Jonathan Harold Esmond Vere Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere (born 3 December 1967), is a British

peer Peer may refer to: Sociology * Peer, an equal in age, education or social class; see Peer group * Peer, a member of the peerage; related to the term "peer of the realm" Computing * Peer, one of several functional units in the same layer of a net ...

and inheritor of a newspaper and media empire founded by his great-grandfather Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere. He is the chairman and controlling shareholder of the Daily Mail and General Trust, formerly "Associated Newspapers", a media conglomerate which includes the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

''.

Early life and career

Lord Rothermere was educated at Gordonstoun School and

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. Harmsworth held various positions in Associated Newspapers and was managing director of the '' Evening Standard'', when the sudden death of

his father His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, in ...

in 1998 resulted in his becoming the controlling shareholder and chairman of Associated and of its parent Daily Mail and General Trust just before his 31st birthday. One change he has instituted since becoming chairman is requiring directors to retire at age 75. He has non-domicile (non-dom) tax status and owns his media businesses through a complex structure of offshore holdings and trusts. According to the ''International Business Times'': In 2013, ''

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...

'' reported that the non-dom status could be in doubt because of his stately home, Ferne House in Wiltshire, and status as a Freeman of the City of London. He was a supporter of the former Conservative Party leader

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

. He ranked fourth in the Publishing, Advertising, and PR section of '' The Sunday Times Rich List'' of 2013 with an estimated wealth of £720 million. In April 2015, '' The Sunday Times'' estimated his net worth at £1 billion. The BBC's '' Newsnight'' programme at the end of January 2017 reported that former prime minister

had approached Lord Rothermere to sack Eurosceptic Paul Dacre, the editor of the ''

'' in the run up to the

2016 EU membership referendum The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...

. A representative of Lord Rothermere refused to confirm or deny the story, although a spokesman for Cameron confirmed that he had tried to persuade both Dacre and Rothermere over the vote. Rothermere's representative told the media: "Over the years, Lord Rothermere has been leant on by more than one prime minister to remove Associated Newspapers' editors but, as he told Lord Justice Leveson on oath, he does not interfere with the editorial policies of his papers". Lord Rothermere chairs the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

foundation, following the tradition set by his great grandfather, the first Viscount.

Personal life

Rothermere married Claudia DeVriese, daughter of Terence J. Clemence, on 15 July 1993. They have five children: *Vere Richard Jonathan Harold (b. November 1994) *Eleanor Patricia Margaret (b. November 1996) *Theodora Mairi Ferne (b. July 2001) *Iris Geraldine Lilian (b. 2004) *Alfred Northcliffe St. John (b. 2010) In 2002, '' The Guardian'' reported that Rothermere had fathered at least one more child prior to his marriage. Rothermere confirmed this in his testimony to the

Leveson Inquiry The Leveson Inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, chaired by Lord Justice Leveson, who was appointed in July 2011. A series of ...

Arms

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rothermere, Jonathan Harmsworth, 4t Viscount 1967 births British billionaires 21st-century British newspaper publishers (people) Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers Daily Mail and General Trust people

Jonathan Jonathan may refer to: *Jonathan (name), a masculine given name Media * ''Jonathan'' (1970 film), a German film directed by Hans W. Geißendörfer * ''Jonathan'' (2016 film), a German film directed by Piotr J. Lewandowski * ''Jonathan'' (2018 ...

Kent School alumni Living people People educated at Gordonstoun People with non-domiciled status in the United Kingdom 4 Place of birth missing (living people)