Charles Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick

British peer (1911–1984)

Rose Bingham

(m. 1933; div. 1938)

Mary Kathleen Hopkinson

(m. 1942; div. 1949)

Janine Joséphine Detry de Marès

(m. 1963)

ChildrenDavid Greville, 8th Earl of WarwickParent(s)Leopold Greville, 6th Earl of Warwick
Elfrida Marjorie EdenRelativesAnthony Eden (uncle)
John Eden (cousin)
Nicholas Eden (cousin)ResidenceWarwick CastleAlma materEton CollegeNicknameThe Duke of Hollywood

Charles Guy Fulke Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick, 7th Earl Brooke (4 March 1911 – 20 January 1984), was a British peer and the last Earl of Warwick to live at the family seat Warwick Castle before its sale in 1978. He became the first British aristocrat to star in a Hollywood movie, and was later nicknamed the Duke of Hollywood by the local press.

Early life

Charles Guy Fulke Greville was born at 13a Lower Grosvenor Place West, London on 4 March 1911.^[1] He was the eldest son of Leopold Greville, 6th Earl of Warwick (1882–1928) and his wife Elfrida Marjorie Eden (1887–1943), the only daughter of Sir William Eden, 7th Baronet.^[2] "Fulkie", as he was known to intimates, had two younger brothers, Richard Francis Maynard Greville, a Governor of University College Hospital, and John Ambrose Henry Greville, who was killed in action in 1942 during World War II.^[3]

His paternal grandparents were Francis Greville, 5th Earl of Warwick and his wife, Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick. His grandmother Daisy inherited the Maynard estates in 1865 from her grandfather, Henry Maynard, 3rd Viscount Maynard, and reportedly was a long-term mistress to the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII.^[3]

Greville was educated at Eton and at Chillon College, Lake Geneva in Switzerland.^[4] He succeeded to the earldom at the age of 16 in January 1928,^[5] on the death of his father (who had only become the 6th Earl four years earlier in 1924).^[6] He joined the Grenadier Guards after completing his education.

Career

Acting career

In the 1920s and 1930s, many British actors found work in the American film industry; Sheridan Morley called this the "Hollywood Raj".^[7] In 1936, Lord Warwick became the first British aristocrat to be offered a Hollywood contract by MGM. He was to receive £200 a year, and the services of a valet and secretary.

Newspaper reports at the time suggested his reasoning for taking a film contract was sex motivated. He referred to his wages as his own "pocket money" and that he was 'simply seeking a job like everyone else'. He used the stage name Michael Brooke to distance himself from his aristocratic background.^[1] After six months he was dropped by MGM resulting in a long court battle thereafter.

As the highest-profile Englishman in Hollywood, Charles became a celebrity figure with nicknames like 'The Duke of Hollywood' and 'Warwick the Filmmaker' (a pun on Warwick the Kingmaker). Listed with a string of high-profile affairs including Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Paulette Goddard, he was famed for socialising within celebrity circles.

In 1938, he was offered another chance at acting through Paramount. He finally got his chance to star in a movie and was given a lead role in The Dawn Patrol alongside David Niven and Errol Flynn. This would be his only mainstream movie however, and he was dropped thereafter.^[8]

The Earl of Warwick

Following his failure in America, and with the start of the Second World War, Warwick returned to the United Kingdom. Coventry, near his family seat, suffered tremendous aerial bombing, and he opened his home to evacuees from the city, as well as to the Ministry of Supplies. It was rumoured that Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess was held at Warwick Castle for one night while being transported from Scotland to London.^[9]^[10]

He was Mayor of Warwick between 1951 and 1952, organising great celebrations for the success of the boxer Randolph Turpin upon his becoming World Middleweight Champion, and hosted King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Warwick Castle when they visited Warwick and Leamington in 1951.

Warwick was a Conservative member of the House of Lords; his political actions included successfully opposing certain agricultural measures. He supported his uncle Anthony Eden who succeeded Winston Churchill in the 1950s.

Later life

In 1955, Lord Warwick bought houses in Switzerland, Italy, and France, and begin travelling between the three. In 1957, he funded and established the Eagle Ski Club in Gstaad, Switzerland, becoming its first honorary President.^[11]^[12]

Throughout the next decade, Warwick, widely described as one of Britain's richest men, began to sell many of the family possessions, including estates in Warwick, heirlooms, and much of the armour collection at Warwick Castle. In 1969, he left England altogether to avoid British income taxes.^[13]

In 1967, he handed over control of his family estates to his son David Greville, Lord Brooke.^[14] His son sold Warwick Castle to Madame Tussauds in 1978, causing a public confrontation between father and son.^[13]

Personal life

Lord Warwick was married three times. He was also engaged to Margaret Whigham, later Duchess of Argyll, but the engagement was broken off in March 1932.^[4]

His first marriage took place on 11 July 1933 to his second cousin, Rose Bingham, daughter of David Cecil Bingham (a granddaughter of the 5th Earl of Rosslyn and Gen. Sir Cecil Bingham and a descendant of the 4th Earl of Lucan).^[15] Before their 1938 divorce, Charles and Rose were the parents of one son:^[16]

David Robin Francis Guy Greville, 8th Earl of Warwick (1934–1996),^[13] who married Sarah Anne Chester Beatty, daughter of Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (the "King of Copper"), in 1956.^[17] They divorced in 1967 and she married Harry Thomson Jones.^[3]

After their divorce, Rose married three more times before her death in 1972.

Lord Warwick's second marriage took place on 19 February 1942 to Mary Kathleen (née Hopkinson) Bell.^[18] Mary, the former wife of Harold Edward Bell, was the eldest daughter of Percy Clifford Hopkinson of Seabarn in Kingston Gorse. In 1947, he pleaded guilty to "cashing two checks at Cannes, France, thus receiving francs for pounds in violation of British Treasury regulations" and was fined £1,150.^[19] They divorced in 1949.^[3]

Lord Warwick married thirdly in November 1963 to Janine Joséphine Detry de Marès, a daughter of Georges Detry de Marès,^[3] a Belgian newspaper magnate.^[20]

Upon the death of Lord Warwick in Rome on 20 January 1984, David Greville, 8th Earl of Warwick, his only son by his first wife, inherited his titles. He was buried at St. Mary's Church, Warwick.^[3]

Family tree of the peerages of Brooke, Holland, Kensington, and Warwick

Earl of Warwick (1st creation), 1088

Robert de Beaumont
(d. 1119)
1st Earl of Warwick

William de Warenne
(d. 1138)
Earl of Surrey

Elizabeth de Vermandois
(c. 1085–1131)
Countess of Leicester

Roger de Beaumont
(c. 1102–1153)
2nd Earl of Warwick

Gundred de Warenne

William de Beaumont
(bef. 1140–1184)
3rd Earl of Warwick

Waleran de Beaumont
(d. 1204)
4th Earl of Warwick

Henry de Beaumont
(c. 1192-1229)
5th Earl of Warwick

Lady Alice de Newburgh

Thomas de Beaumont
(1208–1242)
6th Earl of Warwick

m1.
John Marshal
(d. 1242)
7th Earl of Warwick jure uxoris

Margaret de Beaumont
(d. 1242)
7th Countess of Warwick suo jure

m2.
John du Plessis
(d. 1263)
7th Earl of Warwick jure uxoris

Isabel de Mauduit

William Mauduit
(c. 1221–1268)
8th Earl of Warwick

William de Beauchamp
(c. 1238–1298)
9th Earl of Warwick

Guy de Beauchamp
(c. 1272–1315)
10th Earl of Warwick

Thomas Beauchamp
(c. 1313–1369)
11th Earl of Warwick

Thomas Beauchamp
(1338–1401)
12th Earl of Warwick

Richard Beauchamp
(1382–1439)
13th Earl of Warwick

Duke of Warwick, 1445

Margaret Beauchamp
(1404–1467)
Countess of Shrewsbury

Henry Beauchamp
(1425–1446)
Duke of Warwick, 14th Earl of Warwick

Richard of York
(1411–1460)
Duke of York

Anne Beauchamp
(1426–1492)
16th Countess of Warwick

Richard Neville "the Kingmaker"
(1428–1471)
16th Earl of Warwick jure uxoris

Henry VI
(1421–1471)
King of England

Dukedom of Warwick extinct, 1446

John Talbot
(1426–1453)
1st Viscount Lisle

Anne Beauchamp
(1444–1449)
15th Countess of Warwick

George Plantagenet
(1449–1478)
Duke of Clarence

Isabel Neville
(1451–1476)
Duchess of Clarence

m2.
Richard III
(1452–1485)
King of England

Anne Neville
(1456–1485)

m1.
Edward of Westminster
(1453–1471)
Prince of Wales

Elizabeth Talbot
(d. 1487)

Edward Grey
(d. 1492)
1st Viscount Lisle

Edward Plantagenet
(1475–1499)
17th Earl of Warwick

Earldom of Warwick (1st creation) forfeit, 1499

Elizabeth Grey
(c. 1482/1484–c. 1525/1526)

Earl of Warwick (2nd creation), 1547

Baron Rich of Leez, 1547
See also Rich family tree

John Dudley
(c. 1502–1553)
Duke of Northumberland, 1st Earl of Warwick

Richard Rich
(1496–1567)
1st Baron Rich

Fulke Greville
(d. 1559)

John Dudley
(c. 1527–1554)
2nd Earl of Warwick

Ambrose Dudley
(c. 1530–1590)
3rd Earl of Warwick

Robert Dudley
(1532–1588)
Earl of Leicester

Robert Rich
(c. 1538–1581)
2nd Baron Rich

Earldom of Warwick (2nd creation) extinct, 1590

Earl of Warwick (3rd creation), 1618

Fulke Greville
(1536–1606)

Robert Greville
(?)

Robert Rich
(1559–1619)
1st Earl of Warwick, 3rd Baron Rich

Baron Brooke of Beauchamps Court, 1621

Baron Kensington of Kensington in the County of Middlesex (1st creation), 1623
Earl of Holland, 1624

Fulke Greville
(1554–1628)
de jure 13th Baron Latimer, 5th Baron Willoughby de Broke, 1st Baron Brooke

Fulke Greville
(1575–1632)

Robert Rich
(1587–1658)
2nd Earl of Warwick, 4th Baron Rich

Henry Rich
(1590–1649)
1st Earl of Holland, 1st Baron Kensington

Robert Greville
(1607–1643)
2nd Baron Brooke

Lady Anne Rich
(1604–1642)
Countess of Manchester

Robert Rich
(1611–1659)
3rd Earl of Warwick, 5th Baron Rich

Charles Rich
(1623–1673)
4th Earl of Warwick, 6th Baron Rich

Francis Greville
(bef. 1637–1658)
3rd Baron Brooke

Robert Greville
(1639–1677)
4th Baron Brooke

Fulke Greville
(1643–1710)
5th Baron Brooke

Lady Anne Montagu
(d. c. 1689)

Robert Rich
(1620–1675)
5th Earl of Warwick, 2nd Earl of Holland, 7th Baron Rich, 2nd Baron Kensington

Cope Rich
(1634–1676)

Francis Greville
(d. 1710)

Elizabeth Rich
(d. 1725)

Edward Rich
(1673–1701)
6th Earl of Warwick, 3rd Earl of Holland, 8th Baron Rich, 3rd Baron Kensington

Cope Rich
(d. 1706)

Fulke Greville
(c. 1693–1711)
6th Baron Brooke

William Greville
(1695–1727)
7th Baron Brooke

Francis Edwardes
(d. 1725)

Edward Henry Rich
(1698–1721)
7th Earl of Warwick, 4th Earl of Holland, 9th Baron Rich, 4th Baron Kensington

Edward Rich
(1695–1759)
8th Earl of Warwick, 5th Earl of Holland, 10th Baron Rich, 5th Baron Kensington

Earldoms of Warwick (3rd creation) and Holland extinct, 1759

Earl Brooke, 1746
Earl of Warwick (4th creation), 1759

Baron Kensington (Ireland)

Francis Greville
(1719–1773)
1st Earl of Warwick, 1st Earl Brooke, 8th Baron Brooke

William Edwardes
(c. 1711–1801)
1st Baron Kensington

George Greville
(1746–1816)
2nd Earl of Warwick, 2nd Earl Brooke, 9th Baron Brooke

George Greville
(1772–1786)
styled Lord Brooke

Henry Richard Greville
(1779–1853)
3rd Earl of Warwick, 3rd Earl Brooke, 10th Baron Brooke

William Edwardes
(1777–1852)
2nd Baron Kensington

George Guy Greville
(1818–1893)
4th Earl of Warwick, 4th Earl Brooke, 11th Baron Brooke

William Edwardes
(1801–1872)
3rd Baron Kensington

Baron Kensington, of Kensington in the County of Middlesex (United Kingdom)

Francis Richard Charles Greville
(1853–1924)
5th Earl of Warwick, 5th Earl Brooke, 12th Baron Brooke

William Edwardes
(1835–1896)
4th/1st (Ire/UK) Baron Kensington

Leopold Guy Francis Maynard Greville
(1882–1928)
6th Earl of Warwick, 6th Earl Brooke, 13th Baron Brooke

William Edwardes
(1868–1900)
5th/2nd (Ire/UK) Baron Kensington

Hugh Edwardes
(1873–1938)
6th/3rd (Ire/UK) Baron Kensington

Charles Guy Fulke Greville
(1911–1984)
7th Earl of Warwick, 7th Earl Brooke, 14th Baron Brooke

William Edwardes
(1904–1981)
7th/4th (Ire/UK) Baron Kensington

Hugh Owen Edwardes
(1905–1937)

David Robin Francis Guy Greville
(1934–1996)
8th Earl of Warwick, 8th Earl Brooke, 15th Baron Brooke

Hugh Ivor Edwardes
(1933–2018)
8th/5th (Ire/UK) Baron Kensington

Guy David Greville
(b. 1957)
9th Earl of Warwick, 9th Earl Brooke, 16th Baron Brooke

William Owen Alexander Edwardes
(b. 1964)
9th/6th (Ire/UK) Baron Kensington

Charles Fulke Chester Greville
(b. 1982)
styled Lord Brooke

William Francis Ivor Edwardes
(b. 1993)

Heir apparent to the Earldom of Warwick and the Earldom Brooke

Heir apparent to the Baronies Kensington

References

^ ^a ^b Kilburn, Matthew (2014). "Greville, (Charles Guy) Fulke [performing name Michael Brooke], seventh earl of Warwick and seventh Earl Brooke (1911–1984), socialite and actor". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/106964. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ "LORD BROOKE MARRIED.; Future Earl of Warwick Weds Daughter of Sir William Eden" (PDF). The New York Times. 30 April 1909. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Warwick, Earl of (GB, 1759)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ ^a ^b TIMES, Wireless to THE NEW YORK (3 March 1932). "EARL OF WARWICK REPORTED ENGAGED; Betrothed to Miss Margaret Whigham, Last-Year Debutante, London Paper Says. PLIGHTED TROTH IN EGYPT Returning Now With a Touring Party--Earl, 21 Tomorrow, Is in Grenadier Guards" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ "EARL OF WARWICK, NOTED SOLDIER, DIES; Wounded While Commanding Canadian Brigade in France --Won Several Honors. RAN AWAY AT 17 TO ENLIST Fought in Boer War--Aide to Kitchener, French and Milner-- Presented Pershing to King" (PDF). The New York Times. 1 February 1928. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ "NEW EARL OF WARWICK.; As Fighter and Writer He Has Seen Three Wars, Though Only 41" (PDF). The New York Times. 21 January 1924. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ Sheridan Morley (1983) The Brits in Hollywood: Tales from the Hollywood Raj. UK: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-78289-4, also published as Tales From The Hollywood Raj: The British, the Movies, and Tinseltown. New York: Viking, 1983, ISBN 0-670-69162-3.
^ Cull, Nicholas John (1996). Selling War: The British Propaganda Campaign Against American "neutrality" in World War II. Oxford University Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-19-511150-7. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ "Warwick - Memorabilia UK". www.memorabilia-uk.co.uk. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ Pickup, Gilly (2019). The 50 Greatest Castles and Palaces of the World. Icon Books. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-78578-458-3. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ Greenberg, Al (October 1974). "Europe's Most Elegant: Zurs, Cortina, Megeve, and Gstaad have reputations that attract the very rich. Do they know something we should?..." Skiing. 27 (2): 200. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ Theodoracopulos, Taki (24 December 2015). "What Happened to Gstaad?". The American Conservative. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c Thomas, Robert McG. Jr. (24 January 1996). "Earl of Warwick, 61, Who Sold His Castle to Madame Tussauds". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ Hand, Stuart (7 May 2017). "Warwick Castle". Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ "EARL OF WARWICK WEDS HIS COUSIN Village Church at Glynde, Sussex, Is Scene of Marriage to Rose Bingham" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 July 1933. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ "WARWICK WINS DIVORCE; Earl's Suit Is Uncontested--He Gains Custody of Their Son" (PDF). The New York Times. 15 February 1938. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ "SARAH BEATTY FIANCEE; Engaged to Lord Brooke, Son of the Earl of Warwick" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 June 1956. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ "EARL OF WARWICK WEDS; Ex-Actor, Nephew of Anthony Eden, Marries Mrs. M. K. Bell" (PDF). The New York Times. 20 February 1942. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ "Earl of Warwick Is Fined £1,150" (PDF). The New York Times. 18 July 1947. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ Scammell, Michael (2009). Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic. Random House Publishing Group. p. 398. ISBN 9781588369017. Retrieved 15 September 2022.