Longleat lord turfed out by brother left just £330,000

While sibling the Marquess of Bath is worth £215m

COULD there be a starker example of the contrasting fortunes created by the British aristocracy’s tradition of male primogeniture?

Lord Christopher Thynne, younger brother of the eccentric Marquess of Bath, left just £330,000 in his will, I can reveal.

By contrast, Lord Bath boasts a fortune of £215 million, at the latest count, and lives at magnificent Longleat in Wiltshire. Lord Christopher, who died in January aged 82, left a net estate of £330,368, according to probate documents.

The vast difference is because the marquess, Alexander, was three years older than his brother, so he inherited the 10,000- acre estate from their father, Henry, in keeping with aristocratic tradition.

Alexander was also bequeathed the Elizabethan house and its impressive art collection, as well as tourist attraction Cheddar Gorge caves, plus two hotels. Lord Christopher took Alexander’s inheritance particularly badly as he had been asked by their father to run the commercial side of Longleat, which is famous for its safari park, for 15 years until Henry’s death in 1992.

Within a week, Alexander, who became known as the ‘ Loins of Longleat’ because of his numerous lovers or ‘wifelets’, sacked his brother and turfed him out of his grace-and-favour home on the estate.

Lord Christopher and his wife, Antonia, later moved to Britmore House, in Wiltshire, but this was put on the market for £925,000 and they downsized to a four-bedroom house in Salisbury.

‘I do believe in primogeniture,’ he said in 1992. ‘I believe in it for all the past generations and all the future ones. It’s just this generation I have trouble with.’

rather than be buried at Longleat, he asked to be cremated and his ashes scattered. He left £5,000 each to his daughter, Sophie, and son, Alexander.

Lord Christopher had previously served in the Life Guards and then worked as a professional photographer, capturing The Beatles at the height of their fame.

He left his personal items and the rest of his estate in trust for his wife.