Lord Edward Somerset and the blonde divorcee he's moved into his stately home Lord Edward Somerset admits four counts of assault on wife Lady Caroline May serve five years for attacks, which took place over 21 years Is second son of 11th Duke of Beaufort and estimated to be worth £85million By Alison Boshoff Rags and riches: Lord Edward Somerset with his wife Lady Caroline Somerset at Mick Jagger's 50th birthday What a happy, handsome couple they made on that hot July night 20 years ago. Lord Edward Somerset, the second son of the Duke of Beaufort, and his effervescent blonde wife Caroline were among the 250 revellers at Mick Jagger's 50th birthday party in London. Blue-blood Lord Edward, known as Eddie, made a rather improbable French revolutionary, and his wife - a former deb who is the daughter of the late Viscount Davidson, deputy chief whip in Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet - wore a towering white wig and came as Marie Antoinette. At the time they had not long returned from New York, where Eddie had run an art gallery. It was there he had met and befriended the Rolling Stones singer, and with his passion for music and playing the guitar, he fitted in well with Jagger and his friends, Yet witness Eddie this week: frail, thin and ravaged by drugs, he is contemplating a financially painful divorce, and is threatened with jail. At Bristol Crown Court he admitted four counts of assaulting his wife over 21 years of their 30-year marriage. One left her requiring hospital treatment. The judge warned him a custodial sentence is possible. He may serve up to five years. It looks as if he will be following the sad trajectory of his friend Jamie Blandford, with whom he once shared a cocaine dealer. Blandford - the infamous eldest son of the Duke of Marlborough - has been in prison twice and struggled with heroin addiction, and although now clean of drugs and destined to become the next duke, it is not clear whether he will inherit the estate. So what has happened to Eddie Somerset, second son of the 85-year-old, 11th Duke of Beaufort, worth an estimated £135 million, whose title was created in 1682 and whose family line dates from the Plantagenet kings of England in the 12th century? This is a family many consider to be posher than the "arriviste" Windsors. Eddie always had pretensions towards a bohemian, rock "n" roll lifestyle, and was sent to £30,000-a-year Millfield School in Somerset. His elder brother, Harry, 61, known to all his friends as Bunter, is the Marquess of Worcester and heir to both the dukedom and the Badminton estate. He is married to eco-campaigner Tracy Ward, now Lady Worcester, although it is said that this marriage is also in disarray. The younger brother, Lord John "Johnson" Somerset, works as a music producer and has collaborated with Bryan Ferry among others. He is divorced from the noted beauty Lady Cosima Vane-Tempest-Stewart, who was a close friend Princess Diana. There is also a sister, Anne "Monster" Somerset, a historical biographer. The family all live on the immense and magnificent Badminton Estate, 22,500 acres in the heart of the Gloucestershire countryside. The game of badminton was invented there in 1863, it is the scene of the ultra-smart Badminton Horse Trials attended by Zara Phillips, and home of the Beaufort Foxhounds where Princes Charles, William and Harry have all ridden out in the past. Estate: The family's 22,500 acre Badminton House in the Gloucestershire countryside Eddie Somerset married Caroline at Badminton in 1982 and afterwards the young couple went to New York, where Eddie worked in an art gallery part-owned by his father. New York in the Eighties was awash with cocaine, and Eddie fell into druggy circles. "It was a very hedonistic lifestyle," says a friend. Tellingly, Eddie appointed shipping heir Constantine Niarchos as the godfather of his first-born, Francesca, nicknamed Frankie, in 1984. Constantine, known by the nickname "another line," died in 1999 from a massive cocaine overdose. He had taken 25 times more of the drug than would normally be considered fatal. By then Eddie Somerset had developed a drug habit of his own. In 1986, he was named during the trial of Jamie Blandford for cocaine possession - his name appeared on a scrap of paper found at the house of Blandford's dealer. The court heard Eddie Somerset had bought cocaine three times from the dealer. In May 1988, he checked into the Priory clinic in South-West London. By now he had left his job at his father's art gallery and was described as a "rock keyboardist." Case: Lord Edward Alexander Somerset arrives at Bristol Crown Court earlier this month When he emerged, he and Caroline went to live in the exquisite Grade II-listed Essex House, which stands at the gates of Badminton. Did he ever kick hard drugs? There are doubts - the court heard drink and drugs were implicated in his attacks on his wife. Indeed, there is an expectation medical reports will be produced before he is sentenced which will suggest his chronic drug habit has left him in very poor physical shape. He has been assigned a probation officer, who will report to the court before sentencing in February. Caroline apparently started drinking heavily, too, and their relationship deteriorated - as one friend said, at times they would "bring out the worst in each other." Caroline's friends say that Eddie was a "compulsive and manipulative liar," and the first of the admitted assaults came in 1990. The arrival of their second daughter, Rose, in 1992, should have improved things, but it failed to make the union any happier. At Bristol Crown Court this week Eddie's behaviour was described as a long campaign of domestic violence. Initially, he denied all charges - then admitted to four counts of assault. Another three charges will lie on file. Caroline's injuries included bruising, scratches and hair-pulling in one attack. In another, it was bruising and a dislocated finger. In November 2011, the court heard she suffered a "deliberate and hard mis-aimed kick." Friends say they have lived apart now for "a couple of years" and it only came to court because Caroline ended up in hospital in October 2012. Hospital staff asked her how she'd been injured, and called police. From then on a prosecution was inevitable. Judge Mark Horton told the aristocrat the offences were so serious a prison term was possible and he is considering a restraining order to protect Caroline from him The estranged couple have not seen each other for a year and divorce proceedings are underway. Edward's lawyer, William Clegg QC, told the judge his client would not oppose a restraining order: "He accepts his marriage is completely over. He thinks it best that he have no contact with the complainant, and she has no contact with him. It might be because Eddie has been involved with a pretty blonde divorcee called Chloe Banks for some time. And it seems Caroline is still very upset over being replaced by Chloe. Chloe was married to events organiser Richard Banks, dividing her time between a splendid houseboat in Chelsea and his family estate in Herefordshire. Since that marriage ended, she has been flitting between a home in Ireland and, increasingly, the Badminton estate. Happy times: Edward and Caroline on their wedding day at Badminton House in 1982 One friend said: "For some time now, Caroline has been living in West London and the marriage was drifting towards an end. However, Chloe is very much on the scene now, and has moved into Essex House. It has made Caroline very unhappy. He added: "Caroline is very glad the truth came out in court because the abuse and the violence had been going on for at least two years." The court heard that the family wanted her to drop the case in return for a financial settlement, but by then the CPS was involved and nothing could be done. She says the liaison with Chloe has been going on for years. She feels Chloe has got what she wanted but will never be accepted like she was at Badminton, and that the duke loved her. She says Eddie and Chloe live together at Essex House, with Chloe sleeping in her old bedroom and they have thrown out her clothes. Caroline declined all offers of an interview this week, and is said to be trying to get on with her life. Yet the question remains: why did she stay for so long? Perhaps there was fear, shame and an unwillingness to go through a divorce. Possibly she feared its impact on the children. In court: Lady Caroline, pictured with her husband in 2008, was asked to drop the case in return for financial settlement One friend explained: "She wasn't strong enough to do anything about it. She really likes the family and particularly the duke. She was very loyal to him and as a result had reservations about going ahead with this. It must have been a relief when Eddie pleaded guilty, then, as there was dread on both sides about airing dirty linen in public. There was the possibility of Frankie, the eldest daughter, giving evidence. I'm told two butlers and a housekeeper would also have been called to testify, along with a number of upper-crust friends of the couple. After Christmas, Caroline plans to visit Frankie, who lives in Australia. She expects to be out of the country when her estranged husband is sentenced. Once the divorce is finalised, she plans to move on permanently. Currently, she is in what she calls "a small hovel in West Kensington," but when Lord Eddie has made a settlement, she hopes to start a new life in Chelsea. Where Edward Somerset will be by then remains to be seen.