Cost of living crisis? Liz’s pal sells his own clothes
THEIRS was, indisputably, the wedding of the year, boasting among the guests 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, may be experiencing something of a cost of living crisis — albeit of the sort that afflicts the castleowning classes.
For tomorrow, at Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire, which Henry’s family acquired in 1837, having made its fortune as glove-makers, they’re flogging a diverting collection of chattels — everything, in fact, from a watercolour by Gainsborough and 18th century Flemish tapestries, right down to some of the clothes off Henry’s back.
In among the 141 lots, including some ‘blingtastic’ jewellery like a gold and ruby ‘skull bracelet’ (£800-£1,000) and a Versace gold and diamond ‘dress ring’ (£600), are three of his leather jackets, each bearing an estimate of £600-£800.
It’s an extraordinary contrast to previous Sudeley sales featuring stupendous works of art worth millions of pounds.
The year before his wedding, Henry offloaded a 17th century masterpiece, Temps Calme by Poussin, to the Getty Museum in America for £15 million. Also sold for £10 million was The Lock by Constable. 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 — voiced her regret: ‘We have needed to sell to maintain the castle. We have very large bills and only a smallish income from farm rents.’
This time, Lady Ashcombe, who retains an apartment at Sudeley, refrains from comment. So do Henry, 57, and his sister, curator Mollie, who at one point abetted the artistic ambitions of Roman Abramovich’s third wife, Dasha.
A local grandee voices his sympathy. ‘It is the most bloody enormous house. Keeping the roof on is a constant drain,’ he assures me. ‘The income from people going round [the castle] is never going to be enough.’