Hugh van Cutsem

Hugh Bernard Edward van Cutsem was born on 21 July 1941.[1][2][3] His father Bernard van Cutsem (1916–1975) was a millionaire horse-trainer and -breeder.[2][3] His mother was Mary Compton, a descendant of the chiefly line of Clan Farquharson.[2][3] The van Cutsems were Roman Catholics of Flemish origin who had moved to England in the nineteenth century.[2] He was educated at Sunningdale School and Ampleforth College,[4] a Roman Catholic boarding school in Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, and graduated from the University of Cambridge.[2][3][5] He then served as an officer in the Life Guards.[2]

Van Cutsem worked as an investment banker at Hambros Bank.[2] Later he began his own company and purchased further companies, including a data storage company.[2]

Van Cutsem inherited his father's stud Northmore Farm in Exning near Newmarket, Suffolk, in 1976.[2] He also owned a 4,000-acre estate in Norfolk, best known for its private wild game shoots.[2] In 2001, the estate had thirty-five pairs of stone-curlews, a very rare bird.[2] In addition he owned a hunting lodge and grouse moor on the North Yorkshire-Cumbria border.[2] In the 1990s, he sold his father's farm in Exning and purchased the Hilborough estate in Norfolk, whence he transferred his horse-breeding operations.[2] In 1994, he won a Country Landowners' Association award for his restoration of an old barn on the Hilborough estate; Charles, Prince of Wales presented the award.[2]

He was a founding member of the Countryside Movement, a conservationist non-profit organization.[2] He was also a significant fundraiser for the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, a British charity highlighting game and wildlife management for the benefit of conservation.[2] Moreover, he served as Chairman of the Countryside Business Trust.[2] He was also elected to the Council of the National Trust.[2]

On 10 June 1971, he married Emilie Quarles van Ufford, who was born in the Netherlands and a daughter of Jonkheer Pieter Quarles van Ufford, at Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks.[1][2][3] They had four sons:[2][3]

• Edward Bernard Charles van Cutsem (born 1973); married Lady Tamara Katherine Grosvenor, daughter of Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, and Natalia Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster, in 2004; they have two sons and a daughter:
  • Jake van Cutsem (born 2009)[3][6]
  • Louis van Cutsem (born 2012)
  • Isla van Cutsem (born 2015)
• Hugh Ralph van Cutsem (born 1974); married Rose Nancy Langhorne Astor, daughter of David Waldorf Astor (a grandson of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor) and Clare Pamela St. John in 2005; they have three children:
  • Grace Emilie Clare van Cutsem (born 2007); was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.
  • Rafe Michael Waldorf van Cutsem (born 2009)
  • Charles Hugh Valentine van Cutsem (born 2012)[3][7]

• Nicholas Peter Geoffrey van Cutsem (born 1977); married Alice C. Hadden-Paton, daughter of former Cavalry officer Nigel Hadden-Paton, and sister of actor Harry Hadden-Paton, on 14 August 2009.[3][8] He is godfather to Prince Louis of Cambridge.
  • Florence van Cutsem (born 2014); was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.[9]
• William Henry van Cutsem (born 1979);[3][10] was educated at Ampleforth College[11] and is married to Rosanna Ruck-Keene on 11 May 2013. He is godfather to Prince George of Cambridge.[12]

For ten years the family rented Anmer Hall in Anmer, Norfolk, on the Queen's Sandringham estate.[2][3] They later moved into a neo-Palladian mansion designed by architect Francis Johnson in Hilborough, on their estate.[2][3]

A devout Roman Catholic, he built a chapel near his Hilborough residence for family occasions, and arranged for priests to visit.[2] However, he also regularly attended Mass at Our Lady of Pity in Swaffham with his family.[2] In 1993, he was appointed a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.[2][3]

From the Prince's university days Hugh van Cutsem was a friend of Charles, Prince of Wales.[2] Prince Charles was godfather to his son Edward, who was a pageboy at the Prince's wedding to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.[2] Hugh's granddaughters, Grace van Cutsem and Florence van Cutsem, were flower-girls at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011 and at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, respectively.[5]

Van Cutsem died on 2 September 2013, aged 72.[1][3] His funeral took place in Brentwood Cathedral in Essex and was conducted by Thomas McMahon, Bishop of Brentwood. Each of his four sons also gave a reading; Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor read the prayer of commendation; the choir sang "Pie Jesu". It was attended by the Prince of Wales; his sons, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry; and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; together with Andrew Parker Bowles; Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester; Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester; the Prince and Princess of Liechtenstein; Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland; Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster; Natalia Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster; and Lady Tamara Grosvenor.[5]