He grew up in a household where education and “doing the right thing” were the standards for success.
They were the guiding principles for Charles Villiers’s life as well as the way he passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.
Yesterday, it was revealed that the distant cousin of the Duchess of Cornwall, who was the defendant in one of the most contentious and protracted divorces in British history, had allegedly committed himself in a hotel room in London.
Friends speculate that the ‘kind and compassionate’ aristocrat’s’ decision to commit himself in the secrecy of a hotel to save the anguish of loved ones who would have otherwise found him was characteristic of him.
His death brings to a terrible close a contentious marital dispute that, ten years after it started, was still in progress.
A High Court judge was moved to decide that both Villiers, 59, and his estranged wife Emma, 62, had likely suffered “psychological trauma” as a result of the litigation, which had caused financial disaster.
Friends were nevertheless startled that he might think about killing himself.
He was given permission to remain at Philippa Snowdon’s Chelsea residence by his late mother’s friend, who said that “he never spoke to me about being suicidal.”
But he did speak to my girlfriend about it, so I conducted some research and discovered that individuals who commit suicide often fear about being discovered by a loved one.
When the lawsuit started, Villiers and Emma enjoyed hosting beautiful black-tie dinners at their ten-acre, seven-bedroom Scottish manor property with a private lake.
They had a prosperous life and sent Clarissa, their only child, to the fee-paying Cheltenham Ladies’ College.
Milton House in Dumbarton had long ago been seized by the time he was ordered by the Court of Appeal to pay £10,000 in maintenance to his ex-wife in June of this year, and he had been evicted from a rental home. He stated that he was forced to sleep on the couches of acquaintances since he was almost impoverished. However, judges criticised his “appalling behaviour” throughout the divorce proceedings. Was it, maybe, the breaking point? Nobody can be certain.
He had maintained his nomadic lifestyle for the previous two months, depending on the kindness of friends, shifting from spare room to spare room and even to a boat in Greece. During this time on the Greek islands, his host started to worry about his visitor’s mental state.
I’m told that he began to go on extended, lonely walks, vanishing for hours at a time, and that sometimes he seemed frightened and unhappy.
Concerned by this development, the friend set up Villiers’ return to Britain and scheduled an appointment at a medical facility. He returned to London as required on Wednesday of last week via plane, but instead of going to the clinic, he booked into the opulent Durrants Hotel in Marylebone, Central London.
A housekeeper discovered him hanging in his room the next day.
His death was deemed “not suspicious” by Scotland Yard, who also announced that a case had been sent to the Westminster coroner.
The unusual Villiers vs. Villiers drama would ultimately span five courts and be heard by 20 judges. Villiers, who could trace his genealogy back to Mary Tudor, Henry VIII’s younger sister, said that his wife was a spendthrift who cherished “the trappings of luxury more than her husband.”
He spoke to his wife’s love of white pants. She is the kind of person who would go out and get more after having 11 pairs. He said that she had no understanding of money. At one time, Mrs. Villiers was the subject of bigamy accusations, which the police were subsequently asked to investigate.
Overall, it was incredibly demoralising, particularly for a devout Roman Catholic like Villiers who was very proud of his family’s connections to the former Mrs. Camilla Parker Bowles via his mother Elizabeth Keppel, a descendant of Viscount Bury.
Former publisher and racehorse owner Villiers thought that because he and his wife spent the most of their 18-year marriage in Scotland, that is where their divorce should be handled. Since English courts provide more favourable settlements, Emma sought maintenance there, which prompted her separated husband to accuse her of “divorce tourism.”
It became a famous case, but when it got to the Supreme Court, it was ruled that the financial settlement should be supervised by the English courts. Naturally, the case enthralled divorce attorneys.
Mr. Justice Mostyn made a significant portion of his decision public at a hearing in March of last year, which was a rare move. It was fantastic reading, although painful. No one came out of it good, but he was most irritated with the feuding couple because of the time and resources they wasted “picking over old grudges.”
He said of Villiers, “The husband has let out his rage by stating the wife is a bigamist. The accusation was totally untrue. The wife has been accused by the husband of being a fake, a fantasist, and all-around worthless.
“The wife has accused the husband of being dishonest, cunning, vengeful, and aggressive, and she has a point. She is not immune to criticism, however.
She has pursued her husband in this lawsuit in a really excessive way, and she willfully blocked out the truth that her husband doesn’t actually have access to the enormous sums of inherited money she thinks he has.
Both parties are now financially ruinous as a consequence of this dreadful battle, and I assume that they have suffered psychic harm as well.
In light of the scandalous information that came to light throughout the court proceedings, it was difficult to recognise the nicely dressed, polite Old Etonian.
At her Chelsea home, Philippa Snowdon remembers this guy as “the ultimate house guest.”
He always emptied the dishwasher without being asked to, and I often came home to find him ironing. That’s what she told me yesterday.
Charles hung the bunting for our Jubilee celebration in June. He was always helpful and neat.
He had been ‘off and on’ residing on Miss Snowdon’s couch since February. A biographer named Anne de Courcy had also hosted him as she assisted him with the preparation of a book about his aristocratic ancestry.
According to Miss de Courcy, “I was supporting him since he had produced a really strong summary.”
Hugo Vickers, a writer, maintained his optimism even after one publisher rejected his planned book.
Although I didn’t know him well, I was struck by the fact that he was an optimist who would just brush off failures. I let him know there were more publishers.
Old friend Geoffrey Bowring, who first met Villiers while he was a student at Edinburgh University, recalls how money problems were always an issue.
He couldn’t afford the rail fare when I once brought him from Cambridge to Scotland. I guess he was too arrogant to ask, so I gave him some money and purchased him a ticket.
That wasn’t always the case. He was financially secure when he met Emma in 1991 at a house party in Dorset thanks to his co-ownership of a number of regional newspapers and other ventures.
Although Villiers subsequently claimed he was unaware that she had been married not only once, but twice, she was divorced.
After three years of a good relationship, the couple got married. 1995 was the next year that Clarissa was born.
They often hosted gatherings, and he made a syndicate investment in horse racing.
In retrospect, Villiers said that he knew very little about his wife and denied ever having interacted with any of her acquaintances.
He said that in 2011, with Clarissa in boarding school, the marriage began to fall apart when he recommended they downsize.
There were just the two of us rambling about in the vast mansion, he added. “I believed we should discuss about a new chapter,” I said, “since it had fulfilled its role as a family home.”
If you ever consider selling this place, I’m gone, Villiers claims his wife told him. Instead of this property, I’d rather sell my engagement ring.
She was saying, “I’m married to this home, not you,” he said. She enjoyed serving as Milton House’s chatelaine.
The pair had split up by the year 2012. While Villiers relocated to Edinburgh, his wife and daughter made their home in West London’s Notting Hill.
After that, he was declared bankrupt. He fell in love once again with opera singer Heidi Innes as the lawsuit progressed and centred on a trust money that Villiers said his grandmother had given him but that just just met his storage expenses.
The scales have fallen from my eyes, Ms. Innes said after their separation earlier this year.
Only 18 months previously, during a “union ceremony” held at their East Lothian house with champagne and a two-tier cake on a stand embossed with the initials H and C and decorated with fragrant pale flowers, the couple had professed their love for one another in front of close friends and family.
Miss Innes, 45, who had worked with Villiers for over five years, however, declared: “It’s finished.” I’m pleased I didn’t formally wed him.
He’s not the person I’ve believed him to be all these time. He’s meant to be a gentleman, yet he hasn’t handled himself very properly, in my opinion.
Their leased property had been taken when Villiers failed to make a $18,000 rent arrears payment, which didn’t improve the situation.
Miss Innes put all the responsibility on her boyfriend, saying he had pledged to fund the rent while she took care of other expenses.
In the summer of this year, a repentant Villiers began couch-surfing at friends’ houses.
It is improbable, in the opinion of many who know him, that he didn’t experience some psychological damage of the kind Mr. Justice Mostyn described.
In fact, he discussed the 2014 death of Scot Young, a Scottish real estate entrepreneur, in his last interview with Tatler magazine.
Young fell from a fourth-floor window into spiked railings. He was also embroiled in a protracted divorce proceeding.
He ended up flinging himself out of a window after being chased by his wife for years, according to Villiers.
When he booked into Durrants Hotel last week, which is uncannily near to the scene of Mr. Young’s death, was that tragedy on his mind? We may never learn the solution.