Name Lady Tadgell | ||
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Born 24 January 1935 (age 89) ( 1935-01-24 ) Spouse Christoper Tadgell (m. 1997) Similar People Peter Wentworth‑Fitzwilliam - 8th Earl F, Victor Hervey - 6th Marquess, John Hervey - 7th Marquess, Lord Nicholas Hervey, Frederick Hervey - 8th Marquess | ||
Lady Ann Juliet Dorothea Maud Tadgell (née Wentworth-Fitzwilliam; born 24 January 1935), previously Marchioness of Bristol, is a British heiress, race horse breeder, and landowner. She consistently appears on the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated net worth of £45 million, based on family assets she inherited in 1948.
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Early life and education
Lady Juliet was born to Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, Viscount Milton, the only son of the 7th Earl Fitzwilliam, and his wife, Olive Plunket. Through her mother, Juliet is a granddaughter of Benjamin Plunket, Bishop of Meath, and a great-granddaughter of Lord Plunket, Archbishop of Dublin.
When she was thirteen, her father inherited the title of Earl Fitzwilliam and she became Lady Juliet. By this time, her parents' marriage was strained, and there was talk of divorce. In 1948 Earl Fitzwilliam died in a plane crash in France with his lover, Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, the widow of the heir to the Dukedom of Devonshire and a sister of the future U. S. President John F. Kennedy. As her father's only child, Lady Juliet, still aged only thirteen, inherited his whole unentailed estate and his huge art collection. The following year, she and her mother left their main house, and most of its contents were sold.
Lady Juliet holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Oxford.
Marriages and family life
In 1960 Lady Juliet married Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol, 20 years her senior, 18 days after he inherited his title upon his father's death. He had been divorced the previous year and in his 20s was adjudicated a bankrupt, declared the "No.1 Playboy of Mayfair", and jailed for jewel robbery. The couple had two children:
The couple separated in 1965 and divorced in 1972.
In 1974 she married Somerset de Chair, who was a former Conservative Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk and Paddington South. The couple had only one child:
After her second husband's death, in 1997 Lady Juliet married thirdly the architectural historian Christopher Tadgell and lives with him at her estate of Bourne Park, near Canterbury, Kent.
On 26 January 1998, two days after her 63rd birthday, her son Nicholas committed suicide.
Her daughter Helena attended the University of Bristol, and her son Nicholas was educated at Eton College, followed by Yale University.
Wealth and inheritance
As the only child of the 8th Earl Fitzwilliam, Lady Juliet inherited his estates, which have since passed into a trust for her benefit, and include his vast art collection, including seven paintings by George Stubbs and six by Anthony van Dyck and properties in England, Ireland and the United States. She regularly appears on the Sunday Times Rich List, climbing to the 1550th position in 2009 with a net worth of £35 million, despite experiencing a £10 million decline due to the recession. She has managed a stud farm and still maintains ownership of several racehorses.