The Duke of Somerset is understood to have helped socialite divorcee Eliza Dugdale return to Britain after seven years in Spain, with the pair said to be seeing each other again near his family estate in Wiltshire.
John Seymour, the 19th Duke, is reportedly paying the rent on a secluded four-bedroom house about 20 miles from Bradley Park Estate. He is also said to visit Ms Dugdale regularly and to have spent three weeks holidaying with her in Argentina earlier this year.
The claims follow the disclosure in 2019 that the duke, now 73, had been involved in a three-year affair with Ms Dugdale while married to Judith-Rose Seymour. They had been married for more than 40 years at the time.
Ms Dugdale, 67, left her farmhouse near the duke’s Wiltshire estate and moved to Spain after the relationship became known publicly. She has now returned to the UK and is living at a property around a mile from the nearest public road.
A person close to the couple said their alleged relationship was “an open secret”, adding: “Some locals, who didn’t know them well, assumed it had fizzled out but I think they’re genuinely in love.”
The source also claimed that the duke and Ms Dugdale have supper together, that he stays overnight at her home and that tradesmen have been carrying out work there. The duke is said to attend lunches and dinners in Wiltshire with Ms Dugdale as a couple.
Despite the reports, the duke and duchess continue to share a home on the family estate and jointly host events in high society. Earlier this month they attended Queen Charlotte’s ball as patrons of the London Season, an event involving the formal introduction of about 30 young women to society.
Ms Dugdale was previously married to huntsman Robin Smith-Ryland, who has often been regarded as an inspiration for Rupert Campbell-Black, the character in Jilly Cooper’s Rutshire novels. The couple divorced in 1985, after which she married Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, the former Conservative MP.
In 2019, Ms Dugdale said: “I love John and he loves me – we have had some great times together. His wife knows everything because he has confessed to her.
“He is a man of honour so I now realise that he will never leave his wife.”
Ms Dugdale denied last week that she was in a relationship with the duke or that he paid her rent. The duke did not respond to a request for comment.
