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Citations:Byline: BOB HAYWOOD Special Correspondent [email protected]
AMIDLAND aristocrat's ex-wife has poked fun at her marriage break-up in her Christmas card.
Penny, Lady Cobham caused flutters in society circles when she left her husband to live with Tory minister David Mellor.
The couple, who are still together, have alluded to the marriage split in their personalised Christmas card.
It shows a beaming Lady Cobham next to a giraffe.
Inside, the inscription reads: "Penny has run off with the good-looking man this time!" Mr Mellor is known for his distinctive looks.
The then Penelope Cooper - a Midland-born and educated commoner - married John Lyttelton, son of the 10th Viscount Cobham in 1974.
Three years later, the couple became Viscount and Viscountess Cobham on the death of her father-in-law.
Lady Cobham immediately set about transforming the family's Palladian mansion, Hagley Hall, near Stourbridge.
Facing crippling bills for inheritance taxes and massive house maintenance costs, she auctioned off a treasure trove of 700 years of family archives for PS164,000, and turned the hall into a conference centre.
Lord Cobham - known to family and close friends as Johnny - was cricket-crazy and one of the 'Cricketing Lytteltons'.
He once said that cheating at cricket was worse than committing adultery.
A shy man, he never took his seat in the House of Lords. But he had strong opinions, quitting the Conservative Party in disgust in 1992 over the mass closure of the coal mines.
In 1994, Lady Cobham announced that she had developed a 'deep bond' with Mr Mellor.
In a separate statement, Mr Mellor announced his intention to divorce his wife, Judith, because he had become 'extremely close' to Lady Cobham and 'I intend to remain so' . Lady Cobham and Mr Mellor had met - often at Hagley Hall - after she became a special advisor to Mr Mellor, then the Heritage Minister.
The Cobhams' marriage - there were no children - ended in divorce in 1995, with Lady Cobham gaining a PS1 million divorce settlement.
Lady Cobham, 59, is officially styled Penelope Lyttelton, Viscountess Cobham.
She lives with Mr Mellor, 64, in a PS1.3 million Georgian house in London.
The astute businesswoman has been dubbed The Quango Queen because of her high number of trusteeships and directorships in the world of arts and tourism. In 2009, she was appointed chairwoman of VisitEngland.
Viscount Cobham once said of his marriage break-up: "I didn't stop shaking for a year".
He married Birmingham's round-the-world yachtswoman Lisa Clayton. There were no children of that marriage either, So, after Viscount Cobham died in Spain in 2006, at the age of 63, the title passed to his younger brother, Christopher Lyttelton, who was at the time working as a financial consultant.
The 12th Viscount now lives at Hagley Hall with his family.
TITLE TREBLE ODDLY, there are three living Viscountess Cobhams.
Penny, Lady Cobham retains her (slightly amended) title despite having been divorced by the late Lord Cobham.
However, if she re-marries, she would lose the title. She and Mr Mellor have never married.
Lord Cobham's second wife, the former Lisa Clayton, became Viscountess Cobham on their marriage but is now known as Lisa Lyttelton, Dowager Viscountess Cobham.
Tessa, the wife of the present Viscount Cobham, is called simply Viscountess Cobham.
CAPTION(S):
How Lady Cobham's Christmas Card might look and, below right, David Mellor
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