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Duke of Beaufort’s new wife

AMONG the crowds flocking to the Badminton horse trials this weekend, it won’t just be the four-legged fillies attracting admiring glances.

I can reveal there’s a new chatelaine of 17th-century Badminton House. This week, the Duke of Beaufort quietly got married for a second time.

On Monday, Harry Beaufort, or ‘Bunter’ as the rock musician is known to friends, wed journalist Georgia Powell in front of a handful of guests at St Michael and All Angels Church on his 52,000-acre Gloucestershire estate.

‘It was a private wedding,’ is all the usually voluble Bunter will say.

Georgia, 49, who has quit her job as a newspaper obituaries editor, is the granddaughter of Anthony Powell, celebrated author of A Dance To The Music Of Time. Once asked his ambition in life, the novelist replied: ‘To marry a title and to live in a house with a long drive.’ He did both and, now, so has his granddaughter. Georgia was previously married to long-haired artist Toby Coke, with whom she has two children.

Bunter, who inherited the dukedom on the death of his father last year, is worth an estimated £315million. Badminton, where the sport was invented in 1863, has 38 bedrooms and an art collection that includes two Canalettos.

This week’s ceremony could not have been more different from Bunter’s 1987 nuptials to actress Tracy Ward, which was the society wedding of the year. It was attended by Princess Diana, who danced into the early hours. Bunter, who turns 66 this month, was not able to divorce Tracy, 59, until earlier this year.

Generously, his ex-wife Tracy, an animal welfare campaigner, has given the new Duchess her blessing. ‘I like Georgia a lot,’ she said, diplomatically. ‘She’s fun and intelligent, perfect for Harry.’