Tania Harcourt-Cooze

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The Honourable Tania Rosamund Harcourt-Cooze (née Coleridge, born 22 January 1966) is an English model and actress.[1]

Biography[]

The daughter of Major William Duke Coleridge, 5th Baron Coleridge of Ottery St Mary, a Major in the Coldstream Guards, and his first wife Everild Tania Hambrough, she is directly related to the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.[2] The oldest of five children, by her father's first marriage she has a brother, James Duke Coleridge (born 1967) and a sister, Sophia Tamsin Coleridge (born 1970).[3]

Born in Kenya, she followed her father's British Army career until her parents divorced in 1977 when she was 11.  By his second marriage, she has two stepsisters, Vanessa Leyla Coleridge (born 1978) and Katharine Suzannah Coleridge (born 1981).[3]

Modelling[]

Completing a fine arts diploma in London, she joined the punk rock revolution, and would hang out on the Kings Road, Chelsea.[citation needed]

She was spotted by , who dispatched her in 1986 to model for Armani and Versace in Italy, and she became a muse for Helmut Newton.[4] She starred opposite the singer George Michael in the video for "Father Figure",[5] inspired by Newton. She also appeared in the music video of the Kane Roberts song "Twisted" and she was the “power drill girl” in Van Halen's "Poundcake" video in 1991.

Venezuela[]

Having met Willie Harcourt-Cooze in her late teens, she married the Venezuelan-based businessman in 1993. Using the funds from the sale of his London flat and his family's money, the couple purchased a 1,000 acres (400 ha) cocoa hacienda in Choroni, and planted more than 50,000 Criollo cocoa trees.[1][2][6]

Return to England[]

Returning to England in 2001, she took over the management of The Chanter's House, the family's ancestral home in March 2002. The couple set up events management company Kubla Khan, through which to organise weddings, fashion shoots, residential art courses, exhibitions, house tours and cultural gatherings based around the house.[1]

In October 2006 the increasing costs of maintaining the property caused the family trust to put the property up for sale and auction the contents. [7][8]

She came to public prominence again in 2008 with the airing of the fly-on-the-wall documentary, Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory, centred on her husband's efforts to be one of the first Britons since the Cadbury family to grow, import and produce their own chocolate.[6][9]

Personal life[]

She lives in Tiverton, Devon and has three children – Sophia, William and Eve [1][2][9][3][10] In May 2010 she and her husband separated and as of February 2011 are in the process of getting a divorce. [11]

See also[]

References and footnotes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Wynn-Davies, Patricia (17 March 2004). "Me and My Home: At home with history". The Independent. findarticles.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2008.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Weinberg, Kate (23 February 2008). "Willie's wacky chocolate factory". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 June 2008. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Lundy, Darryl. "Major William Duke Coleridge, 5th Baron Coleridge of Ottery St. Mary". thePeerage.com.
  4. ^ "Tania Harcourt Cooze". Storm Model Management. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011.
  5. ^ "The Story of... 'Father Figure' by George Michael". Smooth Radio. 28 November 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Goodhart, Benjie. "Interview: Willie Harcourt-Cooze". News. Channel 4 Sales. Archived from the original on 15 March 2008.
  7. ^ "Sotheby's to sell property from the Coleridge family collection at The Chanter's House" (PDF) (Press release). Sotheby's. 22 August 2006.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ "Coleridge heirlooms auctioned off". BBC. 24 October 2006.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b "Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory". Channel 4. Archived from the original on 16 August 2008.
  10. ^ "TM: a selection of Trade Marks and Brand Names registered in April 2007". Food Trade Review. August 2007. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008 – via Entrepreneur Magazine.
  11. ^ "Willie & The Chocolate Factory". BMI Voyager. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011.

External links[]


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