High-res
Lady Lettice Lygon and Lady Sibell Lygon, London, 1926
In 1931 their father, William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp and Liberal leader in the House of Lords, who was known in the high society circles he moved in to be homosexual, would be outed by his brother-in-law (the Duke of Westminster) to King George V. By doing this, the Duke hoped to destroy Earl Beauchamp and his political party. The Duke threatened to give his evidence to the press and have the Earl arrested. The Earl’s daughter Lady Mary was dating King George V’s son, Prince George (later Duke of Kent), so the King took special interest in the Duke of Westminster’s allegations.
The King, who had been friends with the Earl for many years, and moreover did not want the scandal (which might hurt all of the House of Lords) intervened and sent three Knights of the Garter to ask Beauchamp (who was a Knight of the Garter himself) to resign from all his posts and leave England. His wife, Lady Lettice, had left the family three months earlier, when her brother had shown her the evidence of her husband’s extramarital relationships. The children chose to stay with their father at their home, Madresfield Court. The Duke of Westminster also told her that the children must bear witness against their father if, as he planned, it came to trial - which all seven children refused to do.
Lady Sibell was able to help suppress press interest in the story through her relationship with Lord Beaverbrook, who ran the Daily Express.
The Earl of Beauchamp went into self-imposed exile and a warrant was placed for his arrest. On his departure, his brother-in-law wrote him “Dear Bugger-in-law, you got what you deserved. Yours, Westminster.” His children, who became estranged from their mother (except Richard, nicknamed Dickie, the youngest son) and their uncle, would visit him as he traveled one by one: because they were worried he might take his life.
The character Sebastian in Brideshead Revisited is thought to be based on their brother, Hugh, who was homosexual and might have had a relationship (and was certainly close friends) with Evelyn Waugh; The character Lord Marchmain is thought to be based on their father.
The Countess, Lettice, died in July of 1936, having never reconciled with her husband or her children. Hugh and his father were extremely close, and when Hugh fractured his skull while travelling in Germany in August of 1936, his father chartered a plane to be with him as he died. Even though there was still a warrant for his arrest, the Earl decided to follow his son’s body back to England to be there for the burial. This was when Lady Sibell once again stepped in to protect her father, urging Lord Simon, Home Secretary, to suspend the warrant for her father’s arrest. Lord Simon not only suspended the warrant but later had it annulled.
The Earl moved back to Madresfield Court, the family home, early the next year (1937). Unfortunately, he died of cancer just over a year later while visiting family in New York: but not before throwing a marble bust of his wife into the estate’s moat.
(Interestingly, Lady Sibell married the Duke of Westminster’s (her uncle’s) step-son, Michael Rowley - however, the Duke and Michael’s mother were already divorced at this point.)
The family together in 1924:
And 1925:
