British Aristocrat Battles Mother over Nigerian Wife

The heir to Longleat, the stately home and seat of the Marquess of Bath in Somerset, England, banned his mother from his wedding and put “security on standby” in case she turned up after she allegedly suggested that marrying his half-Nigerian wife would damage the aristocratic family’s bloodline.

Ceawlin Thynn, 41, whose father is the eccentric Marquess of Bath famed for his harem of “wifelets”, has also claimed he stopped his mother – the Marchioness of Bath – from seeing his son Hon. John Alexander Ladi Thynn in case the boy is “contaminated” by her views.

Ceawlin’s wife Emma McQuiston, 29, is the daughter of Nigerian oil tycoon, Chief Oladipo (Ladi) Jadesimi founder and Executive Chairman of Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) company, which partnered with Samsung Heavy Industries of Korea in 2013 to win a multi-million dollar contract for the construction of a Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) vessel for Total Oil’s deep water Egina oil field off Nigeria’s coast.

She will become Britain’s first black marchioness when Ceawlin, who took over running the 10,000-acre estate and safari park in Wiltshire in 2010, inherits his father’s title.

On Sunday, Ceawlin – Viscount Weymouth – alleged that when he told his mother that he planned to marry Emma, she replied: “Are you sure about what you’re doing to 400 years of bloodline?”

He tried to ignore it but when she repeated it he decided he had to tell Emma, who was “devastated”. Ceawlin demanded that his mother, who has lived much of her life with a lover in France, return her wedding invitation and “made it clear that under no circumstances would she be attending”, he said in an interview with the British-based Sunday Times newspaper.

Come the day of the wedding at Longleat in June 2013, he was so worried she might turn up and make a scene he put “security on standby to prevent her from accessing the area”, he told The Sunday Times. “All the doors were manned and various corridors and outdoor areas,” he added.

Emma – Viscountess Weymouth – has previously spoken of racism in the British aristocratic circles in which she now mingles.

She once told Tatler magazine: “There has been some snobbishness, particularly among the much older generation. There’s class and then there’s the racial thing.”

Before her marriage to Lord Bath in 1969, Ceawlin’s mother was Anna Gael (née Gyarmathy), an actress who starred in erotic films such as Therese And Isabelle in which she stripped naked and simulated lesbian sex. She was nicknamed the “Naked Lady of Longleat”. Ceawlin also claimed his mother, 71, who has spent more time at Longleat since the death of her lover in France, now ignores Emma if they bump into each other in the stately home’s grounds.

Emma said: “We’re walking towards each other, and the tension is building. I don’t know what she’s going to say, so I say hello first. And then she goes, ‘Oh sorry, I didn’t recognise you’ and keeps walking.”

Ceawlin also claimed his mother has no contact with his 11-month-old son, saying: “I don’t want him contaminated by that sort of atmosphere and those sort of views.” Coincidentally, she has also apparently been banned from appearing in the forthcoming three-part BBC1 documentary All Change at Longleat, about the aristocratic family and the future of its estate.

In a statement in response to the interview given by Ceawlin and Emma, Lady Bath said she “did not know” she was banned from seeing her grandson, whom she described as “a lovely little chap”.

She said she had promised her children she would tell them what she thought about their “serious partners”, adding: “Then I would never mention it again. That is what I did with my son.”

It is the latest rift to emerge in the family. Lord Bath, 83, fell out with Ceawlin after discovering that he had taken down some of the murals at Longleat House, the family’s 130-room Elizabethan mansion, and refused to turn up to Ceawlin and Emma’s wedding.

A source close to the family said: “Bath family politics are always colourful and difficult. All parties involved are attempting to move on and live normal lives.”

Following the row with his mother two years ago, Ceawlin is still not on speaking terms with the Marchioness and “works hard to avoid her” when she visits Longleat from her home in Paris.

He has also fallen out with his father, the Marquess of Bath, after taking over the reins at the estate in 2010.

Lord Bath – nicknamed “Loins of Longleat” – famously fell out with his son in 2012 when he removed some erotic murals his father had painted for him and his sister when they were children.

Relations between the men were so bad that Lord Bath also missed Ceawlin and Emma’s wedding in 2013.

Three years later and the row flared up once more when Cealwin failed to consult his father about a proposed colour scheme while renovating the house.

In a previous interview with The Mail, Lord Bath sniffed: “I suppose I just have to accept what has happened. But my relationship with Ceawlin will not be the same again.

“I don’t feel inclined to pay any interest in his wedding.” Instead, he and wife Anna went to a different wedding, of a friend in Hampshire.

British Aristocrat Battles Mother over Nigerian Wife

UK government says David Oyedepo"s school under investigation

The British government has said it is investigating David Oyedepo’s Winners’ Chapel International’s request to establish an independent school in the country.

Pastor Oyedepo

The fee-paying school, Kingdom Heritage Model School in Dartford, was set to open to children from the age of four in September.

The school, which will teach “Biblical truths” in each subject, is currently being considered by the British Department for Education. The church itself is said to be under investigation by the Charity Commission.

Among those kicking against the church’s opening a school in the country is the National Secular Society, an organisation that campaigns for the separation of religion and state.

The NSS expressed concern that a school linked to the “controversial preacher” was set to open in England.

In a letter to the Department for Education, the NSS had questioned the suitability of the organisation to run educational establishments in the country, raising concerns over both educational standards and child welfare.

In 2011, Oyedepo was, reportedly, captured on video assaulting a young girl at one of his church service. The girl was alleged to be possessed by some evil spirits.

In 2012, the Metropolitan Police stated that children believed to be possessed by evil spirits or believed to be witches are at “clear and immediate risk of significant harm.”

In considering the school’s registration, the NSS has also asked the DfE to look into the details surrounding the death of a three-year-old child who drowned in the toilets of a Kingdom Heritage Model School operated by Winners Chapel in Nigeria in 2012.

The NSS campaigns manager Stephen Evans, said, “Given this Church’s association with belief in witchcraft and the actions of its leader, we hope the department will give serious consideration to the reliability of the school’s commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.”

According to the rights advocacy group, the proposed school acknowledges “God as the sovereign and only wise God in all affairs of life and learning,” and believes the Bible to be the ultimate source of wisdom.

When our correspondent contacted the church through phone numbers provided on its website, one of the respondents said he was a technical person and as such could not comment on the issue.

But another staff of the church, who refused to give his name, said the allegation was “a scam, it cannot be true.”

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UK government says David Oyedepo"s school under investigation

First gay marriages take place in England and Wales

BRIGHTON (AFP) – Gay couples across England and Wales said “I do” on Friday night as a law authorising same-sex marriage came into effect at midnight, the final stage in a long fight for equality.

Prime Minister David Cameron hailed what he said was an “important moment for our country”, and a rainbow flag flew above government offices in London in celebration.
In Brighton on England’s south coast, Neil Allard and Andrew Wale exchanged vows and rings in the opulent splendour of the Royal Pavilion in front of about 100 guests.

Wearing velvet-collared three-piece suits with white flowers in their buttonholes, the smiling couple of seven years hugged and kissed after they became “husband and husband”.

They were among several couples bidding to be first to take advantage of last year’s Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act by holding midnight weddings.

“We are very happy this day has come finally. It’s very exciting,” said Wale, a 49-year-old theatre director.

Emerging out into the crisp night air after the ceremony, they were stunned to be greeted by hundreds of cheering supporters.

To calls of “speech, speech!”, they expressed hope that the change in Britain would help bring equality to same-sex relationships in other countries.

Earlier this week, Wale remarked “how lucky we are to live in a comparatively tolerant part of the world”.

Civil partnerships have been legal since 2005 and marriage brings no new rights — the ability to adopt, for example, was introduced in 2002.

But campaigners have insisted that only the right to marry gives them full equality with heterosexual couples.

“We didn’t want to get married until it was a marriage that my mum and dad could have,” said Teresa Millward, 37, who will wed her her long-term girlfriend on Saturday.

The gay marriage law is the final victory in a long battle stretching back to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in England in 1967.

Cameron backed the change despite strong opposition from members of his Conservative party and the established Church of England.

“This weekend is an important moment for our country,” the prime minister wrote in an article for Pink News.

“Put simply, in Britain it will no longer matter whether you are straight or gay — the state will recognise your relationship as equal.”

- Still resistance -

Not all attitudes have changed. A poll for BBC radio said 20 percent of British adults would turn down an invitation to a same-sex wedding.

However, the survey also found 68 percent agreed gay marriage should be permitted, with 26 percent opposing it.

The Church of England had opposed same-sex marriage, insisting weddings should only take place between a man and a woman, and secured an exemption from the new law.

The House of Bishops last month also warned clergy they should not bless married gay couples.

But Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the leader of the world’s 80 million Anglicans, said the Church had accepted the new law and would continue to demonstrate “the love of Christ for every human being”.

Peter McGraith and David Cabreza, who have been together for 17 years, also married shortly after midnight in front of friends and their two adopted sons in London.

They hope their wedding will send out a message to places like Nigeria, Uganda and Russia where the idea of gay marriage is a distant dream.

While 15 countries have legalised gay marriage and another three allow it in some areas, homosexuals remain persecuted in many parts of the world.

“There’s a lot of gay men and lesbians around the world who are not invited to the party,” McGraith, a clothing designer, told AFP ahead of the big day.

Same-sex couples who were married abroad are now recognised under the new law, although only in England and Wales.

Scotland, which has devolved powers, is expected to introduce gay marriage later this year, while the British-controlled province of Northern Ireland remains deeply divided on the issue and has no plans to change the law there.

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First gay marriages take place in England and Wales