NOT such a Madness

He inherited aristocracy’s most toxic title from his drug-addled brother. Now ‘Fred Bristol’ tells how he plans to rebuild the family fortune ... brick by brick

SCANDALS have l ong been as much of a feature of certain aristocratic families as grand titles and vast, crumbling houses. Yet Frederick Hervey, the 8th Marquess of Bristol, can claim a heritage so calamitous it puts ot her di s r eputable l i neages firmly in the shade.

His father Victor, a playboy known as The Reptile, was married three times, went to jail for jewel theft, and briefly found employment as an arms dealer. His half- brother, John, squandered £30 million on drugs and high living, lost the family seat, Ickworth House in Suffolk, and died at just 44. Another halfbrother, Lord Nicholas Hervey, hanged himself after battling drugs and depression.

Then there are Frederick’s sisters, Lady Victoria and Lady Isabella, who became It Girls in the 2000s largely due to Victoria’s penchant for nipple-flashing – on yachts, in men’s magazines and somehow ‘ by accident’ while attending elegant soirees. They cashed in by providing downmarket shows such as Celebrity Love Island with an incongruous injection of posh totty.

So perhaps it’s unsurprising that Frederick, or Fred as he is known, is somewhat wary about discussing his notorious relatives – even though he is without so much as a hint of his forefathers’ infamous dissolution. Smartlyy turned out in a crisp navy suit, , with impeccable manners and an n obviously sharp brain, he chooses s his words carefully for this, hiss first proper interview.

Rather than lambast his brother John – whom Lady Victoria once er described as ‘ evil’ – he seems s determined to strike a very for- giving note.

‘I don’t feel anger towards my y brother because when you’re a drug addict, you’re not rationally deciding to do things – something else is controlling you,’ he says.

‘ John was a drug addict and shouldn’t have been given control of things maybe he shouldn’t have had control of. If you take a drug like heroin it’s a way of blocking your feelings, so it stunts you emotionally, which made him quite child-like.

‘My mother and John didn’t get on, so when I was a child I didn’t see him much, but I became close to him later in his life, when I was older. I never knew my father, because he died when I was five, so when I got closer to John it had a huge impact on me.

‘He was the only male member of the paternal line of my family I’ve ever known. By the time I got to know him, he was quite ill and frail, but I’d go to stay with him and he was nothing but caring towards me. He made me promise I wouldn’t ever try drugs. I kept my promise to him, and never did.’

Fred, 37, believes the losses he has suffered – first of his father, then Nicholas when he was 18 and John the following year – have made him more determined to make a success of his life.

‘I don’t block out what happened to my family, but I don’t dwell on it either,’ he says. ‘I’ve tried to take what meaning I can from it and move on with my life. Having

re two brothers who died made me very aware of mortality and how finite life is, and it made me want to work hard to achieve things which make a difference.

‘Like everyone, I have a last name, and while my title is a bit longer than most people’s, it doesn’t define me.

‘I’m not burdened by anything. I’m not going to be pressured into doing anything just because it’s expected of me. I’m careful to make sure I’m leading my life my way.’

To t hat end, Fred has j ust launched a new business, Brickowner, a platform which allows investors to buy a stake in properties. His fascination with the concept, he admits, stems directly from his family’s experiences with building – and losing – property and wealth over the course of generations.

For more than 500 years, the Ickworth estate near Bury St E d mun ds be l o n g e d to the Herveys. They built and demolished two mansions there before the eccentric 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry built Ickworth House, an Italianate palace with a vast rotunda, in 1795.

In 1956, the house and estate were surrendered to the Treasury in lieu of death duties and handed to the National Trust. A lease enabled the family to live in the East Wing until that too was sold by John to th e Na ti o n a l Tr us t for £100,000 in 1996.

As a result, Fred finds himself a Marquess without a manor. So does he feel resentful at being shut out of the family seat?

‘If you’d asked me about Ickworth when I was 20, I’d probably have been more upset then, but if you’re a healthy person you move on and evolve.’ One day he would like to return to Suffolk, but for the moment he l i ves surrounded by oi l paintings and heirlooms in a rented flat in Chelsea.

His family’s recent history is a complicated business. John was the only son of Victor Hervey, the 6th Marquess of Bristol, and his first wife, Lady Pauline, who divorced when John was four. Victor, briefly a career criminal, was jailed for three years for his part in a robbery. His accomplices were sentenced to lashes with a cat o’ nine tails .

Victor remarried and had a second son, Nicholas. Then in 1974 he was married for a third time to his former secretary, Yvonne Sutton, with whom he had Lady Victoria, Fred and Lady Isabella.

Fred spent his early years in Monaco, where Victor was living as a tax exile until his death in 1985. When Fred was seven his

‘I’m not burdened… I lead my life my way’ ‘When you’re an addict something controls you’