Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner
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Colin Christopher Paget Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner (b. 1926) is the current holder of the Scots title Baron Glenconner, which he inherited from his father in 1983.
The Barony of Glenconner is of The Glen in the County of Peebles, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1911 for Sir Edward Priaulx Tennant, 2nd Baronet, who had earlier represented Salisbury in the House of Commons as a Liberal and also served as Lord Lieutenant of Peeblesshire. His eldest son was the war poet Edward Wyndham Tennant while his fourth son was Stephen Tennant. Lord Glenconner was succeeded by his second son, the second Baron. He was the father of the author Emma Tennant.
The Heir Apparent is the present holder's grandson the Hon. Cody Charles Edward Tennant (b. 2 February 1994). He is the son of Hon. Charles Edward Pevensey Tennant (1957-1996), eldest son of the third Baron.
Before Colin Tennant had succeeded to the Peerage, he had been a great traveller, most notably in India and the West Indies. Lord Glenconner is something of an eccentric aristocrat, he tends to bring excitement and turmoil with him wherever he goes. He was a close friend of Princess Margaret, to whom his wife was a lady-in-waiting and spent a great deal of time with celebrities such as Mick Jagger and David Bowie.
In India he collected anything he could, including, at one point, a sterling silver bed, a costume tent-house worth over $100,000, and a small temple from the Taj Mahal.
However, it is in the West Indies where he left his mark. In 1958, Baron Glenconner bought the Island of Mustique in The Grenadines for almost nothing. His wife was astonished that he would do such a thing, but he assured her that he would make the island a household name.
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[edit] Mustique
He built a new village for the island's inhabitants, planted coconut palms, vegetables and fruit, he developed the fisheries and along the way improved the infrastructure.
It was 1960 and the British Royal yacht Britannia was sailing the Caribbean with newlyweds Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon on board. The royal couple went ashore on Mustique to accept a wedding gift from Lord Tennant, a heavenly plot of land. Princess Margaret had a villa built there,
"Les Jolies Eaux" designed by an uncle of Lord Snowdon, the famous Oliver Messel, and organized house parties that made her sister Queen Elizabeth frown. The world press were enthralled and this in turn drew even more "rich and famous" to the island in search of an exclusive vacation home. The island, with its spectacular hills and deserted beaches, became the place to be in the 1960s and 1970s for celebrities and Royals alike, in part because their privacy was strictly protected here." [1]
Baron Glenconner enjoyed the life of luxury he had built for himself for a while, but the cost of running Mustique was quickly depleting his family fortune. In the end, he was forced to take on business partners, who eventually wielded more power than he. It was made clear to him that he was no longer wanted around the time that he was running out of money. As a result, he went into exile on St. Lucia, where he ran for many years the "Bang Between the Pitons" restaurant (now sold to the adjacent Jalousie Plantation hotel).
[edit] Currently
In 2000 a documentary by Joseph Bullman was made about Baron Glenconner, entitled The Man Who Bought Mustique. It chronicled the Baron's first visit back to Mustique since his exile.
The Baron and his wife, Lady Anne Coke, currently divide their time between their house on St. Lucia and their home in England.
Together with his daughter May and her husband Anton, Baron Glenconner is currently developing the Beau Estate property between the Pitons.
