first son, there was a real change in identity and a kind of mourning for the loss of your old life and who you were,” she says.
“I remember feeling like the rug was being pulled out from under me.”
Why Emerald says stars shine the same
Emerald Fennell has directed stars like Carey Mulligan and Rosamund Pike, but she says no one on set gets a red carpet.
“Everyone is completely equal, so everyone has the same crappy, two-way trailer,” says the Oscar winner, 38.
“We have a green room, where all the actors, whether they’re one line or lead, stay, so you’re not isolated in your huge trailer on your phone.”
The daughter of society jeweler Theo Fennell adds: ‘It’s just a waste of time, it’s a waste of money and it’s designed to make actors distrust each other. . . and I’m not interested in it.’
Talent: Emerald Fennell has directed stars like Carey Mulligan and Rosamund Pike, but she says no one on set gets a red carpet
Lady Antonia Fraser spent last Christmas in hospital after being injured in a near-fatal accident.
Fortunately, the eminent historian, 91, is full of energy and vigor again. “I go to a lot of events,” the widow of playwright Harold Pinter tells me at the Wolfson History Prize ceremony at Claridge’s in Mayfair. “I have a book party tomorrow.”
Dame Antonia adds: ‘I’m going to write a book. I probably shouldn’t call it, but it will be called The Diary Of A Jolly Old Lady. I just thought it was a good title.’
Bonkbuster author Jilly Cooper isn’t attracted to online dating apps.
“They’re terrible,” she tells me at The Oldie literary lunch at the National Liberal Club in London, where she was promoting her new novel, Tackle!. Cooper, 86, explains, “If you showed up on a date to meet someone you met online who you thought looked nice, and who looked terrible, you would be too nice to say, ” Sorry, I’m going home.” It can work, but it’s a bleak world.’
Never one to miss a sales opportunity, King Charles has announced a special edition whiskey to celebrate his 75th birthday. Just 1,500 bottles of the single malt have been sold through its Highgrove store. The heritage Plumage is said to blend Archer barley from its estate, aged in bourbon, port and ex-red wine barrels for rich notes of red fruit and nutmeg. However, at £175 it might not be to everyone’s taste.