Lord Nicholas Hervey - Illness, Bankruptcy, and Death

Illness, Bankruptcy, and Death

In 1983 Lord Nicholas was diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia; in 1986 he graduated from Yale University, and in 1991, after being forced to declare bankruptcy, voluntarily underwent treatment in a clinic.

He was forced to declare bankruptcy due to his owing £38,000, which the trustees of his trust refused to fund, to lawyers of the defendants following the failure of the lawsuit he and his elder half-brother brought against the principal beneficiaries of the will of their father, i.e., his third wife and their young children. His mother, while on the Sunday Times Rich List (in 2003 her wealth was estimated at £45,000,000), did not act to prevent the bankruptcy, which immediately preceded his institutionalization. She subsequently declared that "he was never himself again" after the clinic stay.

He suffered from severe depression and became increasingly reclusive. His landlady said that he "drew no shred of comfort from the high rank and great riches to which he was born" and that "he was a recluse, in the sense that he was heavily sedated and slept all day - a typical schizophrenic. He was very quiet, very Old Etonian. He was a nice guy, but very 'out of it'. Nobody visited him here, except sometimes we would hear someone come and take him out to dinner."

Hervey was found dead in his Chelsea flat, having hanged himself, at the age of 36. He never married and had no issue.

His half-brother, the 7th Marquess of Bristol, died less than a year later.