The Fall of the Glenconner Empire: He was the Scottish aristocrat and close friend of Princess Margaret, who left most of his luxurious estate to his loyal servant. Now, in a final bitter twist, his entire estate is up for sale

He arrived on the golden sands of St. Lucia in 1987, the self-proclaimed ‘King of the Caribbean’. Riding his beloved elephant Bupa, in a pristine white linen suit and signature straw hat, Lord Glenconner was sure to make an entrance.

After building a hedonistic retreat for royalty and rock stars on his private island of Mustique, the 60-year-old had his sights set on something bigger and better.

The eccentric Scottish aristocrat, a confidante of Princess Margaret, hoped to spend the rest of his days in unparalleled luxury under the St. Lucian sun.

Yet the grand plans of Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner, failed to materialize for a second time and he died in 2010 in an unfinished property, estranged from his long-suffering family, with only his servant at his side.

Twenty years later, the West Indian empire that the controversial colleague so desperately wanted to grow will soon be confined to the history books; his ties with his paradise island are gone forever.

The Scottish Mail on Sunday can reveal that Kent Adonai – the penniless servant who was bequeathed his boss’s entire multi-million pound St Lucian estate before a legal battle with the Glenconner family left him with just half – is to claim his ‘inheritance to sell and redeem. ‘.

Lord Glenconner’s eldest grandson, Cody Tennant, 29, who now holds the title, put his stake on the market in early 2023 for £19 million.

A close friend of Mr Adonai, who grew up in a slum with little to no education, said the 59-year-old wanted to “cash in on his reward” and “put the stress of the past years behind him.”

Unbeknownst to his family, shortly before his death in 2010, Lord Glenconner changed his will to leave all his overseas assets to his faithful Man Friday, Mr Adonai, whom he had originally employed to care for his Indian elephant .

The inheritance was disputed by his wife, Lady Mary Glenconner, who claimed that her late husband had not been of sound mind when he made the controversial amendment.

In 2018, the bitter and protracted lawsuit was settled in the Supreme Court of the Eastern Caribbean, with plots and shares divided between the young master and the former servant, signed by both men.

Mr Adonai received 27 hectares of land and property worth more than £20 million, but claimed at the time it was not a ‘fair’ distribution because much of the land was unprofitable without a sale. He even suggested that he be forced to become a fisherman to pay for his seven children.

In addition to his part in the St. Lucian fate, Cody also left behind a bizarre stone carving of a lingam, a Hindu representation of the phallus symbolizing the god Shiva.

The sale – which sources say is imminent – ​​will mean the Glenconners will no longer have any land or property in St. Lucia.

It is believed that Mr Adonai is speaking to another real estate agent and is hoping to sell his land in parcels. Last night, a friend of Mr Adonai told The Scottish Mail on Sunday: ‘He has put everything on the market and wants to get rid of all the land that Colin Tennant left him.

‘It hasn’t been easy for him since he inherited the property. There are a lot of people after him. It’s hard for him to trust people. It can’t be easy for him that he got all this land from his late colleague.

“Kent was there for Mr. Tennant and cared for him as a son would for a father. He took care of him and did everything for him. He cared for him until his death. Not many people would do that.

“Kent is easy to get along with and knew Mr. Tennant well. He did everything he could to make sure he was well taken care of. He treated him like a father and had a lot of respect for him.’

The source added: “Kent wanted to do something honorable after Glenconner’s wife urged him to do so and he did. He gave the family their share and he kept his. He is a good man and he is loved.”

The once grand Beau House and its 95-acre estate, now owned by Cody Tennant, is for sale for £19 million but has not yet been sold.

Aerial images of the whitewashed property, which has been empty for more than a decade, show it to be in a state of disrepair, with overgrown and neglected gardens.

The estate is offered for sale in its entirety or in individual lots. The two-bedroom, 5,000 sq ft house alone, which Lord Glenconner designed and built, has an asking price of £4.33 million.

The listing on Penny Strawson’s property advice website states: ‘This is an exceptional opportunity to acquire land rich in history and enjoy unsurpassed views, in one of the most sought-after locations in the Caribbean. Beau Estate is a Caribbean idyll in a spectacular setting.

‘The 95 hectares of land also includes Beau House, the former home of Lord Glenconner. Nestled between the two beautiful volcanic peaks of the awe-inspiring Pitons, Beau House offers breathtaking westward views of the Caribbean.

‘Despite some disrepair, it has the best location on the entire island. This property is located next to the exclusive five-star Sugar Beach resort, with its pristine white beaches and many dining options.’

The late Lord Glenconner bought Mustique – reportedly named after mosquitoes – for £45,000 in 1958, with the aim of turning it into a cotton plantation.

There were no roads, no jetties and no running water, but after scrapping his original business plans he set about creating a high society playground of bars, restaurants and private villas.

It was the place to be seen in the 1960s and 1970s and the larger-than-life nobleman regularly hosted lavish parties for A-list guests including Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall and Raquel Welch.

His friend Princess Margaret was also a regular visitor to the four-square-kilometre island. He gave her a piece of land as a wedding gift when she arrived on the royal yacht Britannia during her honeymoon with Lord Snowdon.

She then built her own secluded holiday resort, Les Jolies Eaux – where she was famously photographed with her lover Roddy Llewellyn in 1976, while still officially married. It is said that the costs of running Mustique ‘considerably depleted’ Lord Glenconner’s fortune, so in the mid-1980s he sold land in St. Lucia, 100 miles away, and bought the land.

He hoped to create something as spectacular as Mustique, but this time his venture failed.

He spent the rest of his days in the Caribbean, 4,000 miles away from his long-suffering wife, who divided her time between family homes in the Borders and Norfolk. In his later years, suffering from ill health, he is said to have been housebound with only one member of staff, the ‘estate manager’, Mr Adonai, who cared for him around the clock until he died aged 83 from a heart attack.

In her memoir, released last year, Baroness Glenconner, 91, a bridesmaid at Queen Elizabeth’s 1953 coronation and maid of honor to Princess Margaret, opened up about her ‘abusive’ 50-year marriage to Colin Tennant – and admitted his time in the Caribbean saved them from divorce because it kept them apart.

Lady Glenconner, who said her ill-tempered husband once beat her so badly that it left her permanently disfigured, wrote: ‘From the earliest days of our marriage everything went one way: from me to Colin. His own feelings took precedence in every situation. How tiring and lonely it can be. I felt like parts of me were dying without anyone to care for or nurture me when I needed them.

‘It was like having another child, but a very large, disruptive child. Mostly he shocked, offended and scared other people and I had to sort out the results.

“Too often I existed only as a buffer between him and everyone else.”

She continued: “He had bought Mustique in 1958, spent a fortune developing it and ended up living there more often than not.

‘Although we still spent a lot of time together, we no longer shared a permanent home. Still, I took care of him as best I could. I was still his wife and that meant I was by his side in public at his extravagant parties in the West Indies.

‘If I hadn’t been living independently in England I probably would have had to leave Colin completely. As it was, I could stay married. I continued with it and paradoxically became more confident. It was my choice, and I accept that it may not be for everyone, but I don’t regret it.’

Following the end of the inheritance dispute in 2018, Lady Glenconner said: ‘I am very fond of Kent. He took very good care of my husband and was well rewarded with a decent portfolio.

“Kent was very happy with what he got, and so was Cody.”

Cody Tennant has never spoken publicly about the will, his plans for Beau Estate, or what he plans to do with his fortune once it is sold.

Educated at the Edinburgh Academy and the University of Aberdeen, he was raised in Edinburgh by his mother Shelagh after his father Charles Tennant, a one-time heroin addict, died of hepatitis when Cody was six.

Unlike his showman grandfather, the 4th Earl stays out of the spotlight: he declines invitations to debutante balls and other society events. But it turned out he had proposed to his university sweetheart Rebeka McDonald, also from the Borders, last year.

According to his grandmother, the young peer has chosen to have a ‘beautiful, quiet family wedding’ at his Scottish family seat, Glen House, known as ‘The Glen’, near Traquair in Peeblesshire.

Gone forever is the debauched legacy of the Caribbean Glenconner – and for the new generation it seems like a matter of good advice.