It’s hard to imagine that behind the imposing walls of a Surrey women’s prison sits Constance Marten, a woman whose family history is steeped in royal connections and scandal alike.
While she now awaits sentencing for the tragic death of her newborn daughter, the story of her lineage reads like a dramatic novel — full of privilege, wild escapades, and heartbreak.
A Royal Lineage with a Dark Twist
Constance’s ties to British royalty run deep. Her grandmother, Mary Marten, was once a goddaughter to the Queen Mother, and her father, Napier Marten, served as a page to Queen Elizabeth II.
But the family’s story takes a sharp turn from royal favour to a legacy marked by scandal and excess.
Her great-grandfather, the 3rd Lord Alington — also named Napier — earned a reputation as possibly the most unruly member to ever sit in the House of Lords.
Known for his wild lifestyle, he was infamous for hosting raucous same-sex parties while keeping a much older mistress.
His life was a whirlwind of gambling, drug use, and indulgence in every form of vice imaginable.
The Influence of a Scandalous Era
Napier’s lifestyle seemed to echo the antics of the naughty King Edward VII, who once stayed at the family estate, Crichel, with his famous mistress Alice Keppel.
Napier was notorious for pushing boundaries, famously sending his girlfriend, the actress Tallulah Bankhead — who described herself as “ambisextrous” — to seduce boys at his old school, Eton.
One of those boys was only 14 years old.
The scandal even attracted the attention of the Home Secretary at the time, who ordered MI5 to investigate Bankhead for her “extremely immoral” behaviour.
But the school refused to cooperate, and the boys were instead expelled for unrelated “motoring offences.”
Tallulah herself had introduced herself to Napier with the cheeky line, “I’m a lesbian. What do you do?”
Wild Nights and Shocking Stories
Napier’s reputation for decadence was well known — a lover once described him as “irked by his cynicism and flashes of cruelty” but also “reckless and charming.”
One colorful story from author Sebastian Faulks paints a vivid picture of his audacity: at a Paris ball, Napier arrived dressed as the Sun King, wearing rays attached to gilded skin.
Throughout the night, he gave away his costume pieces until, at dawn, he returned nearly naked to the Ritz Hotel — even gifting the hotel his golden fig-leaf as a souvenir.
A Family Marked by Tragedy and Turmoil
Despite the glamour and wildness, tragedy haunted the family.
Napier’s elder brother Gerard, who should have inherited the title, was severely wounded during World War I and later took his own life, bullied mercilessly by their father.
The family’s reputation for embracing “low-life and sexual experiments” was well noted by contemporaries.
Napier’s sister Lois was equally infamous — a drug-addicted woman who flaunted royal connections while living off the generosity of an older earl.
She had a fling with Prince George, Duke of Kent, and reportedly, no one at her wedding hadn’t been involved intimately with either her or her groom.
The Charm and Downfall of Napier Marten
The charismatic Napier was described by friends as “unbelievably handsome” but also “not quite human,” a man who wasted his charm, fortune, and health through relentless partying and drinking.
Despite his bisexual tendencies, he married Lady Mary Ashley-Cooper, and their daughter Mary Anna inherited the family estate, Crichel.
A Spiritual Awakening and Radical Change
Constance’s father, the younger Napier, took a very different path in 1996 when Constance was just nine.
After what he described as a spiritual awakening, he renounced the family estate, shaved his head, and moved to Australia to seek a new life among whales and nature.
He left his children behind, choosing a path far from aristocratic life, working as a tree surgeon and later as a craniosacral therapist.
His time away was marked by an out-of-body experience and emotional encounters with whales that brought him to tears.
Though he eventually returned to the UK, he lived a modest life away from the family mansion, passing the estate to his eldest son Max.
The End of an Era and a Fall from Grace
In 2013, Max sold Crichel House and its vast lands to a billionaire for a staggering £34 million, closing the chapter on centuries of Marten family ownership.
Today, all the grandeur and wealth contrast sharply with Constance’s current reality — locked away in prison, facing serious charges connected to the death of her newborn daughter.
Looking Forward
Constance Marten’s story is a stark reminder of how even families with the deepest roots in privilege and royalty can be shadowed by tragedy and scandal.
As she awaits her fate, the weight of her family’s past, full of wild tales and dark secrets, looms large over her present.
