Bismarck - a pleasure-seeking heroin addict, hell-raising alcoholic, flamboyant ...

[China]

Count Gottfried von Bismarck

Count Gottfried von Bismarck, who was found dead on Monday aged 44, was a louche German aristocrat with a multi-faceted history as a pleasure-seeking heroin addict, hell-raising alcoholic, flamboyant waster and a reckless and extravagant host of homosexual orgies.

The great-great-grandson of Prince Otto, Germany's Iron Chancellor and architect of the modern German state, the young von Bismarck showed early promise as a brilliant scholar, but led an exotic life of gilded aimlessness that attracted the attention of the gossip columns from the moment he arrived in Oxford in 1983 and hosted a dinner at which the severed heads of two pigs were placed at either end of the table.

When not clad in the lederhosen of his homeland, he cultivated an air of sophisticated complexity by appearing in women's clothes, set off by lipstick and fishnet stockings. This aura of dangerous "glamour" charmed a large circle of friends and acquaintances drawn from the jeunesse dorée of the age; many of them knew him at Oxford, where he made friends such as Darius Guppy and Viscount Althorp and became an enthusiastic, rubber-clad member of the Piers Gaveston Society and the drink-fuelled Bullingdon and Loders clubs.

Perhaps unsurprisingly he managed only a Third in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

Von Bismarck's university career ended in catastrophe in June 1986, when his friend Olivia Channon was found dead on his bed, the victim of a drink and drugs overdose. Von Bismarck admitted that his role in the affair had brought disgrace on the family name; five years later he told friends that there were still people who would not speak to his parents on account of it, and who told his mother that she had "a rotten son".

In the reunified Germany, von Bismarck managed several telecoms businesses and, armed with a doctoral thesis on the East German telephone system, oversaw the sale of companies formerly owned by Communist East Germany to the private sector.

By the late 1990s von Bismarck was working for Telemonde, Kevin Maxwell's troubled telecoms firm based in America, with responsibility for developing the business in Germany; the company collapsed in 2002 with debts of £105 million. Von Bismarck eventually returned to London, where he became chairman of the investment company AIM Partners, dabbled in film production and promoted holidays to Uzbekistan.

Never concealing his homosexuality, von Bismarck continued to appear in public in various eccentric items of attire, including tall hats atop his bald Mekon-like head. At parties he would appear in exotic designer frock coats with matching trousers and emblazoned with enormous logos. Flitting from table to table at fashionable London nightclubs, he was said to be as comfortable among wealthy Eurotrash as he was on formal occasions calling for black tie.

Although described personally as quiet and impeccably mannered, von Bismarck continued to live high on the hog, hosting riotous all-night parties for his (chiefly gay) friends at his £5 million flat off Sloane Square. It was at one such event, in August last year, that von Bismarck encountered tragedy for a second time when one of his male guests fell 60 ft to his death from the roof garden. While von Bismarck was not arrested, he was questioned as a witness and there were those who wondered - not, perhaps, without cause - whether he might be the victim of a family curse.

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[China]

Aristocrat died after huge cocaine binge

An aristocrat injected cocaine round the clock the day before he died, an inquest heard.

The body of Count Gottfried von Bismarck contained the most cocaine ever seen by the pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination.

The 44-year-old playboy had injected the drug every hour the day before he died at his £5million home, the inquest heard.

His body was found in the flat in Chelsea, West London – which had recently been sold – by an estate agent on July 2.

He was lying on a mattress with his blackened arm exposed.

It is believed he had been dead for two days.

His friend, Paul Hillstead, who was the last person to see him alive, said the Count had been 'high as a kite' when he visited his flat on June 28.

The pair went to a nearby pub but returned to the flat, where he injected cocaine until 4.30am.

The German's 'reckless' drug abuse caused cardio-respiratory failure which led to his death, Dr Paul Knapman ruled at Westminster Coroner's Court.

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[Gary Clark Fan]

Poor Count.......his number was up.

[Bang]

It's amazing he made it to 44.

~Bang

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

I was on his side right up to the mainlining of cocaine. That's a wee bit excessive.

[Ghost of]

Clearly, the world has suffered a terrible loss with the passing of the old Count here.

[No_Pressure]

If my head was shaped like that I may do a lot of drugs also.