The Covert coat is very similar to the
Chesterfield, but it was designed for hunting and the outdoors. Therefore, it
had to be tailored from particularly sturdy material – the so-called Covert
cloth, named after the covert bushes. It was designed to protect its wearer
from mud, bush encounters, and of course the weather. For that reason, it had
to be very heavy (29 or 30 ounces a yard), sturdy, and durable. Today, the
fabric is not quite as heavy anymore, but it is still a tweed material made to
last. It always comes in a brownish-green color because it does not show the
dirt very much.
A Covert coat usually has the following:
Single-breasted with a fly front
Notched lapels
Made
of brown-green Covert cloth
Short topcoat that is just a little longer than the jacket beneath
Signature four (sometimes five) lines of stitching at the cuffs and hem,
and optionally on the flap of the chest pocket
Center vent
Two
flap pockets with optional ticket pocket
The
collar is constructed either of Covert cloth or velvet
Poacher’s pocket (huge inside pocket that can accommodate a newspaper or
an iPad)
As the
scion of one of the country’s oldest aristocratic families the Earl of Cardigan
has an impeccable pedigree.
But his
stewardship of his family’s extensive Wiltshire estate has for several years
been fraught with feuds and difficulties.
It has now
emerged that a senior lawyer appointed by the Earl, David Brudenell-Bruce, to oversee his affairs at Savernake Estate
has resigned following a dispute over the way it was being run.
Simon Weil
quit as a trustee as part of an agreed settlement with the Earl, three years
after he was appointed to replace another of his trustees, John Moore, who left
in acrimonious circumstances.
His resignation marks another chapter in the
frequently turbulent affairs of the Earl, whose ancestors include the general
who led the ill-fated charge of the Light Brigade.
At the same
time as Mr Weil standing down, another trustee, Wilson Cotton, has also
resigned from his role at the Savernake Estate.
Mr Weil
remained circumspect last night over his resignation, saying only: “I do not
want to say any more thank you very much. My resignation was part of an agreed
settlement with Lord Cardigan. It was part of an agreed court order.”
However, it
is understood that his resignation is linked to a bitter legal dispute between
Mr Weil and Mr Cotton and Lord Cardigan over a property in his grounds rented
by the pop star Pete Doherty.
Lord
Cardigan last year sued Mr Cotton for thousands of pounds in lost rent on
Sturmy House following repairs needed when Doherty left the £1 million property
“uninhabitable”.
Damage
caused by the Babyshambles and Libertines singer – whose drug problems and
riotous lifestyle made him a cult figure on the British pop scene – included
broken windows, graffiti on walls, cats running wild among its nine bedrooms
and mounds of rotting rubbish around the property.
Further
damage was caused when a burst pipe led to flooding after Doherty, who paid
£2,950 a month in rent for Sturmy House, moved out in 2010 without informing
the agent.
The damage
cost Lord Cardigan’s insurers £65,000 to repair and almost as much in lost rent
after it lay empty following Doherty’s departure.
Pete Doherty at Sturmy House, during his stay
on Lord Cardigan's Savernake Estate
Mr Cotton
has now also stepped down as a trustee of the estate but, according to Mr Weil
retains, some involvement in the Earl’s affairs.
“We both
stepped down as Trustees of the estate but he remains a trustee of a remaining
settlement,” said Mr Weil.
Lord
Cardigan had also sued Mr Cotton over the £376,768 fees he charged, calling
them excessive.
Relations
between the two men became so strained that in 2011 Lord Cardigan was accused
of sabotaging a commercial pheasant shoot on his estate by destroying stands
and “running a dog through the cover so as to disperse the birds”.
This led to
the shooting syndicate, which had paid £52,000 a year in fees, to turn its back
on Savernake, robbing the estate of valuable revenue.
The
refurbishment of Sturmy House overran by 18 months and the delay in renting the
house cost the estate an estimated £50,000 in potential revenue.
The Earl –
described as “abrasive” in court papers – had earlier succeeded in having Mr
Moore, his former close friend, removed as a trustee after legal action in
2014.
A trial
judge at the time said: “Mr Moore has had to put up with a great deal of
unpleasantness despite the amount of time he has devoted to the estate.”
The judge
thought Mr Moore should be removed due to the breakdown in relations between
him and Lord Cardigan.
He wrote:
"The lion’s share of responsibility for that breakdown ought, I think, to
be laid at Lord Cardigan’s door (and that of Mr Bloom) [Lord Cardigan's legal
adviser.]"
The Earl,
whose title dates back to 1611, has repeatedly experienced financial problems.
He has run
up legal costs of more than £600,000 in legal actions and paid his first wife
more than £900,000 in a divorce settlement.
By 2013 the
Savernake estate had run up debts of £1.8 million, with interest charges of
£18,000 a month.
He has also
fallen out with other family members, most spectacularly his daughter, Lady
Catherine Brudenell-Bruce.
The Earl
was accused of sending her abusive emails. She obtained a restraining order
banning him from attending his first wife’s funeral in 2012.
Mr Weil is
a senior partner with the London solicitors Bircham Dyson Bell. He specialises in charities, philanthropy,
trusts and 'the resolution of potentially contentious issues arising out of
wills, trusts and co-ownership of property'.
Among his 'career highlights' mentioned on the
firm's website is "resolving a bitter family dispute arising out of the
estate of a millionairess
“Lord
Cardigan, 61, whose family name is David Brudenell-Bruce, has been living on
£71 per week jobseekers’ allowance and training to be a lorry driver while the
court case has rumbled on. He and his second wife, Joanne, live with their
one-year-old daughter Lady Sophie in a lodge on the estate which they cannot
afford to heat.”
Earl of
Cardigan admits defeat in battle to keep ancestral home on Savernake estate
The Earl of
Cardigan will not contest an Appeal Court ruling that Tottenham House should be
sold by trustees acting in his interests
Gordon
Rayner By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter5:59PM BST 17 Oct 2014
It was
given to his family by William the Conqueror and was once the site of Wolf
Hall, the home of Jane Seymour made famous by Hilary Mantel’s award-winning
novel.
But
yesterday the Earl of Cardigan finally admitted defeat in his battle to keep
the most valuable part of the Savernake estate in his family after three senior
judges ruled it should be sold.
The Earl,
who once said he was “put on this earth to take care of Savernake and I will
never let it go” has decided not to contest the Appeal Court’s decision that
trustees who control the Wiltshire estate should be allowed to sell its
dilapidated centrepiece, Tottenham House, and 800 acres of land.
For a man
whose forebears include the 7th Earl, who led the Charge of the Light Brigade
during the Crimean War, defeat may be a bitter pill to swallow, but it will at
least be sugared by the fact that he and his son will be the beneficiaries when
the plot is sold for £11.25 million.
Lord
Cardigan, 61, whose family name is David Brudenell-Bruce, has been living on
£71 per week jobseekers’ allowance and training to be a lorry driver while the
court case has rumbled on. He and his second wife, Joanne, live with their
one-year-old daughter Lady Sophie in a lodge on the estate which they cannot
afford to heat.
Yesterday
Lord Justice Vos, Lady Justice Black and Lord Justice Moore-Bick unanimously
upheld an earlier High Court decision that the trustees of the estate should be
allowed to proceed with the sale. The buyer is reported to be the Conservative
donor and property developer Jamie Ritblat, whose company also owns the former
Athletes’ Village at the London 2012 Olympic site.
The judges
said in their written ruling that “everyone now agrees” that Tottenham House
must be sold. The Grade I listed house, which has more than 100 rooms, and
Grade II* listed stable block have been largely unoccupied since the 1990s and
are “decaying fast”, the judges said.
They
decided the trustees, who control a 51 per cent share of the estate, had acted
properly and in the interests of the beneficiaries, Lord Cardigan and his son
Thomas, Viscount Savernake, in accepting the £11.25m offer. Lord Cardigan
argued that the sale had not been openly advertised and that the true value was
nearer £15m, even though the estate agent Knight Frank had only estimated its
value at £8.5m.
Tottenham
House is in need of major renovations
The ruling
brings to an end a two-year power struggle between Lord Cardigan and the
trustees, Wilson Cotton and John Moore, whom he tried unsuccessfully to have
removed.
The Earl,
who will eventually succeed his 88-year-old father as the 9th Marquess of Ailesbury,
had hoped to save Tottenham House, near Great Bedwyn, by leasing it to an
American company which wanted to turn it into a hotel and golf resort, but the
company went bust in 2011.
The
trustees decided the house should be sold, and offered it to interested parties
last year, leading to the acceptance of the highest bid. The bid was for the
“residential refurbishment” of the house and stables and came from “a well
known party in the real estate world”, the judges said. The sale is expected to
be completed within weeks.
The stable
block is in a particularly poor state of repair
Ironically,
the trust which controls the estate was set up in 1951 precisely to prevent the
family from losing control of it. The Earl’s father, the Marquess of Ailesbury,
and his grandfather were troubled by the story of the 4th Marquess, who once
tried to sell the estate to settle gambling debts, and set up the trust to
remove the power of sale from future generations.
Tottenham
House had already become ruinously expensive by the 1940s, and in 1946 it was
leased to Hawtreys, a prep school, until 1994, and then to a charity which
moved out in 2004. It has been empty ever since.
Lord
Cardigan and the trust will still own the remaining 3,700 mainly forested acres
of the Savernake estate, which were given to his ancestor Richard Esturmy by
William the Conqueror in 1067 for his contribution to victory at the Battle of
Hastings. Tottenham House was built in 1818, but the estate’s manor house was
once Wolf Hall, home of Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour.
Lord
Cardigan was unavailable for comment.
Downton and
out: He lives in a stately home and has a 4,500 acre estate but Earl of
Cardigan admits he's claiming Jobseeker's Allowance as he is bound over to keep
the peace in long-running feud
Aristocrat appeared in court today accused of
theft and criminal damage
His legal team says he is on benefits and
suffering 'financial difficulties'
Earl is in long-running row with trustees of
his 1,000-year-old Savernake estate in Wiltshire
They fell out in 2007 and have been at
loggerheads ever since
By Luke
Salkeld for the Daily Mail
PUBLISHED:
15:32 GMT, 29 January 2013 | UPDATED: 23:16 GMT, 29 January 2013
Earl of
Cardigan, pictured leaving court yesterday, is currently claiming benefits but
has looked for work as a lorry driver, according to his mother
His
privileged background provides him with a title, a stately home and a
4,000-acre country estate.
Yet it
appears the Earl of Cardigan is also entitled – courtesy of the taxpayer – to
around £71 per week in Jobseeker’s Allowance.
The
aristocrat was revealed to be receiving the state benefit at his latest court
appearance over a long-running feud with estate trustees.
The
60-year-old earl, full name David Michael James Brudenell-Bruce, had been due
to stand trial after denying damaging six pheasant feeders worth £66 and the
theft of a battery and electrical power unit worth £80.
The
offences were said to have happened at his Savernake Estate, near Marlborough,
Wiltshire, which has been in his family for almost 1,000 years.
The
troubled aristocrat claims to live there with rain coming in through the roof,
no hot water, unsafe electrics and with heating confined to a single room after
falling out with trustees in 2007 resulting in a reduced income.
The Old
Etonian claims he must visit the public baths in Marlborough to take a hot
shower and goes to bed fully clothed wearing a hat to keep warm.
The
descendant of the man who led the Charge of the Light Brigade, the earl is at
loggerheads with the trustees of his country pile.
He took one
of them, his former friend John Moore, to the High Court accusing him of
selling family portraits without his permission, but lost the case.
Their
continued dispute, said to date back to 2007, has left him broke, he says.
Yesterday
at Swindon Crown Court he was bound over in the sum of £200 to keep the peace –
meaning the prosecution will probably drop all charges if he causes no trouble
for a year.
Lord
Cardigan, pictured with wife Joanne outside Tottenham House, part of his huge
Savernake Estate, near Marlborough, receives about £71 a week in Job Seekers'
Allowance
Old Etonian
David Brudenell-Bruce is descendant of the 7th Earl who famously led the
disastrous British cavalry charge of the 600 in 1854 against the Russians in
the Crimean War.
Their title
goes back to 1611 when James I created the Baronetage of England and offered
titles to 200 men to help with the settlement of Ireland.
They have
lived on the same estate in Wiltshire for 1,000 years.
They rode
'into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of Hell', wrote Tennyson in his poem
commemorating the suicidal attack.
An
appalling series of misunderstandings led to the Brigade advancing down a different
valley from the one commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, had intended when he
dictated ambiguous orders for Lord Lucan, the cavalry commander.
Despite the
fact that the order seemed to demand the cavalry to attack the Russian
artillery without infantry support - in contravention of all accepted laws of
military practice - an incredulous Lucan passed the instructions on to the Earl
of Cardigan, who commanded the Light Brigade, and the troops advanced.
664 men
took part and 110 were left dead.
Claire Marlow,
prosecuting, said: ‘These offences are generally of a nuisance and aimed at
disrupting the workings of the trustees and the estate.’
Mike
Pulsford, defending, said the earl was maintaining his innocence but agreed to
be bound over, adding: ‘There is a Chancery Court application by my client to
remove the two trustees from the Savernake Estate.’
Mr Pulsford
told the court that the earl is unemployed and has been receiving Jobseeker’s
Allowance.
‘He is not
working. One of his claims against the trustees is that they have withheld
certain monies from him,’ he said.
Earl who was
ousted from his £12million family seat in row with trustees slams 'stupid'
prosecutors after he's cleared for 16TH TIME of harassing estate staff
Earl of Cardigan has been hauled before the
courts 16 times since 2013
None of the 62-year-old's appearances have
resulted in a conviction
Said he was 'relieved' but criticised the
'waste of the court's time'
By SAM
MATTHEW FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED:
16:21 GMT, 6 August 2015 | UPDATED: 17:58 GMT, 6 August 2015
An
aristocrat at the centre of a ten-year legal wrangle over his historic family
estate has slammed prosecutors after he was cleared of harassment - for the
16TH TIME.
The Earl of
Cardigan, 62, has been in and out of court after becoming embroiled in a row
with trustees and employees at his the 4,500 acre Savernake Estate in Wiltshire.
The
notorious lord - who lost his £12million mansion during the battle - was
accused of a string of offences against employees of trustees of the estate.
Real name,
David Brudenell-Bruce, he was brought before the court again this week accused of
harassment against a foreman.
But
magistrates once again decided he had no case to answer and cleared him - the
16th court appearance which has resulted in no conviction since 2013.
The earl -
who was once forced to claim benefits and wash in a local swimming pool due to
having no hot water - has questioned the CPS's decision to take the cases to
court.
He said:
'I'm hugely relieved. It's stupidity that most of them came to trial in the
first place.
'It's a
waste of the court's time.'
The
Savernake Estate, which includes a stately home and Britain's only
privately-owned forest, had been in the Earl's family for almost 1,000 years.
The legal
saga began when Lord Cardigan - who was estate manager - left England in 2005
after he fell ill with depression.
He
appointed John Moore, a local barrister's clerk and friend, to act as a trustee
to run the estate when he was away.
But when he
returned with his new American wife, the trustees refused to give up control of
the 4,500 acre ancestral estate, sparking a bitter feud between the parties.
Lord
Cardigan - estranged father of The Voice star Bo Bruce - was forced to live in
a run-down farmhouse on the estate.
He claimed
it had no running hot water while the 19th-Century Tottenham House was empty.
The old
Etonian went to the High Court in London last year to get Mr Moore removed as a
trustee and was successful.
The former
friend was also ordered to repay the estate £117,000 the court found he had
wrongly taken in self-remuneration.
However it
was too late to save Tottenham House, which was sold for £12million by the
trustees after an Appeal Court ruling.
But during
the course of the long-running feud, Mr Moore and two estate employees -
gamekeeper Peter Tilley and foreman Les Kyle - alleged they were harassed by
the lord.
The Earl of
Cardigan, pictured left with wife Joanna, and his estranged daughter, Bo Bruce,
right
The
allegations covered everything from putting up posters, complaints from the
earl about poor conditions at his home, and arguments about snares around the
estate.
Some 13 of
the alleged offences were dealt during 2013 and 2014, with the four others
dealt with the last few weeks.
All have
ended with no conviction against the aristocrat, apart from one, which won't be
heard until October.
BITTER
BATTLE WITH TRUSTEES THAT LAID A ONCE-GREAT FAMILY LOW
The Earl of
Cardigan holding a portrait of his famous ancestor
In 1980,
the current Earl married Rosamund Jane. But in 2005, she asked for a divorce,
which was the start of a series of disasters.
In 2005 he
left England after he suffered from a bout of depression.
He
subsequently became estranged from his daughter, his former wife died and he
became embroiled in a bitter battle with the trustees of his estate – leading
commentators to liken his life to a Shakespearean tragedy.
He says the
dispute with the trustees started when he returned from the US in 2011 to
discover they had sold off family portraits to pay outstanding bills.
The
trustees have since made a number of criminal allegations against the Earl,
ranging from damaging pheasant feeders to spitting at them, although none of
the charges resulted in a conviction.
Just two
years ago, it was revealed he was claiming £71-a-week Jobseeker's Allowance and
showering at a local swimming bath as his lodge on the estate did not have hot
water.
In December
last year the mansion on the estate - Tottenham House - was sold for £12
million.
The Earl
had challenged a decision by the trustees of the Savernake estate to sell the
dilapidated house near Marlborough, Wiltshire, but lost the case.
Just last
Month Lord Cardigan was cleared of three cases of harassment at North West Wiltshire
Magistrates' Court.
On July 13,
he was cleared of harassing John Moore, a former trustee of his estate, over a
broken shower. He was alleged to have bombarded Moore with phone calls.
On July 20,
he was acquitted of harassing Peter Tilley, a gamekeeper, on his estate, who
claimed the earl had caused him distress by putting up a number of notices
warning people about the snares he had set in Savernake Forest.
Seven days
later he was cleared of harassing Les Kyle, the foreman at his 4,500-acre
ancestral estate.
It had been
alleged that he had tailgated Kyle and made distressing comments to him.
THE
ARISTOCRATS WHO LED THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
David
Brudenell-Bruce is descended from the seventh Earl of Cardigan, who famously
led the charge of the Light Brigade against the Russians in the Crimean War,
immortalised by Tennyson +6
David
Brudenell-Bruce is descended from the seventh Earl of Cardigan, who famously
led the charge of the Light Brigade against the Russians in the Crimean War,
immortalised by Tennyson
Old Etonian
David Brudenell-Bruce is descendant of the 7th Earl who famously led the
disastrous British cavalry charge of the 600 in 1854 against the Russians in
the Crimean War.
Their title
goes back to 1611 when James I created the Baronetage of England and offered
titles to 200 men to help with the settlement of Ireland.
They have
lived on the same estate in Wiltshire for 1,000 years.
They rode
'into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of Hell', wrote Tennyson in his poem
commemorating the suicidal attack.
An
appalling series of misunderstandings led to the Brigade advancing down a
different valley from the one commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, had intended
when he dictated ambiguous orders for Lord Lucan, the cavalry commander.
Despite the
fact that the order seemed to demand the cavalry to attack the Russian
artillery without infantry support - in contravention of all accepted laws of
military practice - an incredulous Lucan passed the instructions on to the Earl
of Cardigan, who commanded the Light Brigade, and the troops advanced.
664 men
took part and 110 were left dead.
Earl of
Cardigan is found guilty of harassing the female former caretaker of his
£12million country mansion outside Waitrose
Earl of Cardigan guilty of harassing female
former caretaker of mansion
The Old Etonian shouted abusive comments at her
outside Waitrose store
It was 17th time he has been in court accused
of harassing his estate staff
The other 16 occasions he was cleared. The earl
was fined £200 for offence
UPDATE: Lord Cardigan appealed the conviction
and has been cleared
By Sam
Tonkin For Mailonline
PUBLISHED:
13:15 GMT, 12 November 2015 | UPDATED: 18:08 GMT, 5 July 2016
The Earl of
Cardigan has been found guilty of harassing the female former caretaker of his
£12million country mansion during an altercation outside a Waitrose
supermarket.
It was the
17th time in two years he has been hauled before the courts on accusations of
harassing his estate staff but the first time it has resulted in a conviction.
The Old Etonian
aristocrat, 63, was found to have used threatening language in shouting abusive
comments at former Tottenham House employee Prue Chetwynd-Talbot.
Lord
Cardigan, who appeared at North West Wiltshire Magistrates Court in Chippenham,
denied the charge and claimed he was merely pointing out Ms Chetwyn-Talbot to a
mutual friend.
But
magistrates found him guilty of the offence at a Waitrose store in Marlborough
in April 2013.
The earl
was fined £200 and ordered to pay a £20 victim surcharge plus £350 costs for
using threatening words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress
under the section five of the Public Order Act.
It has
since emerged that the estranged father of The Voice star Bo Bruce is appealing
the decision.
In August
the earl, whose real name is David Brudenell-Bruce, slammed prosecutors after
he was cleared of harassment for the 16th time.
He has been
in and out of court since becoming embroiled in a ten-year legal row with
trustees and employees at his 4,500 acre Savernake Estate in Wiltshire.
Six months
before the harassment clearance he lost a battle to prevent the sale of the
£12million home on the estate that has been in his family for 900 years.
Lord
Cardigan, who once said he was 'put on this earth to take care of Savernake and
I will never let it go', had fought to keep the 100-room property in his family
but was forced to admit defeat earlier this year after an Appeal Court ruling.
Bitterness
between the earl and employees of trustees of the estate led to him being
accused of a string of offences against them but in all 16 court appearances
dating back to 2013 magistrates found there was no case to answer.
In August,
the earl - who was once forced to claim benefits and wash in a local swimming
pool due to having no hot water - questioned the CPS's decision to take the
cases to court.
He said:
'I'm hugely relieved. It's stupidity that most of them came to trial in the
first place.
'It's a
waste of the court's time.'
The legal
saga began when Lord Cardigan, who was estate manager, left England in 2005
after he fell ill with depression.
He
appointed John Moore, a local barrister's clerk and friend, to act as a trustee
to run the estate when he was away.
The Old
Etonian aristocrat, 63, was found to have used threatening language in shouting
abusive comments at former Tottenham House employee Prue Chetwynd-Talbot. The
£12million mansion is pictured behind the earl
But when he
returned with his new American wife, the trustees refused to give up control of
the 4,500-acre ancestral estate, sparking a bitter feud between the parties.
Lord
Cardigan was forced to live in a run-down farmhouse on the estate, which he
claimed had no running hot water, while the 19th Century Tottenham House lay
empty.
The Old
Etonian went to the High Court in London last year to get Mr Moore removed as a
trustee and was successful.
It's a
waste of the court's time
What the
Earl of Cardigan said when he was cleared of harassing estate staff for the
16th time in August
His former
friend was also ordered to repay the estate £117,000 the court found he had
wrongly taken in self-remuneration.
However it
was too late to save Tottenham House, which was sold for £12million by the
trustees after an Appeal Court ruling.
But during
the course of the long-running feud, Mr Moore and two estate employees -
gamekeeper Peter Tilley and foreman Les Kyle - alleged they were harassed by
the lord.
The
allegations covered everything from putting up posters, complaints from the
earl about poor conditions at his home, and arguments about snares around the
estate.
Some 13 of
the alleged offences were dealt during 2013 and 2014, with four others in the
summer.
Lord
Cardigan has also been involved in a legal battle with his estranged daughter,
who reached the final of the BBC1 talent show The Voice in 2012.
Ms Bruce,
whose real name is Lady Catherine Brudenell-Bruce, is the daughter of the earl
and his first wife, Rosamond, Countess of Cardigan, who died of cancer two
years ago.
The new
owner of Tottenham House is understood to be Conservative Party donor and
multi-millionaire property developer Jamie Ritblat.
The
Savernake estate was given to Lord Cardigan's ancestors by William the Conqueror
and was once the site of Wolf Hall, the home of Henry VIII's third wife Jane
Seymour that provided the title for Hilary Mantel's award–winning novel.
Construction
work at Tottenham House has already started and the mansion is expected to be
converted into luxury flats.
Since
publication of this article, Lord Cardigan denied the offence and appealed the
conviction which was overturned by a judge and two magistrates on 10 May 2016.
BITTER
BATTLE WITH TRUSTEES THAT LAID A ONCE-GREAT FAMILY LOW
In 1980,
the current Earl of Cardigan married Rosamund Jane. But in 2005, she asked for
a divorce, which was the start of a series of disasters.
In 2005 he
left England after he suffered from a bout of depression.
He
subsequently became estranged from his daughter, his former wife died and he
became embroiled in a bitter battle with the trustees of his estate – leading
commentators to liken his life to a Shakespearean tragedy.
He says the
dispute with the trustees started when he returned from the US in 2011 to
discover they had sold off family portraits to pay outstanding bills.
The
trustees have since made a number of criminal allegations against the Earl,
ranging from damaging pheasant feeders to spitting at them, although none of
the charges had resulted in a conviction until last month.
Just two
years ago, it was revealed he was claiming £71-a-week Jobseeker's Allowance and
showering at a local swimming bath as his lodge on the estate did not have hot
water.
Earlier
this year the mansion on the estate - Tottenham House - was sold for
£12million.
The Earl
had challenged a decision by the trustees of the Savernake estate to sell the
dilapidated house near Marlborough, Wiltshire, but lost the case.
In the
summer Lord Cardigan was cleared of three cases of harassment at North West
Wiltshire Magistrates' Court.
On July 13,
he was cleared of harassing John Moore, a former trustee of his estate, over a
broken shower. He was alleged to have bombarded Moore with phone calls.
On July 20,
he was acquitted of harassing Peter Tilley, a gamekeeper on his estate, who
claimed the earl had caused him distress by putting up a number of notices
warning people about the snares he had set in Savernake Forest.
Seven days
later he was cleared of harassing Les Kyle, the foreman at his 4,500-acre
ancestral estate.
It had been
alleged that he had tailgated Kyle and made distressing comments to him.
The Charge
of the Light Brigade was a charge of British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan
against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the
Crimean War. Lord Raglan, overall commander of the British forces, had intended
to send the Light Brigade to prevent the Russians from removing captured guns
from overrun Turkish positions, a task well-suited to light cavalry.
However,
there was miscommunication in the chain of command, and the Light Brigade was
instead sent on a frontal assault against a different artillery battery, one
well-prepared with excellent fields of defensive fire. They reached the battery
under withering direct fire and scattered some of the gunners, but they were
forced to retreat immediately. Thus, the assault ended with very high British
casualties and no decisive gains.
The events
are best remembered as the subject of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's narrative poem
"The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1854), published just six weeks
after the event. Its lines emphasise the valour of the cavalry in bravely
carrying out their orders, regardless of the obvious outcome. Blame for the
miscommunication has remained controversial, as the original order itself was
vague, and the officer who delivered the written orders with some verbal
interpretation died in the first minute of the assault.
The charge
was made by the Light Brigade of the British cavalry, which consisted of the
4th and 13th Light Dragoons, 17th Lancers, and the 8th and 11th Hussars, under
the command of Major General James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan. Also
present that day was the Heavy Brigade, commanded by Major General James Yorke
Scarlett, who was a past Commanding Officer of the 5th Dragoon Guards. The
Heavy Brigade was made up of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, the 5th
Dragoon Guards, the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons and the Scots Greys. The two
brigades were the only British cavalry force at the battle.
The Light
Brigade, as the name suggests, were the British light cavalry force. It mounted
light, fast horses which were unarmoured. The men were armed with lances and sabres.
Optimized for maximum mobility and speed, they were intended for reconnaissance
and skirmishing. They were also ideal for cutting down infantry and artillery
units as they attempted to retreat.
The Heavy
Brigade under James Scarlett was the British heavy cavalry force. It mounted
large, heavy chargers. The men were equipped with metal helmets and armed with
cavalry swords for close combat. They were intended as the primary British
shock force, leading frontal charges in order to break enemy lines.
Overall
command of the British cavalry resided with Lieutenant General George Bingham,
3rd Earl of Lucan. Cardigan and Lucan were brothers-in-law who disliked each
other intensely. Lucan received an order from the army commander Lord Raglan
stating: "Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front,
follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns. Troop
horse artillery may accompany. French cavalry is on your left. Immediate."
Raglan wanted the light cavalry to prevent the Russians from successfully
withdrawing the naval guns from the redoubts they had captured on the reverse
side of the Causeway Heights, the hill forming the south side of the valley.
This was an optimum task for the Light Brigade, as their superior speed would
ensure the Russians would be forced to either quickly abandon the cumbersome
guns or be cut down en masse while they attempted to flee with them.
Raglan
could see what was happening from his high vantage point on the west side of
the valley. However, the lie of the land around Lucan and the cavalry prevented
him from seeing the Russians' efforts to remove the guns from the redoubts and
retreat.
The order
was drafted by Brigadier Richard Airey and carried by Captain Louis Edward
Nolan. Nolan carried the further oral instruction that the cavalry was to
attack immediately. When Lucan asked what guns were referred to, Nolan is said
to have indicated with a wide sweep of his arm—not the causeway redoubts—but
the mass of Russian guns in a redoubt at the end of the valley, around a mile
away. His reasons for the misdirection are unknown because he was killed in the
ensuing battle.
In response
to the order, Lucan instructed Cardigan to lead his command of about 670
troopers of the Light Brigade straight into the valley between the Fedyukhin
Heights and the Causeway Heights. In his poem, "The Charge of the Light
Brigade" (1854), Tennyson famously dubbed this hollow "The Valley of
Death".
The
opposing Russian forces were commanded by Pavel Liprandi and included
approximately 20 battalions of infantry supported by over 50 artillery pieces.
These forces were deployed on both sides and at the opposite end of the valley.
Lucan
himself was to follow with the Heavy Brigade. Although the Heavy Brigade was
better armoured and intended for frontal assaults on infantry positions,
neither force was remotely equipped for a frontal assault on a fully dug-in and
alerted artillery battery—much less one with an excellent line of sight over a
mile in length and supported on two sides by artillery batteries providing
enfilading fire from elevated ground. The semi-suicidal nature of this charge
was surely evident to the troopers of the Light Brigade, but if there were any
objection to the orders, it was not recorded.
A newspaper
report on 11 December 2016 revealed another version of what happened:
"More than 160 years on" (i.e. after 2014) a letter was found in the
British Library, written by Lieutenant Frederick Maxse, who was on Lord
Raglan's staff at Balaklava. It said that Lord Raglan had sent an order for the
Light Brigade to "follow the enemy and try to prevent the enemy from
carrying away the guns"; those guns were some British artillery guns which
were at risk. Raglan sent the order via 36-year-old Captain Louis Nolan (old drawing
of him). Nolan, instead of passing on the order verbatim complete as given,
passed it on to Lord Lucan orally as "There, my lord, is your enemy! There
are your guns!", and added the word "attack" when Raglan had
intended merely a show of force. Nolan's version of the order and accompanying
gesture were misunderstood, causing the disaster described above. Nolan rode
with the charge and died in it. Maxse's letter said that Nolan was annoyed at
how little the Light Brigade had done previously and that Nolan was angry
against Lord Lucan. Nigel Kingscote (another of Raglan's staff officers) agreed
that the fault was Nolan's, and said that Nolan, if he had lived, would have
been "broke by court martial".
“Throughout history rulers have used clothes as a form
of legitimization and propaganda. While palaces, pictures, and jewels might
reflect the choice of a monarch’s predecessors or advisers, clothes reflected
the preferences of the monarch himself. Being both personal and visible, the
right costume at the right time could transform and define a monarch’s
reputation. Many royal leaders have known this, from Louis XIV to Catherine the
Great and from Napoleon I to Princess Diana.
This intriguing book explores how rulers have sought
to control their image through their appearance. Mansel shows how individual
styles of dress throw light on the personalities of particular monarchs, on
their court system, and on their ambitions. The book looks also at the
economics of the costume industry, at patronage, at the etiquette involved in
mourning dress, and at the act of dressing itself. Fascinating glimpses into
the lives of European monarchs and contemporary potentates reveal the intimate
connection between power and the way it is packaged.”
“Queen Maud of Norway was renowned for her stylish
dress. Daughter of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, she was born a princess and
became Queen of Norway in 1905. She had exemplary taste and a strong interest
in fashion, and her royal lifestyle required appropriate dress for every occasion.
Her wardrobe includes a range of stunning creations dating from her wedding
trousseau of 1896 to the latest Worth designs purchased just months before her
death in 1938.
Queen Maud's clothes document an extraordinary era of
fashion history, from the decorative but elaborate dress of the Victorian era
to the streamlined chic of the 1930s: clothes for the modern working monarch.
Her wardrobe encompasses the public and private like no other collection, from
sumptuous state gowns and elegant evening dresses for official occasions to
riding habits, winter sportswear, and simple tailored suits for afternoons in
the garden with her grandchildren.
Maud engaged with contemporary fashion throughout her
long life, and commissioned many of the great designers of the day, notably,
Worth, Blancquaert and Morin-Blossier. Her wardrobe illustrates the impeccable
standards of couture dressmaking and tailoring of the period. Flawlessly beaded
gowns, perfectly cut and hand-finished suits, beautifully embroidered and
appliqued dresses all exemplify the superb workmanship of the era. Style and
Splendour showcases some of the most spectacular garments now in the collection
of the National Museum of Art/Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in Oslo, and
sets them properly in the context of Queen Maud's life and times.”
Power
dressing
Anne
Kjellberg and Susan North's Style and Splendour and Philip Mansel's Dressed to
Rule give differing accounts of Europe's fashion revolutions, says Veronica
Horwell
Veronica
Horwell
Saturday 2
July 2005 01.22 BST First published on Saturday 2 July 2005 01.22 BST
Louis
Leroy, who has a walk-on part in Philip Mansel's history of court costume,
began work as an accessories hand for Marie Antoinette's couturier, then
escaped the French revolution by using his talents in service of the stage and
theatrical republican regimes. He found a patron in Josephine de Beauharnais,
mistress of the Directoire's senior monster; she went on to be style adviser,
and more, to scruffy officer Napoleon Bonaparte, and when emperor Boney became
obsessed with impressing Europe and rescuing French luxury industries, Leroy
robed Josephine and her successor empress Marie-Louise, plus the Bonaparte
family and retinues.
Post Waterloo,
the wives of the gallant allies made Leroy's maison their first destination in
conquered Paris, and he outfitted the restored Bourbons. "Turncoat"
is an inadequate description for a designer in continuous employment from the
diamond shoebuckles of the ancient regime, through the gold bees of the empire,
to the diamond swordhilts of the revived monarchy - a designer who could,
moreover, pleat a tricolor cockade on command.
Leroy's
eras, when the wrong choice of clothes could doom the wearer, provide Mansel
with great material. He is comfortable with punctilio, exactly specifying the
width of embroidery proper to the pocket of a premier officier - 122mm, since
you ask - but his sharpest observations are made in the discomfort zones where
rules were overruled. Revolutionary taste in 1789, he points out, detested the
red heels and silks of Louis XVI's courtiers less because they advertised
privilege than because they were out of fashion in a world where power had
already changed into a coat of plain wool (the frac), or military uniform.
During the 18th century, men with money from bank, bourse and land, especially
the land of America, doffed silks for cloth outfits that evolved into the
modern suit. While the soldiers of Sweden, Prussia, Russia, Austria and Britain
were standardised and glamourised by the use of uniform, "the king's
coat", des Kaisers Rock, soon adopted by actual monarchs, although not the
Bourbons. Frederick the Great's was snuff-stained and gone at the elbows - like
Stalin long after him, he asserted autocrat status through shabbiness yet gave
a dressing down to anyone who did not dress up.
Balzac
wrote that the French revolution had been a debate between silk and wool cloth,
but the real winner was gold braid. Napoleon, having to motivate an army, a
state and annexed countries, supervised the invention of his own peculiar court
wear and battledress of spectacular fraudulence (although it looked great in
long shot, the leopardskin was fake, and not top-quality fake, either), and
uniformed civil officials, a practice widely imitated after the Congress of
Vienna.
Only
Englishmen and Americans were left preferring civvies, something the US made up
for later by insisting on livery for park rangers and the serfs of
Mac-commerce. For melodramatic swank, English royals could always misuse Scots
highland dress: Prince Albert insisted that kilts at Balmoral almost cover the
knee, which real lairds laughed at as "so very German"; the Duke of
Windsor, in exile after his 1936 abdication, draped himself and minions in more
tartan than the Old and Young Pretender put together.
Mansel
draws a remarkable global panorama from 1840 to 1914, with monarchs and top
brass "fishing for uniforms", as Queen Victoria once sniffed - that
is, claiming the right to wear the grandest regalia of friends and ex-enemies,
so that Kaiser Wilhelm II was "quite giddy" to dress like Nelson,
while Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary had to swap kit so often and fast that he
felt sympathy for actors.
Further
down the social scale, vestments established not just authority but identity;
servants of the new post and transport companies, schoolchildren and students
wore uniform from the Atlantic to Siberia. (And in Japan after it was prised
open; its schoolgirl get-ups preserve the fashion for rigging out regal heirs
as sailors on holiday in Osborne, Baden-Baden and St Petersburg.) An empire
could pass for modern with assistance from tailors. The Ottoman sultan shed his
sublime kaftan for an epauletted tunic and unwound his turban to reveal the
east-west compromise fez - the foundation of the imperial fez factory was a
Turkish move towards Europe.
Even
clothes that rebelled against militarism were conscripted. The liberal Hapsburg
Archduke Johann retreated to the Alps, there to flaunt himself in protest gear
- hunting jacket and lederhosen, both later drafted into the service of
nationalism. Loyal followers of Garibaldi in their casual red shirts (which
their leader likely borrowed from Argentinian slaughterhouse workers) were easy
targets for ex-comrades who had put on the blue coat of King Victor Emmanuel
II's troops. Garibaldi's mono-colour garment worn as a political statement did
become the power dressing of the 20th century, but not the way he would have
wanted: millions massed, willingly or not, in black or brown shirts, or Chinese
blue jackets. Mansel has a wicked eye for meaning, especially in his postcript
about Osama bin Laden, whose broadcast kit is the white robe and headgear of
Wahabite purity, with a US combat jacket atop to communicate command of macho,
techno and potency.
Queens and
empresses were subject to the conflicting requirements above, plus a demand
that they set fashion, at least while young; after that, it could be all
pinning and shawling, plus gumboots. Empresses Eugénie of the French second
empire and Elizabeth of Austria patronised a second Leroy, couturier Charles
Worth, whose creations (and those of his heirs) clad the rulers of rival, even
warring, states until after the second world war. Queen Maud of Norway, the
subject of Style and Splendour, had Worth ensembles in the vast lifetime
wardrobe she left in the royal palace in Oslo. Born the daughter of the Prince
and Princess of Wales (later Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) in 1869, she had
modern model proportions, petite and neat-waisted, and constantly updated her
taste; she seemed to grow ever younger, from her postbridal going-away gown,
upholstered in the mode of 1896, to her final purchases around 1938. By then,
her Worth evening suit was far simpler than the lightest layer of her underwear
had been 40 years before, and after the fashion of most women skiers, she wore
tailored trousers on the slopes. Another revolution.
