Lord Nicholas Hervey

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The Lord Frederick William Charles Nicholas Wentworth Hervey (26 November 1961–26 January 1998) was the second son of the 6th Marquess of Bristol by his second wife (m. 1960) Lady Anne Juliet Dorothea Maud Wentworth-FitzWilliam (through marriage "Lady Juliet Hervey", "Lady Juliet de Chair", "Lady Juliet Tadgell"), an only child and heiress who inherited an estimated £45 million from her father, the 8th Earl FitzWilliam in 1946. From 1985 Nicholas was heir to the title Marquess of Bristol from his elder half-brother John, the 7th Marquess. His other half-siblings are Fred, the 8th Marquess, the media personalities Lady Victoria Hervey and Playboy model Lady Isabella Hervey and Helena de Chair.

Nicholas was a keen traditionalist who was educated at Eton, Yale and the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. At Eton he was regarded as "an industrious boy with plenty of initiative"; in Michaelmas 1978 he took part in the House debate, and during his last two halves was in the House Library (i.e., a prefect). He also rowed in the Baby House IV team, and founded and was president of the Burlington Society, a fine arts society with an emphasis on modern art. He was also a member of the Agricultural and Political Societies, leaving Eton at Christmas 1979 with A-levels in French, Spanish and Economics. At Yale he took a degree in the History of Art and studied Economics in depth. In 1981 he founded the "Rockingham Club," a Yale social club for descendants of royalty and aristocracy, which was later modified to allow membership to the children of the "super-wealthy". The club was dissolved in 1986.

He was an active and leading member of the International Monarchist League. In February 1979 The Monarchist (July 1979, no. 55) reported his election as President of the International Youth Association of the International Monarchist League, (under 21s), and his active recruitment drive on their behalf which had resulted in numerous new members. In 1985 he became a Vice-Chancellor of the International Monarchist League, and made the formal toast to the guests, The Prince and Princess of Lippe, at the League Annual Dinner in the Cholmondeley Room, the House of Lords, on 1 April 1986, (The Monarchist, February 1987, no. 67). He remained active in the League until 1992.

Through the League, which his father had subsidised for many years, he became friendly with Gregory Lauder-Frost who introduced him to numerous right-wing conservative activities. One such event, on 25 September 1989, was the Western Goals Institute dinner at Simpson's-in-the-Strand, chaired by Baron Sudeley, for El Salvador's President, Alfredo Cristiani, and his inner cabinet. [Refer: Daily Telegraph and Times, "Court & Social" columns, 26 September 1989].

He was one of the godfathers present at the christening at St. James' Roman Catholic Church, Spanish Place, London, on 23 May 1979, of his half-brother, Lord Frederick Hervey. Other godparents were Their Majesties King Fuad II and Queen Fadila of Egypt, and His Majesty King Rechad al-Mahdi of Tunis. (Reference: The Monarchist, July 1980, no. 57). He was a member of the Turf Club in Carlton House Terrace.

In 1983 he had been diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia, and in 1991 voluntarily underwent treatment in a clinic after being forced to declare bankruptcy owing £38,000 to lawyers[1] following the failure of the lawsuit he and his half-brother, the 7th Marquess of Bristol, brought against the principal beneficiaries of the will of their father the 6th Marquess of Bristol, i.e., the 6th Marquess' third wife and their then infant issue (Isabella, Victoria and Fred).

Hervey suffered from severe depression and became increasingly reclusive. His landlady said that he "drew no shred of comfort from the high rank and great riches to which he was born" and that "he was a recluse, in the sense that he was heavily sedated and slept all day — a typical schizophrenic... He was very quiet, very Old Etonian. He was a nice guy, but very 'out of it'. Nobody visited him here, except sometimes we would hear someone come and take him out to dinner."[2]

His own inheritance, which was under the auspices of trustees, was rigorously controlled and this led to increased financial difficulties by someone used to a comfortable life. This increased his depression. He was found dead in his Chelsea flat, having hanged himself, at the age of 36.

His half-brother, the 7th Marquess of Bristol, died less than a year later.[3]

[edit] External links

• Bats in the family belfry review of The House of Hervey published in The Spectator, May 12, 2001

[edit] References

• Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage edited by Peter Townend, 105th edition, London, 1970.
• De-la-Noy, Michael. The House of Hervey. London, 2001. ISBN 1-84119-309-7
• Hervey, Lord Nicholas. The Monarchist League Today and its Role and Goals for the Future, in The Monarchist, July 1979, no. 55, UK
• — — The [Monarchist League] Youth Association Spreading its Wings, in The Monarchist, July 1981, no. 59, UK
• Iovine, Juli V. Lipsticks and Lords: Yale's New Look, in The Wall Street Journal, 4 August 1987, p. 1.
• Ray, Jonathan, Rake's Progress in the New Statesman, 30 October 2000, vol. 13, issue 629, p. 56.
• Utley, Tom, article on Hervey in The Daily Telegraph, London, 29 January 1998, (see also news item the previous day).