British aristocrat, Lord Bath, the 7th Marquess of Bath. An eccentric aristocrat, he owned Longleat House, a huge mansion in Wiltshire, England, which had been in his family since the 16th century. It is now most famous for the Longleat Safari Park, which was founded in the 1960s by Lord Bath’s father and is open to the public every day of the year except Christmas Day.
Lord Bath was the second child in a family of four children (an older sister and two younger brothers) born to privileged parents. The children of course grew up with a nanny and governess. Both parents divorced and re-married. An artist from an early age, he attended Eton and Oxford and subsequently served his national service. He admitted to developing somewhat reclusive tendencies in his 20s, writing novels, painting and learning to play guitar.
Lord Bath had very long hair and dressed very colourfully. He was famous for his multi-coloured waistcoats which were specially made for him.
He was a talented painter, but he never sold a painting as all his paintings were in the form of murals on the walls of his house. He had a Kama Sutra room, with very explicit paintings of sexual positions; a Therapy Room, depicting scenes from his troubled childhood; a staircase on whose walls were depicted all the 74 women he had slept with; and a room in which he had depicted the entire history of art, from cave drawings to the present day.
He was also a prolific writer. He wrote poems, novels, and an autobiography (still incomplete) which at present stretches to 24 volumes. He said of this, “I am putting on record my total identity – a daunting task, and yet one which I am hoping to achieve better than anyone has yet done”. He campaigned for Regional Government for Wessex (the part of England in which he lived), and also for Polygyny and Pantheism.
His wife, Lady Bath, lived in Paris and visited him once a month. He lived alone in the big house with his beloved dog, but he enjoyed venturing out and chatting to the tourists and the staff of the Safari Park. He had about him an air of childlike innocence and enthusiasm. He was very much the “odd man out” within his family – all his relatives were very conventional.
Lord Bath was admitted to the Royal United Hospital, Bath, on 28 March 2020 and while in hospital tested positive for COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic. He died of pneumonia whilst infected by the virus on 4 April 2020 at the age of 87.
Link to Wikipedia biography