Bernard van Cutsem

Bernard Henry Richard Harcourt van Cutsem (23 January 1916 – 8 December 1975) was an English horsebreeder and racehorse trainer.

Ancestry and early life

The van Cutsem family are Catholics, and of Dutch origin.^[1] The family was said to descend from a illegitimate son of Henry II, Duke of Brabant, who was given a knighthood and an estate, called Cuetssem Velde, near Sint-Pieters-Leeuw. By the 13th century, the family possessed considerable land, and, by 1514, a property known as t'Hof van Cuetssem.^[2] Members of the family migrated to England in the 19th century.^[1]

Bernard Henry Richard Harcourt van Cutsem was born on 23 January 1916.^[3][4][5] His father was Henry Harcourt van Cutsem (1877–1917) and his mother, Eleanor Mary Josephine Southwell Trafford.^[3]

Van Cutsem attended

The Superlative Stakes was previously known as the Bernard van Cutsem Stakes in his honor.

Personal life

Bernard van Cutsem married Mary Compton (1919-1989), daughter of Major Edward Robert Francis Compton (1891–1977) and Sylvia Farquharson of Invercauld (1899–1950), on 28 September 1939.^[3] They had two sons:

• Hugh van Cutsem (1941–2013);^[3] close friend of Charles III.
• Geoffrey Neil van Cutsem (born 1944);^[3] married Sally McCorquodale, daughter of Scottish athlete Alastair McCorquodale and sister of Neil McCorquodale, the husband of Lady Sarah Spencer (the elder sister of Diana, Princess of Wales).

They divorced, and in 1948, he married Lady Margaret Fortescue (1923–2013), daughter of Hugh Fortescue, 5th Earl Fortescue (1888–1958) and Hon. Margaret Helen Beaumont (1892–1948).^{[6] [3]} They had two daughters:^[6]

• Eleanor van Cutsem (born 1949).^[3] married Arthur Gore, 9th Earl of Arran.
• Rosamund Isabelle van Cutsem (born 1952).^[3]

In 1966, she left van Cutsem, resumed her maiden name, and they divorced in 1968.^[6] Bernard Van Cutsem died on 8 December 1975 at Westminster Hospital.^[3][5] He was 59 years old.

References