- Teresa Marshall de Paoli was a partner of the Marquis of Ailesbury for 37 years
- Now the relatives of the late marquis are challenging his will.
The partner of a wealthy aristocrat who died in a fall spoke last night about their ordeal and claimed family members had accused her of being involved in his death.
Teresa Marshall de Paoli, the Marquess of Ailesbury’s partner of 37 years, said she was turned away from his funeral after he was found bleeding from the head last month in the courtyard of his west London home.
Relatives of the late Marquess, also known as Michael Brudenell-Bruce, who was suffering from dementia when he died aged 98, are challenging his will.
He switched two years ago and gives Marshall de Paoli, 88, a former model who dated Frank Sinatra, a fifth of his estate.
The last photo of the 8th Marquess of Ailesbury, Michael Brudenell-Bruce and his wife Teresa Marshall de Paoli at the Ivy Chelsea in June 2023.
The Earl of Cardigan in the family seat, Tottenham House Earl of Cardigan
Police spent two days investigating the incident, which they say occurred after the 8th Marquess, also known as Lord Ailesbury, looked out of his first-floor bedroom window to let his cat, Honeybun, out.
His son David is not convinced. She told The Mail on Sunday: “The sadness is that she and he were alone in the building and we will never know.” There will be a forensic inquest and the only possible outcome is an open verdict.
Paoli’s Marshall says she endured a terrifying ordeal when police and forensic officers confined her to her home during their investigations.
She says some family members have kept their distance since his death, and one has accused her of pushing him out a window. She denies the claim.
She told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The rest of the family avoided talking to me completely at the wake. David came in to get more prosecco but he wouldn’t talk to me.
Mrs Marshall de Paoli is executor of her late partner’s will. She had no power.
David, 71, the new ninth marquess, expressed suspicions about his involvement in her death and said he is contesting the will.
It was changed two years ago to make Paoli’s Mrs Marshall executor with one share, although David’s son Tom, the new Earl of Cardigan, is the main beneficiary.
Mrs Marshall of Paoli says she was Lord Ailesbury’s carer until the end of his life: ‘I want to warn others that when a spouse dies in the house, the remaining widow is treated as a suspect. She had no idea.
‘I am a very loving person and I didn’t want him to go to a nursing home.
‘I just didn’t push him out the window.
“I thought he would live to be 101 and that I would die before him.”
Marshall de Paoli lived with Lord Ailesbury for 14 years in his west London house, which he bought before they met. They previously lived on his family’s 4,500-acre Savernake estate in Wiltshire.
David, who still lives on the estate, although the family property was sold in 2008 for £11 million, believes his father’s will should not have been changed while he was suffering from dementia.
Mrs Marshall of Paoli said: “David and his father had not spoken for 50 years so he is excluded.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “The death is unexpected but is not being treated as suspicious.”