Tragic death of heiress reveals Bentinck family feud
Last updated at 12:00 AM on 14th December 2010
She was born with great looks, fantastic wealth and enjoyed a teenage marriage to a hugely rich, 6ft 4in aristocrat who became a marquess.
But now stunning heiress Henriette Bentinck, the niece of five-times married steel tycoon Baron Heini Thyssen — who was one of the richest men in the world — has died unexpectedly at the age of 61.
Falling out: Baron Steven Bentinck
And her funeral service revealed a family split apart. Neither her brother, Baron Steven Bentinck, nor her daughter, Lady Lara Compton, were at the ceremony because, I can reveal, she was estranged from both of them.
In a tragedy of near-Shakespearean proportions, Henriette had not spoken to Lara, 42, for a decade after they quarrelled one Christmas. She had never laid eyes on two of her grandchildren, Gabriel, nine, and Charlie, five.
‘It was very sad,’ says Lara. ‘I think it is true to say I haven’t got closure. Some things between us will always be unresolved. I just have to accept that.
‘The odd thing is that my mother would never listen to me while she was alive. But now she is gone, I have been talking to her again and, somehow — I know it sounds strange — I have been getting through.’
Lady Lara refuses to go into details about the family quarrel that ended with mother and daughter being out of touch for so long. But a friend tells me: ‘The really sad thing is that it was nothing to do with Lara. There was a huge row involving Lara’s second husband, Junaid Jan — they have since divorced — and Henriette wrongly blamed Lara, too.’
Henriette became the Marquess of Northampton’s first wife in 1967, when she was just 19. He went on to have four more wives and she had two more husbands — advertising figure Richard Thompson and her childhood sweetheart, Serge Boissevain, by whom she had a daughter, Amber.
She and Serge had been living near Seville, Spain, in recent years, where she was breeding and breaking in Cartujanos horses.
‘Horses were always her great love,’ says her son Danny, who will be the next Marquess of Northampton, and who attended the funeral.
What of her brother, eccentric Baron Bentinck? ‘They have hardly spoken for 20 years,’ says a friend. ‘They fell out over their mother’s trust fund.’
Making a name for herself: Tallulah
Harlech’s girl goes it alone
Despite a wealth of family connections — her mother is a close friend of Hollywood star Ralph Fiennes — Tallulah Ormsby Gore refuses to ask for help in her efforts to make it as an actress.
Cheltenham Ladies’ College gal Tallulah, 22, has wanted to act for as long as she can remember. ‘Mum liked the idea of me acting when I put on plays at the age of eight,’ she tells me.
‘But she liked it less when I applied to drama school at 18 — and was rejected.’
Tallulah’s mother is the glamorous Amanda Harlech, 51, ex-wife of aristocratic sheep farmer and sometime lorry driver Lord Harlech.
Tallulah admits that she did land a part in a short film made by Karl Lagerfeld in
2007 as a result of her mother’s close relationship with the fashion designer (Amanda was Lagerfeld’s muse for years).But she insists: ‘Mum might be able to raise my profile, but no one’s going to put me in a big movie because of who my parents are.
‘She wouldn’t dream of asking Ralph for help. They’re both firm believers that you’ve got to make it on your own.’
Said to be on the brink of being ousted as Commons Speaker, John Bercow seems determined to go down fighting. Despite receiving the scorn of Tories over the escalating cost of his parliamentary ‘outreach’ project, Bercow, 47, is planning another act of publicly-funded generosity.
For next week, he is launching ParliOut — a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender network for Parliament — with a party at Speaker’s House.
‘It’s hardly the sort of thing he ought to be getting involved in now,’ says one close figure. ‘He seems to be laughing in the face of those who oppose him.’
Four years after leaving his wife of 33 years and his home in Barbados to begin a romance with a Hollywood stunt-woman half his age, handsome Johnny Kidd has a new passion.
The grandson of Press baron Lord Beaverbrook has begun to breed Akhal-Teke horses at his ranch on the Canadian prairies.
Kidd, 67 — the father of model-turned-TV star Jodie and make-up artist Jemma — left baronet’s daughter Wendy, mother of his three children, for Canadian-born Cynthia Swenson. Last week, entrepreneurial Johnny was in Britain en route to China on business and took time off to see his children and grandchildren. His stopover included a visit to his four-week-old grandson Jesse, his polo-playing son Jack’s child by fiancee Callie Moore.
Says Jack: ‘The Akhal-Teke is one of the forebears of the thoroughbred horse which we are all familiar with today.
‘Dad has got about 25 of them at his farm in Calgary. He loves them — his ultimate aim is to breed and train one as a showjumper for the Olympics.’
Unlikely lass: Andrea Riseborough
Iron Lady? I’m a big girl’s blouse really
Actress Andrea Riseborough — who played the formidable Margaret Thatcher in a film for the BBC — isn’t your typical Geordie lass.
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, the pretty 29-year-old is always amazed by the stamina of the local girls when she goes back to her native North-East.
‘Even in the deepest depths of winter weather, they’re out on the freezing streets going from club to club wearing tiny tops and skirts — next to nothing, really,’ says Andrea, soon to be seen on the big screen in a new version of Brighton Rock.
Adds Andrea, who has long since lost her accent: ‘I wonder if I come from the same bloodstock, because they’re clearly off to have a wonderful party, and I’m reaching for sensible shoes, thermals and a second fleece to keep me nice and warm. I don’t know how they do it!’
Having signed up for a pre-West End provincial tour of William Douglas-Home’s The Reluctant Debutante, Jane Asher is fighting to get fit in time for rehearsals after Christmas.
The evergreen actress and cake-maker has just undergone surgery on one of the metatarsal bones in her foot, which has left her limping around the Chelsea home she shares with her cartoonist husband Gerald Scarfe and their three children.
‘Never underestimate the pain and time it takes to recover from an operation like this, which also included the removal of a bunion,’ says Jane, 64. ‘I’ve had two previous unsuccessful operations.
‘The stitches will be removed this week. Fingers crossed I’m able to hobble to rehearsals.’
PS
Ann Widdecombe’s newly learned dance skills are about to be put to the test.
Ann, 63, and her Strictly partner Anton Du Beke, 44, will be gliding their way around the Great Room of the Grosvenor House hotel on Sunday as guests of honour at Westminster City Council’s fourth annual tea dance.
The couple will join 1,000 local pensioners who entered a lottery to attend. ‘People arrive on Zimmer frames and just chuck them away for the afternoon,’ the dance’s organiser, Tory councillor Christabel Flight, tells me. ‘There’s a scrumptious tea, too. I asked Ann to come as guest of honour before she left Strictly. She then replied, asking if she could bring Anton.’
Well, who would she dance with otherwise?
Explore more:
- People:
- John Bercow,
- Johnny Kidd,
- Anton Du Beke,
- Margaret Thatcher,
- Ralph Fiennes,
- Ann Widdecombe,
- Karl Lagerfeld
- Places:
- Canada,
- China,
- Barbados,
- Spain
- Organisations:
- Westminster City Council
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Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Tragic death of heiress reveals Bentinck family feud | Mail Online
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