| Hugh van Cutsem | |
| Birth Name: | Hugh Bernard Edward van Cutsem |
| Birth Date: | 21 July 1941 |
| Nationality: | English |
| Education: | Ampleforth College |
| Alma Mater: | University of Cambridge |
| Occupation: | Landowner Banker Businessman Horsebreeder |
| Children: | 4 |
| Parents: | Bernard van Cutsem Mary Compton |
| Relatives: | Jonkheer Pieter Quarles van Ufford (father-in-law) |
Hugh Bernard Edward van Cutsem (21 July 1941 – 2 September 2013) was an English banker, businessman, landowner and horse-breeder.
Hugh Bernard Edward van Cutsem was born on 21 July 1941.[1] [2] His father Bernard van Cutsem was a millionaire horse-trainer and -breeder.[2] His mother was Mary Compton, a descendant of the chiefly line of Clan Farquharson.[2] The van Cutsems were Catholics of Belgian origin[3] who had moved to England in the nineteenth century.[2]
He was educated at Sunningdale School and Ampleforth College,[4] a Roman Catholic boarding school in Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, and graduated from the University of Cambridge.[5] He then served as an officer in the Life Guards.
Van Cutsem worked as an investment banker at Hambros Bank.[2] Later he began his own company and purchased further companies, including a data storage company.[2]
Van Cutsem inherited his father's stud Northmore Farm in Exning near Newmarket, Suffolk, in 1976.[2] He also owned a 4,000-acre estate in Norfolk, best known for its private wild game shoots.[2] In 2001, the estate had thirty-five pairs of stone-curlews, a very rare bird.[2] In addition he owned a hunting lodge and grouse moor managed for shooting interest on the North Yorkshire-Cumbria border.[2] In the 1990s, he sold his father's farm in Exning and purchased the Hilborough estate in Norfolk, whence he transferred his horse-breeding operations.[2] In 1994, he won a Country Landowners' Association award for his restoration of an old barn on the Hilborough estate; the Prince of Wales (later Charles III) presented the award.[2]
He was a founding member of the Countryside Movement, a non-profit organization which later became the Countryside Alliance, focussed on shooting.[2] He was also a significant fundraiser for the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, a British charity promoting game and wildlife management whilst working with the shooting and hunting community.[2] Moreover, he served as Chairman of the Countryside Business Trust.[2] He was also elected to the Council of the National Trust.[2]
On 10 June 1971, he married Emilie Quarles van Ufford, who was born in the Netherlands as the daughter of Jonkheer Pieter Quarles van Ufford, at Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks.[1] [2] They had four sons:[2]
For ten years the family rented Anmer Hall in Anmer, Norfolk, on the royal family's Sandringham estate.[2] They later moved into a neo-Palladian mansion designed by architect Francis Johnson in Hilborough, on their estate.[2]
A devout Catholic, he built a chapel near his Hilborough residence for family occasions, and arranged for priests to visit.[2] However, he also regularly attended Mass at Our Lady of Pity in Swaffham with his family.[2] In 1993, he was appointed a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.[2]
Hugh van Cutsem became a friend of King Charles III during his university days.[2]
Van Cutsem died on 2 September 2013, aged 72.[1] His funeral took place in Brentwood Cathedral in Essex and was conducted by Thomas McMahon, Bishop of Brentwood. Each of his four sons also gave a reading; Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor read the prayer of commendation; the choir sang "Pie Jesu". It was attended by the then Prince of Wales (later Charles III); his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry; and his wife, Camilla, then-Duchess of Cornwall; together with Andrew Parker Bowles; Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester; Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester; the Prince and Princess of Liechtenstein; Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland; Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster; and Natalia Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster.[5]