The mystic Marquess and the minx who wants his
millions: How Lord Northampton's fifth marriage came to an earth-shattering end
By BARBARA DAVIES
PUBLISHED: 6 July 2012 / http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2169894/How-Marquess-Northamptons-fifth-marriage-came-earth-shattering-end.html
 |
The Marquess of Northampton
The first time the Marquess of Northampton
suspected that his wife was having an affair with one of his closest friends
was when she returned home from New
York
It was May 2009 and 60-year-old Lady Pamela
Northampton told her husband that the outgoing flight had caused her fingers to
swell and so the offending band had been cut off.
This incident was followed by frequent
trips abroad and the appearance of a Roland Cartier triple-coloured gold and
diamond necklace, one of several pieces of precious jewellery bought for her by
her secret lover.
But the final nail in the coffin of the
couple's 20-year marriage — Lord Northampton's fifth — was undoubtedly the
emergence of secretly-taped phone conversations between age-defying blonde Lady
Pamela and her 87-year-old father, Jim Haworth.
The tapes, which friends say came to the
Eton-educated peer as a 'bolt from the blue', are subject to a legal injunction
and their contents cannot be revealed.
But what can be said without doubt is that
they confirmed the Marquess's worst fears — that the Marchioness was having an
affair with his friend, balding Romanian Dan Stoicescu, a multi-millionaire
scientist and entrepreneur who made his fortune in the pharmaceutical industry.
He was dramatically unveiled as Lady Pamela's lover in court last week.
The tapes are now at the centre of what
looks set to become one of the most expensive divorces in English legal
history.
The High Court hearing is scheduled for
January and is set to cost more than £2 million in legal fees as the estranged
couple battle over the cuckolded marquess's £120 m fortune.
Spencer Northampton — one of Britain's
wealthiest aristocrats and affectionately known as 'Spenny' to his friends —
has already offered Accrington-born, half-Italian Lady Pamela a £15 m
settlement, including a £4 m home in Pimlico, West London.
Lady Pamela, a toolmaker's daughter who
began life in a Lancashire council house,
wants £10 m more.
'He has now come to terms with the fact
that Pamela seems to have fallen in love
with someone else,' a close friend of the heartbroken marquess told the Mail this
week.
'He realises that can happen in life. But
what he finds really upsetting is that he feels she is trying to get more money
from him than is fair and reasonable.
'As Lady Northampton, she had everything
she ever wanted, never having to get a job, having no children of her own to
look after and a husband who was always faithful to her.
'He was sure, after 20 years, that Pamela
was the one.'
Certainly, with marriages to five beautiful
women under his belt — more of whom later — the marquess, whose family has
resided at Compton Wynyates in Warwickshire since the 12th century, could have
been forgiven for hoping that his days of romantic high drama were a thing of
the past.
 |
Acrimonious: Lord Northampton and Lady
Pamela Northampton, who split in 2010 after a 20-year marriage, are currently
in the midst of a bitter divorce battle
|
He met Pamela Kyprios, as she was then
named, in the late Eighties through their mutual interest in spiritualism after
her second divorce from a wealthy Greek-American shipping financier.
She had been planning to open a holistic
healing centre when the pair were introduced by friends. He later claimed that
she turned up on his London
They married in December 1990 at Stratford-Upon-Avon register office, with the marquess
speaking movingly of his love for her.
'She is the centre of my life. I call her
“stregissima” — great white witch,' he said at the time. 'She is a healer, very
good at relaxing me.'
And tucked away in the romantic
surroundings of Compton Wynyates for the past two decades, the couple seemed
blissfully happy.
While much of Lord Northampton's time has
been spent managing his family estates and charity work, Lady Pamela has
assisted him with interior design as well as devoting herself to the Dogs
Trust, of which she is a former president.
Then came the couple's ill-fated 2006
meeting with Dr Dan Stoicescu at a Freemasonry convention in Cyprus
 |
Affair: Lady Northampton's secret lover Dr
Dan Stoicescu, a Romanian scientist and entrepreneur
|
Described as 'charming' and
'self-effacing', the divorced scientist became only the second person ever to
have his human genome mapped.
The procedure, which can reveal genetic
diseases which could help you take action to delay their development, cost him
£220,000.
He later forked out double that sum to pay
for both the marquess and Lady Pamela to undergo the same process at a US
He has homes in Switzerland ,
Cyprus , Finland , the US
and Australia
Stoicescu's huge fortune was first built on
a business selling cancer-care products, and he even paid for private treatment
for Jim when he had bowel cancer.
He also provided a private jet to fly Lady
Pamela and her father from London to Zurich en route to San
Diego
'He even invested a six-figure sum in one
of Spenny's businesses, almost as a way of proving his friendship. At first
Spenny took it at face value, but after a while he decided to cool the
friendship.'
But by 2009, Lady Northampton had begun
working for Stoicescu, telling her husband that she had been made president of
one of his biopharmaceutical companies, Asterion.
This new role meant frequent trips to the US
'He began to realise that Stoicescu wasn't
all that he seemed in late 2008,' says the marquess's friend. 'He came to
Spenny's birthday party in Tenerife in 2009
and Spenny was concerned then at how close Stoicescu was becoming to Pamela.'
Undoubtedly, as his marriage collapsed
around him, Lord Northampton's thoughts must have turned to Lady Pamela's
colourful past.
It is fair to say that her rise to the
upper echelons of British society has been nothing short of meteoric.
When the Marchioness was born in 1951, her
parents — Jim, then a toolmaker, and Martina, an Italian dressmaker — were
living in a council house in Accrington, Lancashire .
The couple later ran a B&B called La Gondola in the Kent seaside resort of Margate
 |
Wealthy: Lord Northampton has an estimated
£120 million fortune, owns two stately homes and is regarded as one of
|
 |
Warring: The Marquess, born Spencer
Compton, has accused his wife of having an affair with a close friend
|
Much of Pamela's childhood was spent in
what was then Rhodesia where
her father worked for a while in a gold mine in Bulawayo
Then, aged 18, she married wealthy Scottish
businessman Gerard Macklin, flying to London
Her second marriage in December 1983, to
Greek-American shipping financier Emanuel Kyprios, took place in the lavish St
Sophia's Greek Orthodox Cathedral in London
They set up home in a luxury £2 million
flat close to the Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington — a property that
Pamela was allowed to keep when she ended her marriage in the late Eighties.
Despite Lord Northampton's vast wealth,
their 1990 registry office wedding was, by all accounts, a rather more modest
affair.
But her new lover's wealth puts even that
of the marquess into the shade.
'Dan has charmed her entire family, her
father, her mother, her brothers,' says a source close to Lady Pamela's family.
'He is fabulously rich, even richer than Lord Northampton and his money has
turned all their heads because Dan is looking after them.'
In another bizarre twist, it emerged in
court that the damning 'Northamptongate' tapes which exposed Lady Pamela's
affair were made by Suzanne Shipwright, a 62-year-old former beautician who has
lived with Pamela's father Jim for the past 27 years, since his divorce from
her mother, Martina.
Her motive for making the tapes is said to
be her own troubled relationship with Lady Pamela.
'She has always blamed Suzanne for the end
of her parents' marriage even though they were already divorced when she met
Jim,' says the source.
 |
Costly divorce: Lord Northampton apparently
fears he will have to sell a £6 million portrait of Queen Mary I, painted in
|
In fact, at the time they met, he had been
briefly married to a Lebanese woman.'
Ms Shipwright, who used to run Suzanne's
Hair and Beauty Salon in Staines , Middlesex,
is said to have been 'shocked' at what she heard during the conversations.
Pamela's father, Mr Haworth, who is hard of
hearing, spoke with the speaker-phone turned on at full volume, enabling Ms
Shipwright to record both sides of the conversation from the modest
pebble-dashed bungalow in Addlestone, Surrey ,
which she still shares with him.
She then passed the tapes to Lord
Northampton, who threw his wife out of the 84-room family home just days before
their 20th wedding anniversary in 2010.
The marquess's friend added: 'She swiftly
returned with removal vans to take her things and took the opportunity to get
the artworks hanging on the walls photographed for her solicitors.'
Among them is a £6 million 1554 portrait of
Queen Mary I, which Lord Northampton fears he will have to sell if his
estranged wife's demands for more money are backed by the High Court.
Ironically, the family motto of
five-times-wed Lord Northampton is 'I seek but one', and his union with Lady
Pamela has turned out to be the most acrimonious of all five of his doomed
marriages.
He first sauntered up the aisle aged 21 in 1967 with Henriette
Bentinck, the daughter of Baron Adolph Bentinck, the Dutch ambassador to Paris
The ceremony, at St Margaret's in Westminster
But the marriage broke down after six years
after Henriette's affair with a London
She married twice more and ran an
equestrian estate near Seville in Spain
The marquess's second wife was 24-year-old
Annette Smallwood, the daughter of a retired oil company director from Sussex
 |
Happier times: The couple kiss for the
cameras during a photo-shoot in 1999
|
She divorced the marquess in 1974 on the
grounds of his adultery with Rosie Dawson-Damer, a close friend of Princess
Michael of Kent
Rosie became wife number three in July
1977, with the marquess telling one newspaper: 'Third time lucky!'. They had a
daughter, Lady Emily, but divorced in 1983 when she was just two, on the
grounds of Lord Northampton's adultery with an unnamed woman.
The marquess's burgeoning interest in
spiritualism and what he described as 'psychic and esoteric philosophies' led
him to wife number four — married German former topless model Fritzi Erhardt,
or 'Lady Fourthampton' as she became known.
She left her then-husband, Viscount
Cowdray, and married Spenny in 1985. Their daughter Lady Louisa was born the
same year, but the marriage was over by 1988 and Fritzi moved to Ibiza , where she still lives.
Despite the financial burden placed on him
by four divorce settlements, Lord Northampton has proved to be adept at keeping
together his vast inheritance.
He owns 18,500 acres of land
in Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Surrey and London
For the past few years, he has opened the
doors of another of his homes, Castle Ashby, for wedding parties and
conferences.
As well as being in possession of one of
the most valuable collections of artworks in private hands, he is also the
owner of the controversial Sevso Treasure, the world's most valuable collection
of Roman silver which cannot be sold because of arguments over its provenance.
According to his friend, the marquess feels
his £15m offer to Lady Pamela is more than generous. 'It's worth £750,000 for
each year of marriage, tax-free,' says the friend.
'He is devastated at how she has behaved.
They had been married a few weeks short of their 20th wedding anniversary when
this blew up and he had thought she was his life-long partner.' Lady Pamela,
meanwhile, is dividing her time between her husband's £4 million flat in
Pimlico and Stoicescu's various properties.
She is a frequent visitor to his San Diego Secret
Court
Her mother is also staying at the property,
which is next to a home owned by Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates.
Despite her lover's fabulous wealth, Lady
Pamela is showing no signs of giving up her fight for a bigger portion of her
husband's inheritance.
Yesterday, her solicitors Finers Stephens
Innocent did not respond to calls. Dr Stoicescu has also declined to comment on
the affair.
But, privately, Lady Pamela has complained
to friends that she is being treated like a 'common criminal' and says her
lover's riches are irrelevant because she has no plans to marry and values her
independence.
As for Lord Northampton, friends point out
that he is in extraordinarily good shape for his age — 6ft 4in tall with not a
grey hair in sight.
'He isn't frightened of being alone, but
it's certainly not what he would have chosen at 66,' says the source.
But once the end of his tumultuous marriage
to his 'great white witch' is finalised, he might be advised to embrace life as
a bachelor for the forseeable future.
The Lord, the Lady, her lover and the £17m divorce
Lord Northampton has agreed to pay his wife £17
million after their 20-year marriage ended in divorce, The Sunday Telegraph can
disclose.
By Robert
Mendick, Chief reporter: 20 Jan 2013 / http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/divorce/9813556/The-Lord-the-Lady-her-lover-and-the-17m-divorce.html
It was by
far the longest lasting of his five marriages. And now easily the most
expensive of his five divorces.
After an
acrimonious, two-year legal battle, the 7th Marquess of Northampton has called
a truce with his soon-to-be ex-wife. The divorce – prompted by Lady (Pamela) Northampton
Lady
Northampton, 61, will receive a £4 million apartment in Pimlico in central London
But the
vast majority of Lord Northampton’s fortune – put conservatively at £120
million and including two stately homes, tracts of land, valuable paintings and
furniture and even a controversial Roman treasure hoard – will remain intact.
The
decision to settle will spare the couple the £2 million cost of a two-week
divorce trial, which was due to start in the High Court tomorrow . Both are now
bound by confidentiality clauses that prevent them speaking about the failure
of their 20-year marriage.
Lord Northampton’s solicitor, Simon Bruce
of Farrer and Co, said yesterday: “We are pleased to confirm that the case has
now been settled without the need for further court proceedings.
"Under the terms of the parties’
agreements there will be no further comment.”
A spokesman for Lady Northampton said: “She
does not wish to make any comment at this time.”
The divorce had been a messy one. At a
pretrial hearing in the summer, Lady Northampton’s lover was named as Dr Dan
Stoicescu, who is said to be even wealthier than her husband.
The couple also became embroiled in a
separate privacy action, now ended, over secret recordings of Lady
Northampton’s phone conversations, discussing her private life with her
87-year-old father.
Bizarrely, the recordings were made by her
stepmother, a hairdresser from Staines in
Middlesex, and passed on to Lord Northampton.
Their contents prompted Lord Northampton,
66, to throw his wife out of their 84-room country estate at Compton Wynyates,
Warwickshire.
Lady Northampton had demanded about £25
million and Lord Northampton had offered £15 million. It is reckoned, although
unconfirmed, that she will in the end receive about £17 million – almost £1
million for every year of their marriage.
Lord Northampton, born Spencer Compton and
known as “Spenny” to friends, is one of Britain
He had already been wed four times in 23
years when he married Pamela Kyprios in 1990 at a register office in Stratford-upon-Avon , following her divorce from a wealthy
Greek-American shipping financier.
While his family has aristocratic roots
dating back 500 years, Lady Northampton, born Pamela Haworth, is from
altogether more humble stock, having been born into a working-class family in Lancashire .
The pair were introduced by friends in the
late 1980s and married shortly after. “She is the centre of my life,” Lord
Northampton said at the time, “She is a healer, very good at relaxing me.” He
has told friends that she was the love of his life and certainly none of his
other marriages lasted anywhere near as long.
Lord Northampton became friends with Dr
Stoicescu in about 2006 after they met at a Freemasons’ gathering.
Dr Stoicescu, who lives beside Lake Geneva
in Switzerland
He became only the second person to have
his genome mapped, at a cost of £220,000, and later paid for Lord and Lady
Northampton to go through the process. He also gave Lord Northampton expensive
gifts before embarking on an affair with his wife in about 2009.
The taped phone calls, made over three
months in 2010, confirmed Lord Northampton’s worst suspicions.
A friend of his said: “Spenny feels
betrayed by Dan Stoicescu, whom he once regarded as one of his closest friends.
"At a time when he thought his
marriage was solid, he and Pamela holidayed with Stoicescu and he showered them
with expensive gifts.
"Stoicescu even gave Pamela a job with
one of his organisations, which meant they travelled the world together.
“Although it looks obvious now what was
developing, Stoicescu’s role in the end of his marriage was a complete and
utter shock.”
A friend of Lady Northampton defended her.
“Spenny has had a chequered past and Pamela
has had to put up with a great deal. It’s fair to say that … the marriage was
already faltering a considerable time before the relationship began with Dan.
“Since Spenny decided to divorce her, she
feels she has been treated like a common criminal – thrown out of Compton
Wynyates and never allowed back. She resents the claim she is being portrayed
as a gold-digger.
"After a 23-year relationship and
after the contributions Pamela has made to Spenny’s properties, business and
life, she is entitled to a good settlement.”
Lord Northampton married four times between
1967 and 1988, selling a painting by Andreas Mantegna for a then world-record
£8.1 million in 1985, two years after divorce number three.
English divorce law largely protects
inherited wealth and two stately homes, Compton Wynyates and Castle Ashby, will
remain in the family and be passed on to his heir.
Other assets include the Sevso Treasure,
which consists of 14 large decorated silver vessels and platers, which cannot
be sold because of a long-running dispute over their provenance.
A painting of Mary I, painted in 1554 and
worth about £6 million, may have to be auctioned to help pay for the divorce.
'Mystic Marquess' marries yoga teacher with
'keen interest' in sex addiction
The Marquess of Northampton
By Tim Walker7:30AM
BST 13 Sep 2013 / http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/10305803/Mystic-Marquess-marries-yoga-teacher-with-keen-interest-in-sex-addiction.html
He has been
married five times before, and his last divorce cost him around £17 million,
but the Marquess of Northampton refuses to abandon his quest for enduring love.
Mandrake
hears that the “Mystic Marquess”, as he is known because of his fascination
with Freemasonry and ancient mysticism, has quietly married for a sixth time.
The new Marchioness
of Northampton is Tracy Goodman, a glamorous young psychotherapist and yoga
teacher with a “keen interest in working with love and sex addiction related
issues”.
Tracy, who
works at the Recovery Centre in Knightsbridge, is currently on honeymoon with
“Spenny”, as Lord Northampton, 67, is known to his chums, after their wedding
in London
The
marquess, whose assets include Compton Wynyates, his family seat in
Warwickshire, and Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire, agreed a settlement with
his fifth wife, Pamela, in January, the day before their divorce trial was due
to be held at the High Court.
Pamela left
him for a Romanian businessman, Dr Dan Stoicescu, whose fortune is even larger
than the peer’s estimated £120 million.
Lord
Northampton, one of whose daughters is Lady Emily Compton, the socialite who
courted the rock star Bryan Ferry, divorced his fourth wife, Fritzi Erhardt,
the former wife of Viscount Cowdray, in 1988.
His third
wife was Rosie Dawson-Damer, while his second was Annette Smallwood, his former
secretary. He was first married to Henriette, daughter of the late Dutch
ambassador to London
No comments:
Post a Comment