Against the law
By Will Stroude
His son Ralph, 56, who has inherited the title and Palace House at Beaulieu in Hampshire, admits his father never said a word to him about the trial which was to change the UK’s social landscape. But he tells me he thinks his father would have approved of the BBC’s film.
“Although it was a very unpleasant chapter in his life, he was quietly proud to have played a part in triggering a change in the law on homosexuality.
“That said, he never wanted to be defined by this incident. He regarded his subsequent work in museums and heritage as more important.
“His achievements were that much more remarkable because of what he had been through. Lesser men would have been destroyed by such a very public witch hunt but he just got on with his life without any bitterness.”