Duchess of Cornwall’s distant cousin found dead in hotel after years-long divorce battle

An aristocrat related to the Duchess of Cornwall who was embroiled in a near decade-long divorce battle has been found dead at a London hotel.

Charles Villiers, 59, a distant cousin of Camilla, killed himself at the Durrant Hotel, Marylebone, last week, The Times reports.

According to the newspaper, Mr Villiers had been staying on a friend’s yacht in the Greek islands this month. His host had been worried about Mr Villiers’s mental health and arranged for him to visit a clinic in Britain.

Mr Villiers flew into London on Wednesday last week. But instead of going to the clinic, he checked into the Durrant Hotel, where he was found hanged by a housekeeper the next day.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “Police were called by the London Ambulance Service at 13:11hrs on Thursday, 18 August to reports of an unresponsive man at a hotel on George Street, W1.

“Officers attended. At the scene a man, aged in his 50s, was found deceased.”

The 59-year-old and his estranged wife Emma, 62, filed for divorce in 2014 but a financial settlement had still not been reached at the time of his death.

The pair hit the headlines after becoming involved in an argument about whether they should fight over money in a Scottish or English court.

Mr Villiers, from Tyninghame, East Lothian, argued they were divorcing in Scotland and should therefore have financial decisions decided in a Scottish court.

But Supreme Court justices ruled against him.

The case had been heard in several different courts and by multiple judges, with Mr Villiers claiming that his wife, who moved south after they separated, had committed bigamy.

Charles Villiers had been staying on a friend’s yacht in the Greek islands this month before reportedly returning to the UK to visit a clinic (PA Archive)

He also claimed that he was unable to pay the £3.5m settlement requested by his wife.

Ms Villiers won the latest round of their eight-year legal battle in June this year.

She persuaded Lord Justice Moylan, Lord Justice Coulson and Lord Justice Arnold to overturn a ruling about money made by a judge based in the Family Division of the High Court in March 2021.

The three appeal judges decided that Mr Justice Mostyn had been wrong to dismiss an application Ms Villiers made for maintenance.

Mr Justice Mostyn concluded Mr Villiers could not afford to pay the maintenance Ms Villiers said she should get.

He said Mr and Ms Villiers had been left “financially ruined” by the “terrible” litigation and he suspected both were also “psychologically damaged”.

The Appeal Court ruled that Mr Villiers should pay his wife £10,000 a year in maintenance payments and adjourned the case to see if he had benefited from his father’s estate.

Emma Villiers has appealed against rulings made by a High Court judge in 2021 (PA Archive)

He was recently declared bankrupt and was reportedly staying on friends' sofas and had no fixed address.