Michael Pearson, 4th Viscount Cowdray

He is the eldest son and heir of Weetman Pearson, 3rd Viscount Cowdray (1910–1995)[1][3][4] of Cowdray Park, Sussex and of Dunecht House[5] in Aberdeenshire, by his first wife Lady Anne Pamela Bridgeman (1914-2009), a daughter of Orlando Bridgeman, 5th Earl of Bradford (1873–1957).[6] His parents separated when he was two years old.[7] His great-grandfather, who founded the family's fortune, was the prominent businessman Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray (1856–1927), created Viscount Cowdray in 1917. The 53,000 acre paternal estate of Dunecht in Scotland was inherited by his half-brother Charles Anthony Pearson (born 1956).[5]

He attended Gordonstoun, a boarding school in Elgin, Moray, Scotland, after which he served the British Army for two years, worked as a financier in the City of London and briefly as a farmer.[8] In the late 1960s he became a film producer, running Cupid Productions, a film production company.[4][9] He produced Sympathy for the Devil, a film starring The Rolling Stones and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and Vanishing Point in 1971. In the late 1970s, partly to avoid high UK taxes, he moved to Ibiza where built a house and lived the hippy lifestyle, grew long hair and beard and mixed with the celebrity set.[8] In 1985, he was listed in Debrett's Peerage as a resident of Le Schuylkill, a high-rise building in Monaco.[10] Later in the 1980s he returned to England. He was a director of the jewellers Theo Fennell Plc. He has served on the board of trustees of the Tibet House Trust for 20 years.[3][11] and donates to the school project The Drukpa Kargyu Trust. He is a patron of his local primary school, church, young farmers club, and sports teams.

• In 1970 by his mistress Barbara Ray, he had a son out of wedlock:
  • Sebastian William Orlando Pearson (born 1970),[6] who although his eldest son, under the terms of the entail is barred from inheriting the family estates which descend with the Viscountcy.[13]
• Firstly in 1977 he married Ellen Erhardt, a daughter of Hermann Erhardt of Munich,[6] Germany, who having obtained a divorce in 1984 became the fourth wife of Spencer Compton, 7th Marquess of Northampton.[1] By his first wife he had no progeny.
• Secondly in 1987 he married Marina Rose Cordle, 2nd daughter of John Cordle, a Conservative Member of Parliament,[1][3] by whom he has five children:
  • Eliza Anne Venetia Pearson (born 31 May 1988), has two daughters (b. 2014 and 2016) with her partner Leif Christian Kvaal,[14]
  • Emily Jane Marina Pearson (born 13 December 1989),[15]
  • Catrina Sophie Lavinia Pearson (born 13 March 1991)
  • Peregrine John Dickinson Pearson (born 27 October 1994), eldest legitimate son and heir;
  • Montague Orlando William Pearson (born 17 May 1997),[1] second son;