Hugh Bernard Edward van Cutsem was born on 21 July 1941.[1][2] His father Bernard van Cutsem was a millionaire horse-trainer and -breeder.[2] His mother was Mary Compton, a descendant of the chiefly lineofClan Farquharson.[2] The van Cutsems were Catholics of Belgian origin[3] who had moved to England in the nineteenth century.[2]
Van Cutsem worked as an investment banker at Hambros Bank.[2] Later he began his own company and purchased further companies, including a data storage company.[2]
Van Cutsem inherited his father's stud Northmore Farm in Exning near Newmarket, Suffolk, in 1976.[2] He also owned a 4,000-acre estate in Norfolk, best known for its private wild game shoots.[2] In 2001, the estate had thirty-five pairs of stone-curlews, a very rare bird.[2] In addition he owned a hunting lodge and grouse moor managed for shooting interest on the North Yorkshire-Cumbria border.[2] In the 1990s, he sold his father's farm in Exning and purchased the Hilborough estate in Norfolk, whence he transferred his horse-breeding operations.[2] In 1994, he won a Country Landowners' Association award for his restoration of an old barn on the Hilborough estate; the Prince of Wales (later Charles III) presented the award.[2]
He was a founding member of the Countryside Movement, a non-profit organization which later became the Countryside Alliance, focussed on shooting.[2] He was also a significant fundraiser for the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, a British charity promoting game and wildlife management whilst working with the shooting and hunting community.[2] Moreover, he served as Chairman of the Countryside Business Trust.[2] He was also elected to the Council of the National Trust.[2]
Hugh Ralph van Cutsem (born 1974); married Rose Nancy Langhorne Astor, daughter of David Waldorf Astor (a grandson of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor) and Clare Pamela St. John in 2005. They have three children:
Charles Hugh Valentine van Cutsem; a page of honour to King Charles III.[8]
Nicholas Peter Geoffrey van Cutsem (born 1977); godfather to Prince Louis of Wales; married Alice C. Hadden-Paton, daughter of former cavalry officer Nigel Hadden-Paton, and sister of actor Harry Hadden-Paton, on 14 August 2009. They have one daughter:
William Henry van Cutsem (born 1979); godfather to Prince George of Wales;[10] educated at Ampleforth College;[11] married Rosanna Ruck-Keene on 11 May 2013.
A devout Catholic, he built a chapel near his Hilborough residence for family occasions, and arranged for priests to visit.[2] However, he also regularly attended Mass at Our Lady of Pity in Swaffham with his family.[2] In 1993, he was appointed a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.[2]
Hugh van Cutsem became a friend of King Charles III during his university days.[2]
