Polo-playing acquaintance of the Royal Family and friend of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Charles Brocket collected rare Ferraris and Maseratis. The Old Etonian peer was first betrayed by a former racer whom he employed and later by his wife, which resulted in him swapping his ancestral home for a prison cell.
In an act of desperation to save the inherited family estate from financial ruin, he dismantled four extremely rare sports racing cars and staged their theft in order to make a fraudulent insurance claim.
Charles Nall-Cain inherited his family seat and peerage aged just 15 when his grandfather, millionaire businessman Sir Arthur Nall-Cain, died in 1967, Charles’ father having already passed away. After finishing his education at Eton, the now 3rd Baron Brocket started work as a trainee architect before joining the army and spending five years in the 14th/20th King’s Hussars, serving in Northern Ireland, Cyprus and Germany at the same time as gaining a growing reputation as a playboy.
When the young Lord Brocket inherited the family’s 1400-acre estate near Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, much of the 25-bedroom Georgian mansion was semi-derelict, but thanks to a loan from American Express he converted it into a hotel and conference centre, with more bedrooms in the old stable blocks, and two golf courses in the grounds. By the early 1980s Brocket Hall had been transformed into one of Europe’s leading conference venues, business was booming and by the end of the decade it was being hired out for up to £25,000 per day.
