How the Duke of Westminster's great-uncle was a 'bully' who conspired to have his married brother-in-law thrown out of Britain because he was secretly gay - a scandal that inspired Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited
The richest man in Britain - and by far the nastiest.
Not Hugh, the 7th Duke of Westminster - who marries in grand style at Chester Cathedral next month - but his great-uncle Bendor, the 2nd duke.
He was, according to one biographer, 'a womanising jealous bully' - a man who cared only about making himself even richer, and having a good time at everybody else's expense.
Such was his sense of entitlement that he was ready to divorce his wife at the drop of a coronet - just because she read a book.
And he conspired to have his brother-in-law, the Liberal politician Earl Beauchamp, thrown out of Britain because he was secretly gay.
The distraught Earl, who had been a key part of King George V's inner circle, was driven to the brink of suicide.
Beauchamp's flight from Britain inspired Evelyn Waugh to write his iconic novel Brideshead Revisited.
The richest man in Britain - and by far the nastiest. Not Hugh, the Duke of Westminster, who marries in grand style at Chester Cathedral next month - but his great-uncle Bendor
Hugh, godson of King Charles and besties with Prince William , is a generous-hearted soul whose charitable activities include supporting vulnerable children and young people
Bendor's great-nephew Hugh, godson of King Charles and besties with Prince William, is a million miles from his ancestor in every possible way.
His charitable activities include supporting vulnerable children and young people, working with organisations that support families, schools and local communities, and leading a fundraising campaign for the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre.
And in his role as CEO of Family Action, he works with children from families impacted by poverty, addiction, food insecurity, mental and physical ill health, poor housing and domestic violence.
Bendor, whose real name was also Hugh, got his nickname from the family's Derby-winning racehorse Bend Or.
He sailed yachts and bedded women and was born into everything he could wish for.
But he was an 'angry unfulfilled man - nothing but a fatuous, spoilt, ageing playboy' according to a family member.
And he was a man accused of callously hastening the death of his only son and heir, aged five.
The Duke loved hating people. Most of all he hated his sister's husband.
Bendor was deeply jealous of Beauchamp's closeness to the throne in his roles as Knight of the Garter and Lord Steward of the Household.
While he had all the riches, he had no Garter. So he launched his conspiracy to have Beauchamp - who had a colourful homosexual life despite a happy marriage and seven children - arrested and thrown out of Britain.
'Dear Bugger-in-Law,' he wrote, having succeeded in his treacherous mission, 'you got what you deserved!'
Bendor conspired to have his brother-in-law, the Liberal politician Earl Beauchamp (above), thrown out of Britain because he was secretly gay
Earl Beauchamp became the inspiration for Evelyn Waugh's character Lord Marchmain in his celebrated novel Brideshead Revisited. Above: Anthony Andrews, Laurence Olivier and Jeremy Irons as Lord Sebastian Flyte, Lord Marchmain and Charles Ryder in the 1981 TV adapation of Waugh's novel
Bendor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, with his fiancée Loelia Ponsonby in February 1930. The couple married a week later
Constance 'Shelagh' Edwina Lewes was the first wife of Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster
The character of Lord Marchmain is based on the refugee earl, and Brideshead Castle is a portrait, in part, of the Beauchamp family home, Madresfield.
So what made the Duke such a brute?
Born to colossal wealth – the family owned huge tracts of London's Belgravia and Mayfair – by the age of 20 he was already known as one of the richest men in the world.
He had a 10-year affair with the fashion queen Coco Chanel before marrying a succession of wives - four in total.
Bendor could have what – and who – he wanted.
That included not one but two private yachts, and a fleet of 17 Rolls Royces which followed him around the world wherever he went.
He had a personal train built to carry him from the family estate, Eaton Hall in Cheshire, into London where his main home was Grosvenor House in Grosvenor Square - later the site of the US Embassy.
'He was a man who enjoyed hiding diamonds under the pillows of his mistresses, and there were many, many mistresses,' recalled one biographer.
But Bendor's affections came at a price – a very high price. His third wife, Loelia Ponsonby, didn't hold back when she wrote about him after their divorce.
'He got drunk every night,' she recalled. 'Raging scenes would go on and on through the long hours of the night – objects would fly through the air.'
Convincing himself Loelia was cheating on him (who could blame her?), the Duke smashed her priceless diamond Cartier clock into a thousand pieces, then sifted through the debris to pick up and pocket the diamonds so she wouldn't have them.
'Despite all his marriages, he sired only one male heir – Edward, Earl Grosvenor,' wrote biographer Jane Mulvagh.
'When Edward was just five his father insisted that he ride out with the hunt, despite the child's complaints of severe stomach pains. Edward died of peritonitis while out in the hunting field that day.'
Bendor's wife left him instantly and it was then that he turned his unsuppressed anger on the unsuspecting Beauchamp, who'd married his sister some years before.
Earl Beauchamp's wife Lettice - the sister of the 2nd Duke of Westminster - with her three eldest daughters, Lettice, Sybil and Mary
Lady Lettice Lygon was the eldest daughter of Earl Beauchamp. She is pictured above in The Sketch in 1929. The publication described the tall beauty as 'six foot or so of loveliness'
In setting out to get him, Bendor let King George V know that his precious courtier had broken every rule in the book.
The King allegedly blurted out on hearing the news, 'I thought men like that shot themselves.'
It was a ridiculous response. But Beauchamp had ignored the rules of discretion which governed the upper classes, and just as a warrant for his arrest was about to be issued – homosexuality still being illegal – he issued a statement saying 'ill-health' had required him to take a spa cure in Germany.
He fled the country. That's when Westminster sent his brother-in-law his scathing, triumphant, letter.
Beauchamp was bereft, his position and standing in society ruined. But his seven children – all of whom adored him – dissuaded him from taking his own life.
In exile for more than five years, he longed daily for his beautiful home.
But when the dust finally settled over the scandal and he was allowed back into Britain, he had a mere two years left to live.
'The problem with Bendor is he had too much money, and not enough self-control,' wrote a friend after the Duke died in 1953.
