Earl, 67, facing speeding charge misses court because he is self-isolating with his primary school-age daughter
- David Brudenell-Bruce faces charges of driving without insurance and valid MOT
- Allegedly caught doing 45mph in his Lexus RX300 in a 30mph zone in Wiltshire
- Court heard he’s isolating due to coronavirus outbreak at daughter Lady Sophie Jane’s school
An earl failed to turn up to court to answer allegations of driving 45mph in a 30mph zone – because his daughter is self-isolating.
The earl of Cardigan, David Brudenell-Bruce, 67, faces charges of speeding, driving without insurance and without a valid MOT.
He was allegedly caught doing 45mph in his Lexus RX300 in a 30mph zone in Marlborough, Wilts, on November 17, 2019.
The earl of Cardigan, David Brudenell-Bruce (above) was allegedly caught doing 45mph in his Lexus RX300 in a 30mph zone in Marlborough, Wilts, on November 17, 2019
He had been due before Swindon Magistrates’ Court on Saturday but was absent.
In a letter to the court, read out to magistrates on Saturday afternoon, the earl said a teacher at his daughter Lady Sophie Jane Brudenell-Bruce’s primary school had tested positive for coronavirus.
As a result, his seven-year-old daughter and the family had been told they needed to self-isolate for 14 days.
The justices adjourned the hearing to December 1 at 10am.
This is not the first time the earl has run into trouble with the law and courted controversy.
Between 2013 and 2015, the old Etonian, was in and out of court 16 times, accused of a string of offences by the trustees of the 4,500-acre Savernake Estate in Wiltshire, which has been in his family since 1067 and includes the only privately owned forest in the country.
Sophie is Lord Cardigan’s third child with his second wife, the Countess of Cardigan Joanne, a 55-year-old American whom is married in 2011 after a divorce.
The earl of Cardigan, David Brudenell-Bruce and his wife the Countess of Cardigan Joanne (pictured together) are isolating at home following a coronavirus outbreak at their daughter Lady Sophie Jane Brudenell-Bruce’s primary school
At the time their daughter was born in October 2013, the couple were so broke, they were forced to live on £10-a-day Jobseeker’s Allowance in the grounds of his ancestral home Savernake Estate.
The earl was left penniless after his son Viscount Savernake, 38, sold the family’s 16th century mansion Tottenham House in the county in 2008.
Lord Cardigan had already been removed from running the estate after he moved to the US and got divorced.
Tottenham House, (above) which sits in the 4,500-acre Savernake Estate in Wiltshire and has been in his family since 1067, was sold by the earl’s son Viscount Savernake in 2008
When he came back to the UK with his current wife, his son had supported the estate’s trustees’ plan to sell the mansion for £11.5million.
Old paintings of the earl’s family were also sold, reportedly to clear a £2million overdraft.
It was only until recently the father and son reconciled their relationship and the pair have agreed to run the estate together from now on and the earl has confirmed he would never sell the rest of it.
The grounds, which have been in the family for 31 generations since 1067, is believed to be worth around £20million.
The earl remains estranged from his daughter, Lady Catherine Brudenell-Bruce, better known as Bo Bruce, a former star of the TV programme The Voice.
Both older children are from his first marriage to Rosamond Winkley, a cookery writer who died of pancreatic cancer in 2012.