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A little bit about the line of the Earls of Pembroke.

Article at the bottom mentions the current Earl working with the Head gardener to build or rebuild a car.

https://www.geni.com/people/William-Marshal-1st-Earl-of-Pembroke/6000000002459854209

http://humphrysfamilytree.com/Marshal/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jul/31/britishidentity.features
[Capitalized emphasis is mine - texokie]

William Herbert lives in Britain’s most beautiful stately house. He is 27 years old. He’s worth £125 million, and he’ s short of just one thing - an heir. Lynn Barber meets the 18th earl of Pembroke

Quite by chance, I seem to have stumbled upon one of the world’s most eligible bachelors. He is such a find I am tempted to pop him in a cave and keep him for my younger daughter. He is the 18th Earl of Pembroke, valued by The Sunday Times Rich List at about £125m and owner of probably the most beautiful stately home in England - Wilton House, near Salisbury. Its state rooms, originally designed by Inigo Jones, contain £250m worth of art, including works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Brueghel, Poussin, van Dyck. And - guess what? The Earl is only 27 and is in urgent need of a wife. Let the stampede commence ...

I’d better explain how I found him. Wilton House is near my parents’ home, so I often used to take the children there for its excellent adventure playground and a quick whirl around the paintings. I dimly noted that it belonged to the Earl of Pembroke, so I WAS INTRIGUED TO LEARN THAT THE EARL OF PEMBROKE WAS BETTER KNOWN AS THE FILM DIRECTOR HENRY HERBERT, WHO DIRECTED KOO STARK IN THE NOTORIOUS SOFT PORN FILM EMILY, WHICH PUT PAID TO HER CHANCES WITH THE DUKE OF YORK.

So when my editor said, ‘Fancy interviewing any aristocrats?’ I thought, ‘Oh yes, Earl of Pembroke’, and wrote to him at Wilton. I was a little surprised to get an email back signed Will, and from the email address skitobefree. I should have remembered that of course earls die like everyone else, and Debretts confirmed that the 17TH EARL DIED IN OCTOBER 2003 AND WAS DULY SUCCEEDED BY HIS SON WILLIAM. UNFORTUNATELY, I KNEW NOTHING WHATSOEVER ABOUT THIS NEW EARL - EVEN THE INTERNET AND CUTTINGS LIBRARY DREW A BLANK - SO I ASKED HIM TO EMAIL ME A LIST OF HIS INTERESTS. I READ IT WITH A SINKING HEART - SKIING, SNOWBOARDING, SCUBA DIVING, PARAGLIDING AND FAST CARS.

HOWEVER, THERE WAS SOMETHING ELSE IN HIS EMAIL THAT REALLY MADE ME SIT UP. HE REQUESTED THAT HIS SISTER SHOULD TAKE THE PHOTOGRAPHS FOR THE ARTICLE AND THAT HE SHOULD HAVE A STYLIST. NOW SISTER AS PHOTOGRAPHER IS A REASONABLE REQUEST - ESPECIALLY AS HIS SISTER, KATINKA HERBERT, IS QUITE A WELL-KNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER - BUT A STYLIST! POP stars have stylists; actors, television presenters, people who rely on their looks for their career have stylists (though they usually bring their own), but for an unknown to demand one is truly unprecedented. But anyway, we agreed to the stylist, to make up for saying no to the sister (we wanted Harry Borden), but then the next day he emailed again demanding copy approval. What cheek! Again, you expect people like Nicole Kidman or Madonna to demand copy approval (though they never get it from The Observer), but you don’t expect the request from complete unknowns. I decided he must be the vainest, most up-himself young man I had ever encountered. Anyway, I wrote back briskly ‘no copy approval’ - and proceeded to Wilton. Where this gorgeous vision met my eyes.

The 18th Earl is tall (over 6ft), thin but not weedy, and with the most beautiful blue-green eyes imaginable. And nice with it, polite, modest, friendly, charming. He doesn’t bray like a hooray Henry, he has a rather quiet, diffident voice with a hint of northern vowels. He insists I call him Will - everyone does, he says. He leads me through a maze of corridors to his sitting-room and again - wow! A shimmering gold and white room at least 80ft long, with fabulous antique furniture and two seriously good Joshua Reynoldses on either side of the fireplace. I have been in other stately homes - Althorp springs to mind - where the public rooms are opulent, but the private quarters are a disappointment - but Wilton is not of that type. The room is incredibly grand, but it also has the feel of a bachelor flat, with its clutter of car magazines, tapes, CDs, a huge flatscreen television and dog toys all over the floor. It looks out over the lawns of Wilton, but is hidden from the public.

‘This is the first time I’ve ever been interviewed,’ the Earl confesses shyly and I almost laugh aloud. Of course, I should have guessed it. All his silly requests for a stylist and copy approval - which I took for self-importance - were actually a mark of his inexperience. His photographer sister probably told him that people ‘always’ ask for stylists and copy approval, so he did as she advised, without a clue what it meant. I mutter a silent apology for so misjudging him.

Anyway, Who Is He, My Wonderful New Find? He Was Born Lord William Herbert At Wilton In 1978, His Father’s First Son After Three Daughters. But His Parents Divorced Almost Immediately And He Grew Up Spending Half His Time At Wilton With His Father And Half With His Mother, Who Remarried And Moved To A Rather Grand House, Trafalgar, And Then To A Castle In Scotland. His Father Remarried And Had Three More Daughters, Whom Will Refers To As His Little Sisters, And Clearly Adores. He Says Proudly That They Are All ‘Straight-A Students’, Which He Never Was. He Was Educated At Bryanston And Loved It, But His Talents Were For Art And Design Rather Than Academic Subjects. ALL HIS FAMILY, HE SAYS, ARE CREATIVE - HIS FATHER WAS A FILM DIRECTOR, ONE OF HIS ELDER SISTERS IS A STONE RESTORER, ANOTHER A TRAPEZE ARTIST, AND THE THIRD, KATINKA, IS THE PHOTOGRAPHER.

From Bryanston, he went to Leeds to do a foundation course in 3-D design and finally found his metier. ‘Up till then I didn’t even know that you could have a career designing all these great gadgets, and I suddenly realised - wow, all these gadgets I’ve loved playing with all my life, I could actually design them! So then I just really got into it and discovered I was actually pretty good at it.’

But at first, Leeds was a terrible culture shock. He found himself sharing a seven-bedroom house with eight other students, all of whom came from Hull. In fact, all the students at his college were northerners: ‘I was the only person from south of Leeds and, even worse than that, I’d been at public school so I was a real southern fairy. It was a bit tricky that first year - I really learned to bite my tongue. But it got easier after that and then after two years in Leeds I went to do my degree in Sheffield and I absolutely loved it. Sheffield is great fun - it’s not pretentious, everyone’s on the same level, everyone chats to everyone, it’s just friendly and open and easy.’

His best friends are still those he made at university - he had a taste of the Tatler crowd when he first came to London, but says ‘I felt really awkward around them. There always seems to be a lot of attitude and you go to a club and it’s £50 to get in and people are spending £600 or even £1,000 on a bottle of champagne. I mean - come on! I’m not into that London social scene at all. I just enjoy being with my old friends from university. They don’t have stately homes or castles, but they’re great company and I know they’re proper friends.’

Will spent four years at Sheffield Hallam University studying industrial design and ended up with a first. ‘That was probably the happiest day of my life!’ he grins. ‘Because that morning I’d had my offer accepted for my flat in London, then I got a train up from London, went to a Honda garage and picked up my new car, drove my new car to university, picked up my results - and got a first! I was in floods of tears, it was all a bit much. And my dad was absolutely ecstatic. I was the first person in our family to have got a first and it gave me this huge confidence boost, because I thought, Well, perhaps I am actually quite good at this.”’

With his new confidence, he went to show Sebastian Conran (Sir Terence’s son, and director of Conran Design) his portfolio. Conran was impressed and took him on for a four-month trial and then a proper contract. ‘So I proved myself, I didn’t get the job just like that.’ And he loved it. He was there for a year and a half, designing everything from bathroom scales to toasters, and he is very excited that some of the products he designed will be in the shops soon.

But meanwhile, his father was losing his battle with cancer and, in October 2003, he died. Will Herbert, junior Conran employee, was suddenly the 18th Earl of Pembroke and owner of Wilton, in charge of 72 full-time staff and 50 contract workers. His father had not really prepared him. ‘He wasn’t great at telling me what was going on. He inherited at the same age as me, or maybe a bit younger, and I think he felt it disrupted his life. He wanted to keep me slightly away from things here.’

After his father’s death there was a limbo period, so he carried on working in London, coming down to Wilton at weekends. ‘I suppose I was a little bit scared of coming down here and facing it, and I was still really enjoying my London life, but bit by bit I started coming down here more, and getting to know the staff, and it got easier and easier.’ So last October he took the plunge - left his job at Conran and moved full-time to Wilton.

HIS FIRST WINTER IN THE HOUSE WAS TERRIBLY LONELY. HIS SISTERS AND VARIOUS MEMBERS OF STAFF LIVE NEARBY ON THE ESTATE, BUT THERE ARE NO LIVE-IN STAFF AND THE HOUSE IS - EVEN HE ADMITS - RATHER LARGE FOR ONE OCCUPANT. IT HAS MORE THAN 20 BEDROOMS, BUT HE STAYED IN THE FAMILIAR BEDROOM HE’D HAD AS A BOY AND COUNTED THE 260 STEPS EVERY NIGHT HE WENT TO BED. SO THEN HE THOUGHT ‘BETTER GET A DOG’, AND ACQUIRED TATE, A STARTLINGLY UGLY LURCHER NAMED AFTER HIS GRANDMOTHER’S FAMILY, WHO MADE A FORTUNE IN SUGAR AND BUILT THE TATE GALLERY. TATE SPENT MOST OF THE INTERVIEW BITING MY HANDS - ‘JUST A NIBBLE!’ ACCORDING TO WILL - WHILE I QUIETLY TRIED TO STRANGLE HIM.

Will thinks his career as a product designer is probably over. He wishes he could have had more time to establish himself before his father died, but he accepts that, now, Wilton comes first. ‘I don’t want to live in London full-time again. It’s great fun when you’re in the rat race and working flat out every day and meeting up with friends in the evening - it’s a real buzz. But it’s not healthy and it’s nicer in the countryside. I love this part of England; I was born and bred here. I FELT I WAS A CITY BOY BUT, COMING BACK - IT’S THE QUALITY OF LIFE. DOWN HERE I’VE GOT MY SISTERS CLOSE, AND MY DOG, AND IF I WANT TO GO FOR A WALK I CAN. I LIKE TO GET FRIENDS DOWN AS MUCH AS I CAN, THEN THE HOUSE REALLY COMES TO LIFE. IT’S WELL LIVED IN, I THINK, WELL LOVED.’

HE LIKES HAVING ‘A FEW FRIENDS’ TO STAY AT WEEKENDS (HIS IDEA OF A FEW IS 15 IT TURNS OUT), WHEN THEY ALL PLAY PAINTBALL IN THE WOODS. I ASKED IF HE COULD COOK AND HE SAID, WITH UNTYPICAL CONFIDENCE, ‘CAN I COOK? I’M A GREAT COOK! IN MY GAP YEAR I DID FIVE MONTHS AS A SKI CHALET HOST, RUNNING AN 18-BED CHALET, DOING A BIG COOKED BREAKFAST AND BAKING ALL THE CAKES AND DOING THREE-COURSE DINNERS AND CANAPES EVERY EVENING, SO YES, I’M PRETTY GOOD! COOKING IS NOT DIFFICULT AS LONG AS YOU’VE GOT SOME NICE INGREDIENTS, AND GARLIC, BUTTER AND CREAM.’ BUT THEN HE RATHER SPOILS THE EFFECT BY ADDING, ‘BUT I DO HAVE A CHEF HERE - HE COMES IN MOST DAYS TO COOK ME LUNCH OR SOMETHING.’

The house used to be a bustling place, full of servants and children, but now he says, ‘There’s a sort of limbo before I get married and have children.’ He is keen for that to happen as soon as possible: in fact it really has to happen as soon as possible. Five centuries of family history hang on his youthful shoulders. At present, HE IS THE LAST OF THE HERBERT LINE, AND IF HE DIES WITHOUT AN HEIR WILTON WILL PASS TO A COUSIN SO FAR REMOVED HE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW HIS NAME - ‘ONE OF THE FITZHERBERTS, I THINK, BUT I DON’T REALLY KNOW THAT BRANCH. I THINK MY BEST OPTION IS JUST TO STAY ALIVE!’

Unfortunately, he recently split up with his girlfriend so he needs to find a new one. Does he feel a real pressure to get married? ‘More than if I didn’t have Wilton. I mean, obviously I’ve known since I was born that I was going to take over Wilton and that I would have to get married and have a son. Which I’m perfectly happy about because I love kids. But my father had six daughters and only one son!’ Would he need to marry a rich wife? ‘No, I think it’s more important to marry someone that you actually really love and can stay married to for a long time.’ Would she have to be a girl of his own class? ‘I have no preference really. I once brought a girlfriend down here and I hadn’t told her where I lived - because you just feel a bit of an idiot if you say, “Oh by the way, I live in a stately home” - but when we got here I wished I had told her because she slightly freaked. But I always find it very important that the person doesn’t know where I live first - because some girls would just be after the house or title. But I think I’m a pretty good judge of character.’

The fact of his being the heir without a spare has had strange implications in his life. He would have dearly loved to try for a career as a racing driver, but it was impossible to insure his life in the face of all the death duties. Hence perhaps his attraction to dangerous sports - skiing and snowboarding and scuba diving and paragliding. He says they are not dangerous if you know what you’re doing and obey the rules, but perhaps he likes taking risks as big as he can afford. Most 27 year olds barely think about death, but he has to. He says sombrely, ‘One of the things I’ve noticed is that, taking black cabs, I never used to put on my seatbelt, but I always do now. I’m a lot more conscious of the effects of what would happen if I did die, so I just generally try to be more careful. That’s one of the reasons why I’ll never get a motorbike - they look fantastic fun and very exciting, but they are so dangerous.’

Instead, he contents himself with vroom-vroom cars. He and our photographer went into a car conversation that might as well have been in Tagalog, but ended with the Earl agreeing to drive his fave car, a Nissan Skyline, on to the lawn to have its photo taken, while I imagined all the gardeners and groundsmen quietly weeping into their watering cans. The car is absolutely hideous: Harry describes it as ‘a tweaked-up boy racer muscle car as featured in Grand Theft Auto, where they drive around picking up hookers - it’s the sort of car that trailer trash would buy.’ The Earl seems quite happy with this description, and adds that the Skyline is ‘very fast and furious’ and can do 190mph. When I ask if it cost a lot, he says, ‘Not too bad - about £32,000.’ HE IS ALSO BUILDING A CATERHAM KIT CAR WITH HELP FROM THE HEAD GARDENER.

After making Harry green with envy over his car, he then produces the same effect on me by asking if I would like to see his Tintoretto. It is a painting of Christ washing the disciples’ feet and is in one of the private back rooms, along with Old Master drawings by, among others, Holbein and Raphael. He says, regretfully, that he will probably have to open this room to the public, to avoid paying death duties on the art, but luckily it adjoins the public rooms and can be reached without invading his space.

But it is another room, the playroom, that really knocks me out. It contains two major Hockneys from the Sixties, as well as a wall of paintings by the eccentric Stephen Tennant, and a film poster for Emily. BUT WHAT IS REALLY JAW-DROPPING IS ALL THE GAMES KIT - A FULL-SIZE BILLIARD TABLE, A FULL-SIZE TRAMPOLINE, A TABLE TENNIS TABLE, A TABLE FOOTBALL GAME, RACKS OF FISHING RODS, GOLF CLUBS, TENNIS RACQUETS, PAINTBALL EQUIPMENT, AND ANY AMOUNT OF CHILDREN’S BIKES AND CARS. THE ROOM IS VAST AND BEAUTIFUL, AND WOULD BE A SHOWPIECE IN ANY OTHER HOUSE; BUT HOW BADLY WILTON NEEDS CHILDREN TO JUSTIFY ITS EXISTENCE.

The Earl is full of plans for the estate and has a new estate manager starting in a month’s time. Most of Wilton’s income at present comes from letting the 200-odd cottages and houses on the estate - and he wants to, if possible, extend Wilton’s land and property holdings. He also cherishes hopes of buying back some of the family treasures that have been dispersed over the decades - every time he goes to a museum he seems to come across some Pembroke portrait or artefact - most recently a Pembroke suit of armour in New York. He is not particularly keen to increase visitor numbers because they cause a lot of wear and tear on the house, but HE WANTS TO HAVE MORE HIGH-PAYING EVENTS, SUCH AS MADONNA’S WEDDING ANNIVERSARY PARTY WHICH WAS HELD HERE, OR MORE FILMS, LIKE THE RECENT KEIRA KNIGHTLEY PRIDE AND PREJUDICE OR THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE, WHICH WERE MADE HERE. HE SEEMS CONFIDENT THAT HE CAN RESTORE WILTON’S FORTUNES AND ‘TAKE THE ESTATE INTO THE 21ST CENTURY’ - WHATEVER THAT MEANS.

Just as I am leaving, he digs out two glossy brochures from his pile of car magazines and says, ‘I always keep these close at hand, just to remind me that it can all go very wrong.’ These are two Sotheby’s catalogues of the recent sale of Easton Neston and its contents. Easton Neston, a beautiful Northamptonshire house built by Hawksmoor circa 1700, and never opened to the public, was the seat of the Hesketh Fermor family for over 300 years, until the current Lord Hesketh spent rather a lot on his passion for motor racing. It is a reminder that these great aristocratic fortunes, however vast, can still vanish in a single generation. ‘I went to Easton Neston to have a look around,’ says the 18th Earl, ‘and it almost broke my heart. It was tragic to see the whole collection being broken up and all the family portraits sold. So I keep those there to remind me that you can inherit an awful lot, but lose it all very quickly if you’re not careful.’ Now all he needs is a sensible wife.