Tania Harcourt-Cooze

The Honourable Tania Rosamund Harcourt-Cooze (née Coleridge, born 22 January 1966) is an English model and actress. [1]

Biography

The daughter of Major William Duke Coleridge, 5th Baron Coleridge of Ottery St Mary, a Major in the Coldstream Guards, and his first wife Everild Tania Hambrough, she is directly related to the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The oldest of five children, by her father's first marriage she has a brother, James Duke Coleridge (born 1967) and a sister, Sophia Tamsin Coleridge (born 1970).

Born in Kenya, she followed her father's British Army career until her parents divorced in 1977 when she was 11.  By his second marriage, she has two stepsisters, Vanessa Leyla Coleridge (born 1978) and Katharine Suzannah Coleridge (born 1981).

Modelling

Completing a fine arts diploma in London, she joined the punk rock revolution, and would hang out on the Kings Road, Chelsea.

She was spotted by Sarah Doukas, who dispatched her in 1986 to model for Armani and Versace in Italy, and she became a muse for Helmut Newton.  She starred opposite the singer George Michael in the video for "Father Figure", inspired by Newton. She also appeared in the music video of the Kane Roberts song "Twisted" and she was the “power drill girl” in Van Halen's Poundcake video in 1991.

After moving to Los Angeles, for modelling work, she ended up managing a restaurant.

Venezuela

Having met Willie Harcourt-Cooze in her late teens, she married the Venezuelan-based businessman in 1993. Using the funds from the sale of his London flat and his family's money, the couple purchased a 1,000 acres (400 ha) cocoa hacienda in Choroni, and planted more than 50,000 Criollo cocoa trees.[1][2][3]

Return to England

Returning to England in 2001, she took over the management of The Chanter's House, the family's ancestral home in March 2002. The couple set up events management company Kubla Khan, through which to organise weddings, fashion shoots, residential art courses, exhibitions, house tours and cultural gatherings based around the house.[1]

In October 2006 the increasing costs of maintaining the property caused the family trust to put the property up for sale and auction the contents. [4][5]

She came to public prominence again in 2008 with the airing of the fly-on-the-wall documentary, Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory, centred on her husband's efforts to be one of the first Britons since the Cadbury family to grow, import and produce their own chocolate. [3][6]

Personal life

She lives in Tiverton, Devon and has three children – Sophia, William and Eve [1][2][6][7][8] In May 2010 she and her husband separated and as of February 2011 are in the process of getting a divorce. [9]

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See also

References and footnotes
  1. Wynn-Davies, Patricia (17 March 2004). "Me and My Home: At home with history". The Independent. findarticles.com.
  2. Weinberg, Kate (23 February 2008). "Willie's wacky chocolate factory". The Daily Telegraph.
  3. Goodhart, Benjie. "Interview: Willie Harcourt-Cooze". News. Channel 4 Sales.
  4. "Sotheby's to sell property from the Coleridge family collection at The Chanter's House" (PDF) (Press release). Sotheby's. 22 August 2006.
  5. "Coleridge heirlooms auctioned off". BBC. 24 October 2006.
  6. "Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory". Channel 4.
  7. Lundy, Darryl. "Major William Duke Coleridge, 5th Baron Coleridge of Ottery St. Mary". thePeerage.com.
  8. "TM: a selection of Trade Marks and Brand Names registered in April 2007". Food Trade Review. August 2007 – via Entrepreneur Magazine.
  9. "Willie & The Chocolate Factory". BMI Voyager. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011.
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