The fine art and antiques are the contents of a lavish six-storey townhouse in London’s Belgrave Square that belonged to the late Lord Ballyedmond.
Sotheby’s, which will offer his collection at an auction in London on May 23-24, said his home “formed the backdrop to life at the highest level of British society” and has been described as the “Downton Abbey of our times”.
Lord Ballyedmond, also known as Dr Edward Haughey, was killed in a helicopter crash in Norfolk in March 2014. His widow, Lady Mary, has now decided to sell the contents of the Georgian mansion at 9 Belgrave Square. The property will then be sold separately.
Lord Ballyedmond was an avid collector of art and antiques and the Sotheby’s sale comprises around 700 objects, spanning more than 400 years.
Sotheby’s UK chairman Harry Dalmeny, said: “This collection is typically extraordinary; typical for an extraordinary man who accepted no boundaries in business, politics, art and friendship. Belgrave Square was where his ambition as a collector reached its zenith; this was the seat for a salon, where politicians and potentates from all sides would find a home together at the dinner table.”
Born in County Louth in Ireland, Lord Ballyedmond made his fortune in pharmaceuticals and founded the Norbrook Group in Northern Ireland in 1969.
He was only the second person in history - after the Marquess of Lansdowne in the 1920s - to have sat in the upper houses of both the British and Irish parliaments.
