It is a name tainted by murder and scandal. But astonishingly, the new Lady Lucan says the evidence that her late father-in-law, Lord Lucan, killed the family nanny is ‘weak’ and that she ‘doesn’t care’.
In her first ever interview, outspoken Danish heiress Anne-Sofie Foghsgaard – the 8th Countess of Lucan – tells The Mail on Sunday’s You magazine today: ‘It’s time for everyone to move on. It’s a new era.’
The woman who married George Bingham, only son of ‘Lucky’ Lucan – the 7th Earl who was accused of the brutal murder of nanny Sandra Rivett in 1974 – wants to ‘rebrand’ the family name.
In her first ever interview, outspoken Danish heiress Anne-Sofie Foghsgaard – the 8th Countess of Lucan – tells The Mail on Sunday’s You magazine today: ‘It’s time for everyone to move on. It’s a new era’
The news follows the death a fortnight ago of the mother-in-law she never met, the troubled and tragic Veronica, the Dowager Countess of Lucan.
Anne-Sofie, 39, speaks of the bitter legacy that tore her husband’s family apart and reveals:
- The devastating feud between Veronica and her children that endured until her death;
- The 7th Earl’s children ‘adored him’ and never accepted his guilt;.
- George Bingham, 50, now the holder of the title, is ‘the love of my life’ and their relationship survived an earlier break-up.
The woman who married George Bingham, only son of ‘Lucky’ Lucan – the 7th Earl who was accused of the brutal murder of nanny Sandra Rivett in 1974 – wants to ‘rebrand’ the family name
Richard John Bingham was a dashing gambler in the middle of a divorce and toxic custody battle with his wife when he became the target of Scotland Yard’s most infamous manhunt in November 1974.
Miss Rivett was found bludgeoned to death in the Lucans’ Belgravia home. Veronica – believed to be the main target – was also injured. she named her husband as the assailant.
The next day, Lucan’s blood-stained car was found abandoned at Newhaven, Sussex. The following year, an inquest jury named Lucan as the prime suspect in Miss Rivett’s murder.
Since then there has never been a confirmed sighting of him and in 1999 he was officially declared dead.
In 2013 they began dating again and married last year. One important person who was not there, despite being invited, was George’s mother
George legally became the 8th Earl, and the daughter he had ten months ago with Anne-Sofie has the title Lady Daphne.
Anne-Sofie says she knew nothing of the dark past of the Lucan family when she met financial consultant George a decade ago at a party. ‘I can’t remember the moment when I did come to know.
‘George is the love of my life – funny, clever, kind, warm. [The murder] had nothing to do with him – he was a small boy asleep in his bed when it happened.
‘It was a dark time for my husband. He lost his father, mother and nanny. But it’s time for everybody to move on. It’s a new era. Those were very, very dark times for George, and like any of us, he doesn’t like to dwell on dark times.’
The relationship fizzled out after a few months. ‘I was broken-hearted, but I do think if there is magic, it finds itself again.’
Richard John Bingham was a dashing gambler in the middle of a divorce and toxic custody battle with his wife when he became the target of Scotland Yard’s most infamous manhunt in November 1974
Pictured, a Policeman Stands Outside Lady Lucan’s Home In Lower Belgrave Street
In 2013 they began dating again and married last year. One important person who was not there, despite being invited, was George’s mother. She had been estranged from her three children – George and his sisters Frances and Camilla – for years.
But their attempts to heal the rift were in vain, perhaps because they all adored their father and never believed him guilty.
Anne-Sofie says: ‘The children remember their father as being funny, warm and kind.’ And her own view of the crime? ‘It seems to me the evidence is weak. I don’t care.’
Now the new chatelaine has sealed the modern Lucan ‘brand’ by launching a range of outdoor clothing for men and women under that name.
‘It’s a fresh start for the name,’ she says defiantly.