Legal battle over Thatcher aide’s £8m Ming porcelain hoard tears his family apart

Katharine Butler, outside the High Court, wants the collection to remain intact

The family of a trusted aide to Margaret Thatcher has been torn apart by a feud over the fate of his £8 million Ming porcelain collection, a court heard.

Sir Michael Butler built up an 800-piece hoard of 17th-century “late Ming” Chinese ceramics during five decades as a British diplomat.

He advised Lady Thatcher in the Eighties and was a principal architect of her victory in cutting the UK’s contribution to the European Community budget.

Experts believe his ceramic collection is “unique in the world” and “the finest and most extensive collection of its kind”, the High Court heard.

But it is now the focus of a toxic legal battle that is pulling his family apart.

Collector: Sir Michael Butler built up a “unique” collection of Chinese ceramics

When Sir Michael died aged 86 two years ago, he left 500 of his most prized pots to his four children.

Charles, 49, and Katharine Butler, 48, believe their father would have wanted the “Butler Family Collection” to remain intact at a private museum in Mapperton, Dorset, where he lived.

But their older siblings, Caroline, 62, and James, 50, argue they are entitled to 125 pots each and have asked Judge Brian Barker QC to order them to be handed over.

John Brisby QC, representing Charles and Katharine, argued Sir Michael must have imagined his gift would “enrich his children’s lives”. He accused Caroline and James of being “hell-bent on breaking up the collection”.

The court has also heard allegations about Sir Michael’s private life, including claims he cheated on his wife and had favourites among his children.

Mr Brisby suggested Caroline wanted to “get her own back” on her father for his affairs and leaving the bulk of his wealth to his younger children. He told the judge: “Caroline’s interest, particularly, was money from an early stage. She regarded her share of the collection as an asset which she would be seeking to convert into cash in due course.”

Charles and Katharine say the collection should be kept together to honour their father and preserve a “historic collection of irreplaceable value”.

Elspeth Talbot Rice QC, for Caroline and James, argued they should be able to “possess” their inheritance. Caroline, who spent years helping her father with his collection, said she wanted “unfettered ownership of 125 beautiful pieces which I was brought up with”.

She said her share of the collection could be housed in her family’s country house in Sussex. But Mr Brisby suggested to Caroline she had taken against her father when he separated from her mother in 1997 after having an affair.

Her rage against her father was such that she wrote to his colleagues with details of his affairs, the court heard, and Sir Michael believed the letters cost him a peerage. Caroline dismissed the claims as “spin by Charles”. In an email to Charles, shown to the court, she called Sir Michael “divisive” and said: “I’m not sure you ever came to terms with the fact that your own father does not love you and prefers 800 pots.”

Mr Brisby said her efforts to break up the collection were “a way of getting your own back against your father”. She dismissed this as a “low suggestion”.

Relations soured between the siblings just four days after Sir Michael’s death when James and Caroline learned they had not been named as his executors.

Mr Brisby told the court Sir Michael’s wife and mother to his four children, Ann Ross Skinner, wanted the collection to remain intact. The widow, who married Sir Michael in 1951, sat by Katharine’s side throughout the hearing, patiently working away at her embroidery.

The hearing continues.

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