Ceawlin Henry Laszlo Thynn, 8th Marquess of Bath (; ;
born 6 June 1974), styled Viscount Weymouth between 1992 and 2020, is a British businessman and the first son and second child of
Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath
Alexander George Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath (6 May 1932 – 4 April 2020), styled Viscount Weymouth between 1946 and 1992, was an English peer and landowner, owner of the Longleat estate, who sat in the House of Lords from 1992 until 1999, an ...
, and his wife
Anna Gyarmathy.
[London Evening Standard](_blank)
He is active in a number of companies in the leisure, tourism, real estate, and financial services sectors.
Early life and education
Born in
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
...
, Ceawlin Thynn was educated at Horningsham Primary School, a village school near the family estate of
Longleat
Longleat is an English stately home and the seat of the Marquess of Bath, Marquesses of Bath. A leading and early example of the Elizabethan era, Elizabethan prodigy house, it is adjacent to the village of Horningsham and near the towns of War ...
, in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, then at
Kingdown School
Kingdown School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form in Warminster, Wiltshire, England for students aged 11 to 18. Since 1 August 2011, the school has been an academy.
History
Kingdown School was built in 1960 in the east of Warminster ...
in
Warminster
Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-century Minster Church of S ...
and
Bedales School
Bedales School is a co-educational, boarding and day independent school in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conven ...
in
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
, and finally read economics and philosophy at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
.
In 1996, Thynn was injured in a building collapse in
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
, India, which killed his fiancée, Jane Kirby, and his business partner, Crinan Wilde.
Business
Thynn began his business career as an emerging markets specialist at the London investment bank
Caspian Securities, before becoming a partner in Sabre Projects, a real estate development firm.
At Sabre he put together a project with
Group Menatep
Bank "MENATEP", Bank "MENATEP SPb" (Russian: Банк "МЕНАТЕП Санкт-Петербург" / Банк «МЕНАТЕП СПб») and "Group Menatep Limited" were financial companies, created by Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky. ...
, the holding company of Russia's then-largest oil company,
Yukos
OJSC "Yukos Oil Company" (russian: ОАО Нефтяна́я Компа́ния Ю́КОС, links=no, ) was an oil and gas company based in Moscow, Russia. Yukos was acquired from the Russian government by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovs ...
, to develop a mid-market hotel in every major city in Russia.
In 2008, Thynn formed the Lion Trust, a
private equity vehicle of which he is the principal. The Lion Trust invests in a range of mature and emerging markets.
Since June 2010, Thynn has been a director at Finmetron AB, a Swedish listed firm offering
factoring services in Russia.
From 2010 until 2013, Thynn was executive chairman of Wombat's Holdings GmbH – a chain of hostels in Germany and Austria – having acquired a majority stake in the company.
In 2013, the company was bought back by its former owners.
Longleat
In January 2009, Thynn became chairman of Longleat Enterprises, a limited company that comprises operations at Longleat House and
Safari Park
A safari park, sometimes known as a wildlife park, is a zoo-like commercial drive-in tourist attraction where visitors can drive their own vehicles or ride in vehicles provided by the facility to observe freely roaming animals.
A safari park ...
on the family estate of Longleat, as well as the commercial activities at
Cheddar Gorge, in the
Mendip Hills
The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the Frome valley in the east, the hills ...
in
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
.
In early 2010, Thynn's father passed the management of the family business to him. Following this retirement, Thynn hired a new estate chief executive, David Bradley, formerly of
Legoland
Legoland (, trademark in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family theme parks focusing on the construction toy system Lego. They are not fully owned by The Lego Group itself; rather, they are owned and operated by the British theme park com ...
.
Together, they worked with designers from Hollywood to make improvements to the house and park; additions to the park include "Jungle Kingdom", "Monkey Temple", and "Hunters of the Sky".
In September 2013, Bradley resigned, and in February 2014 the American Bob Montgomery was hired for the same role.
Thynn is a trustee of the Longleat Charitable Trust, a charity established in 1996 that focuses on relieving poverty around the Longleat estate and Cheddar Gorge.
Politics
Thynn made donations of £30,000 and £15,000 to the
Liberal Democrats during the
2019 United Kingdom general election
The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party receiving a Landslide victory, landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 4 ...
.
Personal life
In November 2012, aged 38, Thynn announced his engagement to
Emma McQuiston, the daughter of Suzanna McQuiston and Nigerian oil billionaire
Oladipo Jadesimi
Chief Oladipo "Ladi" Jadesimi is a Nigerian oil businessman and founder of the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base, where he serves as the executive chairman.
Education and career
Oladipo Jadesimi completed his secondary school education at K ...
, a founder and the executive chairman of
Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics. She is a younger half-sister of Iain McQuiston, the husband of Thynn's half-aunt, Lady Silvy Cerne Thynne, a daughter of his paternal grandfather, the 6th Marquess of Bath, by his second wife.
Thynn’s mother was reported as strongly disapproving of her son's planned marriage, due to her prospective daughter-in-law's African ancestry, and she was not invited to the wedding.
It was reported that Thynn intended to evict his father's
'wifelets' from their estate cottages, and some murals painted by his father were removed from Longleat. A rift between them developed.
[
Thynn and McQuiston were married at Longleat on 8 June 2013, with Lord Bath boycotting the event.]surrogacy
Surrogacy is an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman agrees to delivery/labour for another person or people, who will become the child's parent(s) after birth. People may seek a surrogacy arrangement when pregnan ...
at a private clinic in West Hollywood
West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most ...
.Longleat heir has son born by surrogacy after medics warned pregnancy could kill Lady Weymouth
telegraph.co.uk, 7 January 2017
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bath, Thynn, Ceawlin, 8th Marquess of
1974 births
Living people
British businesspeople
8
Ceawlin
Ceawlin (also spelled Ceaulin and Caelin, died ''ca.'' 593) was a King of Wessex. He may have been the son of Cynric of Wessex and the grandson of Cerdic of Wessex, whom the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' represents as the leader of the first grou ...
British people of Hungarian descent
Liberal Democrats (UK) donors