Lord Nicholas Hervey
Encyclopedia
Lord Frederick William Charles Nicholas Wentworth Hervey (26 November 1961–26 January 1998) was the only child born to the 6th Marquess of Bristol
by his second wife (m. 1960) Lady Juliet Wentworth-FitzWilliam
.
; she was 13 years old when her father died in a small aircraft
crash that also killed his intended second wife Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington
, sister of John F. Kennedy
, in 1948. Lady Juliet was the sole heir to her father's estate, then estimated at £45 million. As an adult, she ran a family stud farm
.
Nicholas' father was Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol
. He also had significant inherited wealth, which he invested into new, albeit minor, businesses. He was once tagged "Mayfair
's No. 1 Playboy," in a series of "life story" articles he authored after he served a gaol sentence for jewel robbery, wherein he was convicted as a "cat burglar" of wealthy women in his youth.
The Hervey family
has many notable and notorious members—including bank robbers, bigamists, politicians, arts patrons and memoirists—and has a noted history of homosexuality
and bisexuality
extending back hundreds of years.
Nicholas Hervey's parents married in 1960, his father for the second time, his mother for the first. He was the only child of that marriage. Lord Nicholas was a descendent of William the Conqueror on both his mother's and father's side, and his consanguinity index is .1%.
He was heir to the title Marquess of Bristol
from his elder half-brother John, the 7th Marquess
, the only child of his father's first marriage. His father was noted for being cruel to his eldest son but having good relations with Nicholas. "He treated his son and heir with indifference and contempt," said Anthony Haden-Guest
. This brother was a tabloid fixture, known for his heroin and cocaine addictions, lavish parties, purported homosexuality
and use of male prostitutes; he served two gaol terms for drugs offences and went through an estimated excess of 30 million pounds, comprising both inheritance and investments, and died at 44 with only £5,000 left. Nicholas and his elder brother John were fond of one another.
When Nicholas was eleven years old, his mother divorced his father and married his 60-year-old friend, Somerset de Chair
(d. 1996), with whom she had a daughter, Helena de Chair, five years later. In 1996, she married a third time, and is now known as Lady Juliet Tadgell.
Nicholas's father's final marriage was to his private secretary, Yvonne Sutton. The couple had three additional children, such that Nicholas's other half-siblings were Fred, the 8th Marquess
, at whose Catholic christening Nicholas stood godfather, and the media personalities Lady Victoria Hervey and Lady Isabella Hervey (the face of Playboy
UK).
, Yale
and the Royal Agricultural College
, Cirencester
. At Eton he was "an industrious boy with plenty of initiative"; he took part in the House debate, and during his last two halves (terms) was in the House Library (i.e., a prefect
). He founded and was president of the Burlington Society, a fine arts society with an emphasis on modern art
. He was also a member of the Agricultural and Political Societies, leaving Eton at Christmas 1979 with A-levels in French, Spanish and Economics. At Yale he took a degree in the History of Art
and studied Economics in depth.
In 1981 he founded the Rockingham Club
, a Yale social club for descendants of royalty and aristocracy, which was later modified to allow membership to the children of the "super-wealthy". The Club and Nicholas Hervey were profiled in Andy Warhol's
Interview
magazine but was dissolved shortly thereafter in 1986. (Nicholas' older half-brother John was posthumously reported to be a friend of Andy Warhol.) He was a member, through his mother, of the Turf Club
, a gentlemen's club
in Carlton House Terrace
in central London
connected to horse racing.
His sister Helena attended Bristol University.
He was a leading member of the International Monarchist League
. He was elected President of its International Youth Association (under 21s) in February 1979 and recruited numerous new members. In 1985 he became a Vice-Chancellor of the League proper, and made the formal toast to the guests, The Prince and Princess of Lippe
, at the League's Annual Dinner in the Cholmondeley Room, the House of Lords
, on 1 April 1986. In later years he allowed his membership and vice-chancellorship to lapse.
Through the League, which his father had subsidised for many years, he became friendly with Gregory Lauder-Frost, who introduced him to numerous right-wing conservative activities. One such event, on 25 September 1989, was the Western Goals Institute
dinner at Simpson's-in-the-Strand
, chaired by Lord Sudeley
, for El Salvador
's President, Alfredo Cristiani
, and his inner cabinet.
; in 1986 he graduated from Yale University
, and in 1991, after being forced to declare bankruptcy
, voluntarily underwent treatment in a clinic.
He was forced to declare bankruptcy
due to his owing £38,000, which the trustees of his trust refused to fund, to lawyers of the defendants following the failure of the lawsuit he and his elder half-brother brought against the principal beneficiaries of the will of their father, i.e., his third wife and their young children. His mother, while on the Sunday Times Rich List
(in 2003 her wealth was estimated at £45,000,000), did not act to prevent the bankruptcy, which immediately preceded his institutionalization. She subsequently declared that "he was never himself again" after the clinic stay.
He suffered from severe depression
and became increasingly reclusive. His landlady said that he "drew no shred of comfort from the high rank and great riches to which he was born" and that "he was a recluse
, in the sense that he was heavily sedated and slept all day - a typical schizophrenic. He was very quiet, very Old Etonian. He was a nice guy, but very 'out of it'. Nobody visited him here, except sometimes we would hear someone come and take him out to dinner."
Hervey was found dead in his Chelsea
flat, having hanged himself, at the age of 36. He never married and had no issue.
His half-brother, the 7th Marquess of Bristol, died less than a year later.
Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol
Victor Frederick Cochrane Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol , was a British aristocrat and businessman. He is notable for having served a jail term for jewel theft...
by his second wife (m. 1960) Lady Juliet Wentworth-FitzWilliam
Lady Juliet Tadgell
Lady Juliet Tadgell , previously the Marchioness of Bristol, is a British heiress, race horse breeder and landowner...
.
Family
Lord Nicholas's mother was the only child of the wealthy 8th Earl FitzwilliamPeter Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 8th Earl FitzWilliam
William Henry Lawrence Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam, DSO , styled Viscount Milton before 1943, was a British soldier and aristocrat.-Biography:...
; she was 13 years old when her father died in a small aircraft
Light aircraft
A light aircraft is an aircraft that has a maximum gross take-off weight of or less.Many aircraft used commercially for freight, sightseeing, photography and scheduled flights are light aircraft.Examples of light aircraft include:...
crash that also killed his intended second wife Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington
Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington
Kathleen Agnes "Kick" Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington , born Kathleen Agnes Kennedy, was the fourth child and second daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Kennedy. She was a sister of future U.S. President John F. Kennedy and widow of the heir to the Dukedom of Devonshire.-Biography:When...
, sister of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, in 1948. Lady Juliet was the sole heir to her father's estate, then estimated at £45 million. As an adult, she ran a family stud farm
Stud farm
A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry, is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud" comes from the Old English stod meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding" Historically, documentation of the breedings that occur on a stud farm leads to the...
.
Nicholas' father was Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol
Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol
Victor Frederick Cochrane Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol , was a British aristocrat and businessman. He is notable for having served a jail term for jewel theft...
. He also had significant inherited wealth, which he invested into new, albeit minor, businesses. He was once tagged "Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
's No. 1 Playboy," in a series of "life story" articles he authored after he served a gaol sentence for jewel robbery, wherein he was convicted as a "cat burglar" of wealthy women in his youth.
The Hervey family
Marquess of Bristol
Marquess of Bristol is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom held by the Hervey family since 1826. The Marquess's subsidiary titles are: Earl of Bristol , Earl Jermyn, of Horningsheath in the County of Suffolk , and Baron Hervey, of Ickworth in the County of Suffolk...
has many notable and notorious members—including bank robbers, bigamists, politicians, arts patrons and memoirists—and has a noted history of homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
and bisexuality
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
extending back hundreds of years.
Nicholas Hervey's parents married in 1960, his father for the second time, his mother for the first. He was the only child of that marriage. Lord Nicholas was a descendent of William the Conqueror on both his mother's and father's side, and his consanguinity index is .1%.
He was heir to the title Marquess of Bristol
Marquess of Bristol
Marquess of Bristol is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom held by the Hervey family since 1826. The Marquess's subsidiary titles are: Earl of Bristol , Earl Jermyn, of Horningsheath in the County of Suffolk , and Baron Hervey, of Ickworth in the County of Suffolk...
from his elder half-brother John, the 7th Marquess
John Hervey, 7th Marquess of Bristol
Frederick William John Augustus Hervey, 7th Marquess of Bristol , also known as John Jermyn and John Hervey, was a British aristocrat and businessman, notable for his wealth, drug addiction, imprisonment on drugs charges, homosexuality and flamboyant lifestyle.-Family:John was born five years into...
, the only child of his father's first marriage. His father was noted for being cruel to his eldest son but having good relations with Nicholas. "He treated his son and heir with indifference and contempt," said Anthony Haden-Guest
Anthony Haden-Guest
Anthony Haden-Guest is a British-American writer, reporter, cartoonist, art critic, poet, and socialite who lives in New York and London. He is a frequent contributor to major magazines and has had several books published.-Family:...
. This brother was a tabloid fixture, known for his heroin and cocaine addictions, lavish parties, purported homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
and use of male prostitutes; he served two gaol terms for drugs offences and went through an estimated excess of 30 million pounds, comprising both inheritance and investments, and died at 44 with only £5,000 left. Nicholas and his elder brother John were fond of one another.
When Nicholas was eleven years old, his mother divorced his father and married his 60-year-old friend, Somerset de Chair
Somerset de Chair
Somerset Struben de Chair DSC was a British author, politician and poet.-Early and personal life:Younger son of Admiral Sir Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair, KCB, KCMG, MVO...
(d. 1996), with whom she had a daughter, Helena de Chair, five years later. In 1996, she married a third time, and is now known as Lady Juliet Tadgell.
Nicholas's father's final marriage was to his private secretary, Yvonne Sutton. The couple had three additional children, such that Nicholas's other half-siblings were Fred, the 8th Marquess
Frederick Hervey, 8th Marquess of Bristol
Frederick William Augustus Hervey, 8th Marquess of Bristol , succeeded his elder half-brother the 7th Marquess in January 1999 as Marquess of Bristol...
, at whose Catholic christening Nicholas stood godfather, and the media personalities Lady Victoria Hervey and Lady Isabella Hervey (the face of Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
UK).
Education and clubs
Nicholas was known as a keen traditionalist. He was educated at EtonEton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and the Royal Agricultural College
Royal Agricultural College
The Royal Agricultural College is a higher education institution located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, UK. Established in 1845, it was the first agricultural college in the English speaking world...
, Cirencester
Cirencester
Cirencester is a market town in east Gloucestershire, England, 93 miles west northwest of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswold District. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural College, the oldest agricultural...
. At Eton he was "an industrious boy with plenty of initiative"; he took part in the House debate, and during his last two halves (terms) was in the House Library (i.e., a prefect
Prefect
Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....
). He founded and was president of the Burlington Society, a fine arts society with an emphasis on modern art
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
. He was also a member of the Agricultural and Political Societies, leaving Eton at Christmas 1979 with A-levels in French, Spanish and Economics. At Yale he took a degree in the History of Art
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
and studied Economics in depth.
In 1981 he founded the Rockingham Club
Rockingham Club
-The original Rockingham Club :This was founded in York, England and had its first meeting on 23rd December 1753 in the George Inn, York....
, a Yale social club for descendants of royalty and aristocracy, which was later modified to allow membership to the children of the "super-wealthy". The Club and Nicholas Hervey were profiled in Andy Warhol's
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
Interview
Interview (magazine)
Interview is an American magazine which has the nickname The Crystal Ball Of Pop. It was founded in late 1969 by artist Andy Warhol. The magazine features intimate conversations between some of the world's biggest celebrities, artists, musicians, and creative thinkers...
magazine but was dissolved shortly thereafter in 1986. (Nicholas' older half-brother John was posthumously reported to be a friend of Andy Warhol.) He was a member, through his mother, of the Turf Club
Turf Club (Gentlemen's Club)
-External links:* - official website *...
, a gentlemen's club
Gentlemen's club
A gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...
in Carlton House Terrace
Carlton House Terrace
Carlton House Terrace refers to a street in the St. James's district of the City of Westminster in London, England, and in particular to two terraces of white stucco-faced houses on the south side of the street overlooking St. James's Park. These terraces were built in 1827–32 to overall designs by...
in central London
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, England. There is no official or commonly accepted definition of its area, but its characteristics are understood to include a high density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally,...
connected to horse racing.
His sister Helena attended Bristol University.
Monarchist League and politics
International Monarchist League
The International Monarchist League is an organisation dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the monarchical system of government and the principle of monarchy worldwide...
. He was elected President of its International Youth Association (under 21s) in February 1979 and recruited numerous new members. In 1985 he became a Vice-Chancellor of the League proper, and made the formal toast to the guests, The Prince and Princess of Lippe
Lippe
Lippe is a Kreis in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe....
, at the League's Annual Dinner in the Cholmondeley Room, the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
, on 1 April 1986. In later years he allowed his membership and vice-chancellorship to lapse.
Through the League, which his father had subsidised for many years, he became friendly with Gregory Lauder-Frost, who introduced him to numerous right-wing conservative activities. One such event, on 25 September 1989, was the Western Goals Institute
Western Goals Institute
The Western Goals Institute was a conservative pressure group in Britain, re-formed in 1989 from Western Goals UK, which originated in 1985 as an offshoot of the U.S. Western Goals Foundation...
dinner at Simpson's-in-the-Strand
Simpson's-in-the-Strand
Simpson's-in-the-Strand is one of London's oldest traditional English restaurants. Situated in the Strand, it is part of the Savoy Buildings, which also contain one of the world's most famous hotels, the Savoy....
, chaired by Lord Sudeley
Merlin Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley
Merlin Charles Sainthill Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley, FSA is a British peer, author and veteran right-wing activist. In 1941, at the age of three, he succeeded his first cousin once removed, the 6th Lord Sudeley, to the Barony of Sudeley and until the House of Lords Act 1999 sat in that body...
, for El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
's President, Alfredo Cristiani
Alfredo Cristiani
Alfredo Félix Cristiani Burkard, popularly known as Alfredo Cristiani was President of El Salvador from 1989 to 1994....
, and his inner cabinet.
Illness, bankruptcy, and death
In 1983 Lord Nicholas was diagnosed as suffering from schizophreniaSchizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
; in 1986 he graduated from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, and in 1991, after being forced to declare bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
, voluntarily underwent treatment in a clinic.
He was forced to declare bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
due to his owing £38,000, which the trustees of his trust refused to fund, to lawyers of the defendants following the failure of the lawsuit he and his elder half-brother brought against the principal beneficiaries of the will of their father, i.e., his third wife and their young children. His mother, while on the Sunday Times Rich List
Sunday Times Rich List
The Sunday Times Rich List is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families in the United Kingdom, updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday newspaper The Sunday Times since 1989...
(in 2003 her wealth was estimated at £45,000,000), did not act to prevent the bankruptcy, which immediately preceded his institutionalization. She subsequently declared that "he was never himself again" after the clinic stay.
He suffered from severe depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
and became increasingly reclusive. His landlady said that he "drew no shred of comfort from the high rank and great riches to which he was born" and that "he was a recluse
Recluse
A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion from the public and society, often close to nature. The word is from the Latin recludere, which means "shut up" or "sequester." There are many potential reasons for becoming a recluse: a personal philosophy that rejects consumer society; a...
, in the sense that he was heavily sedated and slept all day - a typical schizophrenic. He was very quiet, very Old Etonian. He was a nice guy, but very 'out of it'. Nobody visited him here, except sometimes we would hear someone come and take him out to dinner."
Hervey was found dead in his Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
flat, having hanged himself, at the age of 36. He never married and had no issue.
His half-brother, the 7th Marquess of Bristol, died less than a year later.
External links
- Bats in the family belfry review of The House of Hervey published in The Spectator, 12 May 2001