Alexander Nelson Hood, 4th Viscount Bridport, 7th Duke of Bronte (born 17 March 1948), known as Alex Bridport, is a British investment banker, resident in Geneva, Switzerland.

Early life

He is the only son and heir of Rowland Hood, 3rd Viscount Bridport, 6th Duke of Bronte (1911–1969), of Castello di Maniace near Bronte in Sicily (a descendant of William Nelson, 1st Earl Nelson, 2nd Duke of Bronte, elder brother and heir of Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte), by his second wife Sheila Jeanne Agatha van Meurs, only daughter of Johan Hendrik van Meurs and widow of Wing-Commander J.H. Little, DFC, Auxiliary Air Force.

Career

He grew up in the Castello di Maniace, Sicily, and was educated at Eton College and the Sorbonne. He joined Kleinwort Benson

merchant bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commodi ...

in London, before going on to Chase Manhattan Bank which sent him to Geneva in 1985 to be General Manager of Investment Banking. He was appointed Managing Director of Shearson Lehman Brothers, New York, in 1988. In 1991 he set up Bridport & Cie S.A. in Geneva, Switzerland, with Thomas Bartholdi, and both remain managing partners, together with Count Luca Padulli. In 1981, facing an on-going turbulent political situation in Italy and the prospect of further demands for land reform from an historically inimical faction of the local population, he sold his paternal estate of the Duchy of Bronte and his seat within it, the Castello di Maniace, granted to Admiral Nelson in 1799 by the King of the Two Sicilies.

Marriages and issue

He married twice: *Firstly, on 5 January 1972, to Linda Jacqueline Paravicini, a daughter of Lt-Col Vincent Rudolph Paravicini, TD, of Nutley Manor near Basingstoke, Hampshire (a son of

Charles Paravicini Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

, the Swiss

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

to the Court of St. James's), by his wife Jacqueline Dyer, a sister of Sir John Dyer, 13th Baronet. She obtained a divorce in 1979 and in 1983 remarried to Michael Howard, 21st Earl of Suffolk (born 1935) of Charlton Park, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire. By his first wife he had issue: **Hon. Peregrine Alexander Nelson Hood (b. 1974), eldest son and heir apparent, who on 8 June 2013 at St John the Baptist,

Charlton Charlton may refer to: People * Charlton (surname) * Charlton (given name) Places Australia * Charlton, Queensland * Charlton, Victoria * Division of Charlton, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in New South Wale ...

, Malmesbury (his step-father's parish church), married Serena Nikkhah (b. 1983), an Iranian-American and Executive Fashion Editor at British Vogue magazine. Guests included Princess Michael of Kent,

Tom Parker Bowles Thomas Henry Parker Bowles (; born 18 December 1974) is a British food writer and food critic. Parker Bowles is the author of seven cookbooks and, in 2010, won the Guild of Food Writers 2010 award for his writings on British food. He is known f ...

and

Pippa Middleton Philippa Charlotte Matthews (née Middleton; born 6 September 1983) is an English socialite, author and columnist. She is the younger sister of Catherine, Princess of Wales. Born in Reading and raised in Bucklebury, Berkshire, Middleton attende ...

. *Secondly, on 5 December 1979, he married Nina Lincoln (widow of Formula 1 racing driver Jochen Rindt) from whom he was divorced in 1999, having had a further son: **Hon. Anthony Nelson Hood (b. 1983).

Notes

References

* The Complete Peerage, Volume XIV * Burke's Peerage
"Alexander Nelson Hood, 4th Viscount Bridport of Cricket St. Thomas"
at The Peerage

External links