Earl’s family fury as young widow leaves stately home with treasures
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ARISToCRACY can be a brutal business. This week, t he removals men have been at magnificent Port Eliot House in Cornwall to move out Cathy wilson — the magazine journalist who became a countess when she wed the Earl of St Germans in 2005.
That’s because her husband, Peregrine, died last year at the age of 75, and she has to make way for his grandson, Albert, who became the 11th Earl of St Germans at the tender age of 11.
Sadly, Lady St Germans’ departure from the Grade I- l i sted stately home and gardens comes amid great acrimony.
Albert’s mother, Bianca, an exmodel and the former fiancee of Earl Spencer, is worried that, among the furniture and other possessions being taken away in a f l eet of r emovals vehicles, are f amily heirlooms that should be kept at Port Eliot for Albert.
‘Bianca is concerned,’ one of her friends tells me. ‘She has not been given the inventory of belongings that Cathy is taking. The house is being stripped bare.’
Albert’s grandmother, Jacquetta, the Earl’s first wife, is prepared to voice the clan’s concerns publicly. ‘I don’t want our family inheritance to be chopped about,’ she tells me. ‘I think it’s wrong that it’s going to Cathy — she has no children.’
She adds: ‘I am sure the Port Eliot trustees are looking after it, but where are they?’
However, it i s understood the removal has the agreement of the trustees.
Lady St Germans’ departure brings to an end an awkward situation in which she has been sharing the 123-room house, which has 85 chimneys and a roof covering half an acre, with Albert, Bianca and her 14-yearold twins, Ruby and Violet, for the past few months.
Cathy, 47, is understood to be moving to a house 30 miles away in Fowey that is also owned by the estate. She is said to have been given around £400,000 by the trustees. She also has a London town house which her husband bought her.
The 6,000-acre estate near Saltash is famous for the bohemian Port Eliot arts festival that is held there each summer.
It has been inherited by Albert, who turned 13 this month, because
his party-loving father , Lord [Jago] eliot, who first set up the festival, was found dead in the bath at the age of 40 in 2006 after suffering an epileptic fit.
it is believed that Bianca will keep the festival going despite the departure of Cathy, who became heavily involved in its organisation.
three years ago, i disclosed that Albert’s grandfather planned to sell the estate to his friend Prince Charles, who wanted to convert the house into an arts centre. However , the heir to the throne pulled out of the deal in 2015 after Cathy boasted about it on the festival’s website.
A spokesman f or the P ort eliot trustees tells me: ‘ As has long been planned, Lady St Germans is moving out of Port eliot House.
‘ the house will continue to be managed by trustees who will be carrying out a programme of essential maintenance over the coming months before opening the house to the public again next year.’