He duly did – aware that his first marriage, to Becky Few Brown, with whom he had a son, George, now the Marquess of Blandford, had foundered because of hard-partying ways which once saw him ...

However, in a planning application put forward to West Oxfordshire councillors in June last year, papers said both the current Duke and his heir, the Marquess of Blandford, currently live off-site.