Tania Harcourt-Cooze

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

Early life and education

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 related to the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.[2] The oldest of five children, she has a brother, James Duke Coleridge (born 1967) and a sister, Sophia Tamsin Coleridge (born 1970), and half-sisters, Vanessa Leyla Coleridge (born 1978) and Katharine Suzannah Coleridge (born 1981).

Born in Kenya, Harcourt-Cooze followed her father's British Army career until her parents divorced in 1977, when she was 11.

Career

Modelling

Harcourt-Cooze completed an art history and drama degree at Fine Arts College in London.

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.[3] She starred opposite singer George Michael in the video for "Father Figure".[4] She appeared in the music video of the Kane Roberts song "Twisted" and was the “power drill girl” in Van Halen's "Poundcake" video in 1991.

Management

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. [5][6]

Media

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.[7][8]

Personal life

She married Willie Harcourt-Cooze, a Burmese-Irish man, in 1993 after meeting him in her late teens. Using the funds from the sale of his London flat and his family's money, the couple purchased[9] a 1,000 acres (400 ha) cocoa farm, in the Venezuelan cloud forest, Hacienda El Tesoro[10] in the Henri Pittier National Park, near Choroni Beach.[11], and planted more than 50,000 Criollo cocoa trees.[1][2][7]

She lives in Tiverton, Devon and has three children – Sophia, William and Eve [1][2][8][12] In May 2010 she and her husband separated and they formalised a divorce in 2011.[13][14]

See also

References and footnotes
  1. Wynn-Davies, Patricia (17 March 2004). "Cooze at The Chanters House, in Ottery St Mary: Me and My Home: At home with history". The Independent.
  2. Weinberg, Kate (23 February 2008). "Willie's wacky chocolate factory". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 June 2008. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  3. "Tania Harcourt Cooze". Storm Model Management. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011.
  4. "The Story of... 'Father Figure' by George Michael". Smooth Radio. 28 November 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  5. "Sotheby's to sell property from the Coleridge family collection at The Chanter's House" (PDF) (Press release). Sotheby's. 22 August 2006.
  6. "Coleridge heirlooms auctioned off". BBC. 24 October 2006.
  7. Goodhart, Benjie. "Interview: Willie Harcourt-Cooze". News. Channel 4 Sales. Archived from the original on 15 March 2008.
  8. "Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory". Channel 4. Archived from the original on 16 August 2008.
  9. "Bean to Bar : Philosophy of Chocolate". williescacao.com. 25 June 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  10. meaning: "treasure", in Spanish
  11. Jill Park (7 May 2009). "Sweet success for Willie's chocolate factory". Packaging News. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
  12. "TM: a selection of Trade Marks and Brand Names registered in April 2007". Food Trade Review. August 2007. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008 – via Entrepreneur Magazine.
  13. "Willie & The Chocolate Factory". BMI Voyager. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011.
  14. "The Girl in the Video: "Father Figure" (1988)". Noblemania. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
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