Earl Peregrine loses bid to get Prince Charles to invest £10M to turn home into an arts centre

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Lord St Germans asked for estimated £10million investment into his home
However, appeal to Prince’s Foundation for Building Community rejected
The Earl, Peregrine Eliot must now find other means to finance vast estate
Hoped to transform it into arts centre against wishes of many of his family

By Claudia Joseph and Jo Knowsley For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 18:46 EST, 5 September 2015 | Updated: 06:25 EST, 6 September 2015

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It will be a huge disappointment to the 74-year-old Earl and his 45-year-old wife to learn that their high-profile bid for a financial lifeline has been dashed by his friend, the Prince of Wales

They may be the occupants of the oldest house in the country, but they are certainly thoroughly at ease with modern life.

Renowned for their bohemian arts fair, not to mention a 30-year age gap, Lord and Lady St Germans are getting well into the swing of the 21st Century – to judge from her Instagram account, at least.

Take the image of a young male reveller supping from a golden slipper on her site. Or the giant swan statue which, she tells her followers, turns pink ‘in party mode’.

It is just a few weeks since the 10th Earl and his wife boasted of flying a specialist chef several thousand miles from Hawaii to supervise a trendy ‘detox’ diet.

Which, one imagines, comes at quite a price – as does maintaining the extraordinary Port Eliot house in Cornwall, parts of which go back to the 10th Century and which houses paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds and van Dyck.

So it will be a huge disappointment to the 74-year-old Earl and his 45-year-old wife to learn that their high-profile bid for a financial lifeline has been dashed by his friend, the Prince of Wales.

The Mail on Sunday has established that The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community has rejected a prominent appeal by the Earl to invest an estimated £10million in the ancestral seat, widely believed to be the oldest continuously inhabited house in the country.

The Earl, Peregrine Eliot and his third wife, former magazine journalist Cathy Wilson, 45, must now find some other means to finance the estate.

Yet the news will be positively welcomed by some relatives, not to mention his first wife, Lady Jacquetta Eliot, who are determined the property should remain in the family.

For Lady Jacquetta’s ten-year-old grandson Albert is the current heir and will inherit the house – unless, of course, it is sold or placed in an external trust.

When the deal was first proposed, she is said to have told friends: ‘I can’t talk about Prince Charles, but the only thing I’ll say is: third wives with no children and Eliots turning in their graves.’

The Mail on Sunday has established that The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community has rejected a prominent appeal by the Earl to invest an estimated £10million in the ancestral seat (pictured), widely believed to be the oldest continuously inhabited house in the country

This is merely the latest in a series of controversies to hit Port Eliot in recent times, with two divorces and tragically, the death of Albert’s party-loving father, Jago, who was found dead in the bath after an epileptic seizure in 2006.

It is six months since the earl announced he was in negotiations with the Prince over the sale of the 123-room house. He had hoped that the foundation would convert the property into an arts centre to rival Dumfries House, a Palladian mansion in Scotland, bought by Charles for £45million.

The Duchy of Cornwall, which the Prince heads, has recently spent £4.7 million on 800 acres of land, farmhouses and outbuildings on Port Eliot property. The Eliot family has lived there since the 16th Century. The house was remodelled in the 18th Century by Sir John Soane and now has 11 staircases, 15 back doors and 82 chimneys.

The Duchy of Cornwall, which Prince Charles (pictured) heads, has recently spent £4.7million on 800 acres of land, farmhouses and outbuildings on Port Eliot property. The Eliot family has lived there since the 16th Century. The house has 11 staircases, 15 back doors and 82 chimneys

When Lord St Germans proposed an investment from the Prince, he said the partnership ‘would ensure the preservation of centuries of history and the future of Port Eliot’s collection of fine art and antiquities’.

He argued it would help provide ‘education, training and commercial opportunities to an underfunded part of Cornwall’.

At the time, his wife said: ‘It will mean that the estate maintains its income and is relieved of the huge burden of running the house. Considering the alternatives, i.e. the National Trust, a fleeing oligarch or the house and contents being broken up, this [would be] a sensational deal and a terrific turn-up for the estate.’

Last night a spokesman for the Earl said: ‘Lord St Germans and the Port Eliot trustees are grateful to The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community for carrying out a detailed feasibility study into the possibility of purchasing Port Eliot House. The study has been completed and has determined that the purchase was not suitable for the Foundation.

‘Port Eliot is completely satisfied with the work and discussions that have taken place and the efforts that have gone into exploring this project. Lord and Lady St Germans will continue to live at Port Eliot.’