David Robin Francis Guy Greville, 8th Earl of Warwick; born May 15, 1934, died January 20, 1996

DAVID Greville was born at Warwick Castle and educated at Summerfields in Sussex, then Eton. His parents divorced when he was four years of age. Something of an aesthete, he was by temperament not ideally suited for National Service as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Life Guards, although in later years he did become an officer with the Warwickshire Yeomanry (TA). In 1956, he married Sarah Chester Beatty, but the marriage was dissolved in 1967.

Throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, ``Brookie'', as he was known to his friends owing to his courtesy title of Lord Brooke, was a prominent and sartorially elegant figure on the London social scene. Having trained as an accountant, he was also an accomplished artist. But above all he loved books, horses, and parties.

In 1984, he inherited the earldom on the death of his father, but by then he was already living abroad and most of the family estate had been disposed of. Fulke Warwick, his father, thrice married and engaged at the age of 20 to Margaret Whigham, later third wife of the 11th Duke of Argyll, had moved to live in Italy in 1958, making over Warwick Castle to his son.

In 1978, convinced that the Callaghan Labour Government would confiscate the castle, ``Brookie'' decided to sell it. Amid much criticism, it was bought by Madame Tussaud's for #5m, and, to avoid future death duties, the family art collection which included the famous Warwick Vase, was also put up for sale.

Five tons of family papers were sold to Warwickshire County Council, and most notably, Van Gogh's Sunflowers, reached #25m at auction. The Grenfell family motto, Vix ea nostra vovo (``I scarcely call these things my own'') was much quoted at the time. After this, it came as no surprise that he should decide to move into tax exile, dividing his time between homes at Pelican Point in the Turks and Caicos Islands of the West Indies, Paris, Gstaad, New York, and Spain.

The 8th Earl was a great-nephew of Sir Anthony Eden, the post-war British Prime Minister, created Earl of Avon in 1961. His great-grandmother, Daisy, Lady Brooke, before her husband succeeding to the Warwick earldom, was a favourite of Edward VII, who is said to have given her an ankle bracelet inscribed with the words, ``Heaven's Above''.

Daisy Brooke, who inspired the music hall song Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer Do, eventually fell out of the King's affections when she espoused the socialist cause and scandalised Edwardian society. Later, when she was in debt, she threatened to publish Edward's love letters, but was restrained by a court injunction.

Royal patronage has run in the Greville family since their ancestor Sir Fulke, who wrote the life of his fellow poet Sir Philip Sidney, was much favoured by both Elizabeth and James VI and I. The ancient English earldom lay dormant for almost 300 years until 1759, when it was granted to the 8th Baron Brooke.

Lord Warwick's death from pneumonia at the age of 61 is also the latest incident in the tragic saga of another great aristocratic family, the Frasers of Lovat. In 1979, his daughter Lady Charlotte, was married to the Hon Andrew Fraser, the late Lord Lovat's third son, who last year was killed by a charging buffalo in Tanzania. This happened just a matter of days before Simon, Lord Lovat's eldest son, was killed in a hunting accident.

Lord Warwick is survived by Lady Charlotte. Lord Brooke, his heir, and Charles, his grandson, live in Australia.