The party palace coup
After a £1m legal battle, the notorious Queen of Rave Castle has won back her ‘stolen’ home. So let’s celebrate (and buy the neighbours ear plugs)
THE last time the world heard from Margarita Hamilton, her neighbours were gleefully bidding her farewell after she was evicted from her own castle. The glamorous, if eccentric, millionaire – ever partial to a rowdy, champagne- soaked soiree – made an enviable fortune in the 1980s and 1990s through a recording studios and record label, working with stars including Robbie Williams, The Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran and Pulp.
But regular celebrity- strewn parties at the 17th Century Walton Castle eventually incurred the wrath of the genteel residents of the quaint seaside town of Clevedon, Somerset, who responded with seething disapproval and complaints to the council.
Yet now Margarita is back in the castle overlooking the Bristol Channel – though only after an ordeal involving £1 million in legal fees and four years of patient detective work. For as the 65-year-old today reveals to The Mail on Sunday, she was nearly swindled out of the property she still owns with her exhusband, financier Rai Hamilton.
The culprit was a former friend and business partner, John Jones. He had bought into the castle but then digitally forged signatures to gain a majority share.
‘Throw me to the wolves and I’ll come back leading the pack. That’s my motto now,’ Margarita says, like a triumphant Boadicea – albeit one clad in Marc Jacobs.
‘I never give up if I believe in something. And I cannot tolerate any form of injustice. I might have survived, but if we hadn’t sorted this out properly, Rai would have gone from assets of £30 million to living above a Chinese chippy.
‘John Jones would have walked away scot-free and done it to somebody else. Fancy his downfall being done by me,’ she giggles. ‘Well, the female of the species is a lot tougher than the male, don’t you think?’
Zimbabwe-born Margarita and Rai bought the then derelict Walton, whose original fortification is mentioned in the Domesday Book, in 1984 for £150,000. The castle cost £5 million to restore. They filled one of the turrets with booze and threw showbiz parties with Roger Daltrey, Alexander O’Neal and ex-Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor.
‘It was the 1980s, and we were all incredibly rich,’ Margarita says. ‘We lived the lifestyle.’
She stayed in the castle after her divorce from Rai in 1994. But the lavish parties – which led some to dub her ‘the Queen of Rave Castle’ – provoked furious rows with neighbours, which culminated in a warning in 2013 that she could go to prison if they continued.
Later that same year, Margarita realised the salary she drew from the castle’s prosperous events business had stopped abruptly and her emails shut down. Horrifyingly, she discovered the castle’s locks had been changed.
‘I couldn’t get in, couldn’t access my possessions and I had no idea why,’ she recalls. The details of what happened are complex, but after Margarita’s divorce, the castle was put into a family trust in Rai’s name to benefit his two children from a previous relationship, while Margarita continued to draw an income from it. When that money was mysteriously switched off, she dug through the trust’s accounts, which had been spread around eight countries. She discovered Mr Jones had gradually switched the proportion of the trust he owned from 20 to 80 per cent. It even appeared, at first glance, that Rai had agreed by signing contracts with him. But Margarita’s IT wizardry, along with advice provided by a handwriting expert, uncovered the truth – that Rai’s signature had, in fact, been reproduced electronically many times. In March this year, Rai, 69, won a civil case over falsifying documents against Mr Jones. Margarita says: ‘I hope John never, ever has the opportunity to do this to anyone else. I can’t believe the lengths I’ve gone to… but I have absolutely refused to give in. Rai worked all of his life to build this up. You can’t just come and take it all.’
Mr Jones says: ‘My dealings with Rai Hamilton have always been honest and truthful. Unfortunately I did not, in every case, obtain written confirmation from him for every document that was electronically signed following our verbal agree- ments.’ However, Rai describes him as ‘clearly deranged’ and adds: ‘Margarita is quite a woman. She tried to persuade me what was going on and I didn’t listen.’
Today, Margarita insists that relations with her neighbours have thawed and the ‘ party turret’ is f ully sound- proofed. She also claims she has changed her ways – despite boasting of a toyboy artist 24 years her junior. ‘I’m Miss Perfect. I’m a party animal but not a late-night party animal. I like to be in bed by 11pm,’ she laughs.
And she is brimming with plans for the future. Walton will now host ‘art fairs, literary festivals, theatre, opera, choirs!’ But she admits that the last four years have taken their toll. ‘It’s aged me a lot. When this is over I’m going to lie down on a very long beach for a very long time.’
Something her neighbours may be glad of, too.
‘I never give up – I can’t tolerate any injustice’ ‘I’m a party animal but now I’m in bed by 11pm’