He became a leading advocate of country sports but first hit the headlines when his wife ran off with a Government Minister. Neil Connor looks back at the life of Viscount Cobham.
It was the height of ignominy.
The wife of a leading member of the aristocracy walking out for a Cabinet Minister with a penchant for toe sucking and Chelsea strips.
For the 11th Viscount Cobham, who died last week aged 63, it was a devastating blow.
Deeply affected by the break-up of his marriage, he confessed to being close to suicide and once admitted sitting in his drawing room with a loaded shotgun in his hand.
It was after 22 years of marriage that Lady Penelope Cobham, who still retains the title as she has never married David Mellor, walked out of the splendid Palladian house they shared.
Lord Cobham, known to friends and family as Johnny, first learned of his ex-wife's infidelity when she woke him on December 6, 1994, with a cup of tea and the news that she was leaving him for the former Heritage Secretary.
He famously compared Mellor's behaviour to that of a dog, saying: "There was a time when those in public life attempted to behave with discretion and not like a stray mongrel in a public park."
The first Lady Penelope is known as the Queen of the Quangos because she is associated with so may public bodies. She still lives with Mr Mellor in their £1.3 million home on the Thames in London.
Lord Cobham suffered severe cashflow problems following the £1 million settlement, which was agreed in 1999 following four years of legal wrangling.
He had to sell of many family heirlooms to pay for the repair bill of his ancestral home, including two tables and six chairs which fetched £1 million at London auctioneers Christie's. The cash went towards a £2 million repair bill at the family seat Hagley Hall in the shadow of the Clent Hills in Worcestershire. One of the paintings he sold was Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery, painted by the Italian artist Pietro della Vecchia.
L ord Cobham's 18thcentury mansion, which is set in 1,500 acres of land, costs £200,000 a year to run. The Viscount said in 2001 that he was close to selling the prop-erty because of escalating costs.
He said five years ago: "I was born in this house and I want to die here. I have given myself three years and if I do not turn things around by then I will call it a day with the house. I am optimistic but I am also a realist. There is no point in breaking the family in cash terms purely on the whim of vanity. But at the moment it is unlikely unless something happens to me in the next couple of years."
A lover of country sports, Viscount Cobham pledged to go to prison rather than ban fox-hunting at his Hagley Hall seat.
"There will just be a fatuous fine, which I won't pay," he said. "I've heard prison food is quite good and, if not, it will be a good way to lose weight."
Lord Cobham married round-the-world yachts-woman Lisa Clayton in a secret ceremony in August 1997 and has often spoken of her support.
He died on Thursday. No details of his death were released by the family and a private funeral is being arranged.
As there are no children from either marriage, the new Viscount will be The Honourable Christopher Lyttelton, a 58-year-old stockbroker who is Lord Cobham's younger brother.
