A FUNERAL service will be held to honour the late 6th Marquess of Bristol, who is being brought home to his family seat in Suffolk.

Victor Hervey, whose family lived at Ickworth House just outside Bury St Edmunds, died in Monaco in 1985 and was buried there.

But his body will be returned to the family vault at St Mary’s church, on the Ickworth estate in Horringer, next month.

Kate Armstrong, personal secretary to the marquess’ wife, Yvonne, marchioness of Bristol, said: “The family are extremely happy to be bringing him back to Ickworth where he belongs.

“He loved Ickworth so he would be very pleased to be going back home.”

After a private family service at St Leonard’s Church in Horringer on October 7, the 6th Marquess will be placed in the Hervey family vault, where his ancestors have been buried since 1467.

“It is so lovely he will be returning to the estate because he always called it ‘sweet Ickworth’,” Mrs Armstrong said.

The 6th Marquess moved to Monaco with his third wife, Yvonne, in 1979, who has now decided to return to England.

“Lady Bristol decided, as she was spending more and more time in England, it was time to bring him here,” Mrs Armstrong said. “She felt there was no way she was leaving him in Monaco.”

The marquess’ children, including model Lady Isabella Hervey and Frederick Hervey, the 8th Marquess of Bristol, will attend the service, along with socialite Lady Victoria Hervey who will fly in from America especially for the ceremony.

“It will be a happy event to see the marquess returned back home where he belongs,” Mrs Armstrong said.

Anyone who wants to attend the service is asked to email chapel7@attglobal.net or call 07798 555 333.