The Marquess of Bristol has died at the age of 44, it was announced yesterday.

Lord Bristol, twice jailed for possessing heroin, an addiction on which he
admitted blowing UKP7 million, died in his sleep and was found at his
farmhouse, Little Horringer Hall, on the Ickworth estate in Suffolk
yesterday morning.

He had been ill for a short time but his death had come as 'a great shock',
his agent, Simon Pott, said. Mr Pott believed the 7th Marqess had had a
flu-type bug.

'He was perfectly well over Christmas and was discussing going to the
Bahamas for a couple of weeks. He had been a little bit under the weather
for the last week but there was nothing particularly untoward.'

He said it was 'extremely unlikely' that the colourful lord had died of an
overdose. 'Clearly this has been a problem for a considerable amount of
time, but his death doesn't appear to have been drug-related. It seems to
have been a perfectly straightforward, premature death.'

He said he had no knowledge of the illness being HIV-related. In 1996, the
Lord denied tabloid claims he was dying of Aids.

The Old Harrovian's adult life was spent unashamedly in the fast lane and
he spent a large proportion of his UKP30 million inheritance on his
addiction. He was twice banned for drink-driving and served nine months in
Jersey for smuggling UKP1,000 of cocaine in his helicopter. In 1993 he was
sentenced to 10 months for heroin and cocaine possession. Police found more
heroin in his chauffeur-driven Bentley two days after his release.

The marquess, who was briefly married to Francesca Fisher, a teetotal
vegetarian, relinquished Ickworth, his family's 4,000-acre estate, to the
National Trust last year.

His death comes less than a year after his half-brother, Lord Nicholas
Hervey, hanged himself. A second half-brother, Lord Frederick Hervey, aged
19, will become the 8th Marquess.