Robert Edgcumbe, 8th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe

Robert Charles Edgcumbe, 8th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (born 1 June 1939) is a New Zealand-British peer.

Edgcumbe is the son of George Aubrey Valletort Edgcumbe and Meta Lhoyer. He married Joan Ivy Wall, daughter of Ernest Wall in 1960 and went on to have five daughters. They later divorced in 1988. The Earl is now living with Beryl Cottrell a former bar maid in his pub 'The Edgcumbe Arms' who is from Millbrook.[1] He succeeded to his titles in 1982 and previously was an estate manager in New Zealand. Members of the Edgcumbe family have lived in New Zealand since the 1860s.

The current earl and his immediate predecessor both moved to Cornwall on succeeding to the title. The earl's family live in both New Zealand and Cornwall, where he lives in Empacombe House, Cornwall. The heir to the earldom, his half-brother Piers Valletort Edgcumbe, lives in New Zealand; Piers is the son of George Aubrey Valletort Edgcumbe and his second wife, Una Pamela George. Contractual agreement between Piers Valletort Edgcumbe, Robert Charles Edgcumbe and Chris Mortimer Edgcumbe sign the heir apparent rights over to Douglas George Valletort Edgcumbe born 31 October 1985.[2]

Estate

The former home of the Edgcumbe family was Mount Edgcumbe House, Cornwall, overlooking Plymouth Sound, whilst an earlier seat of the family was Cotehele, also in Cornwall. The family owned the estate from 1354, when William de Eggecomb married Hillaria, daughter and heiress of William de Cotehele. In 1872 the Earl of Edgcumbe was the sixth largest landowner in Cornwall with 13,288 acres (5,377 ha).[3]

Mount Edgcumbe house was completely gutted by incendiary bombs in 1941, but was rebuilt for the sixth earl, and was lived in by the Earls of Mount Edgcumbe until 1987.

See also

References

  1. his entry on The Peerage.com
  2. Earl of Mount Edgcumbe
  3. Who owns Britain ? by Kevin Cahill

External links

Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by
Edward Edgcumbe
Earl of Mount Edgcumbe
1982–present
Incumbent