The fifth earl was considered a colourful character. As a child, he was a page at the wedding of his aunt and uncle,
Nadine McDougall and
Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia. In his pre-teen years, he was a page at the coronation of Queen
Elizabeth II but was later expelled from
Eton College for operating gambling books. He owned racehorses and greyhounds, but his strongest connection with sport was with the
football club,
Gillingham F.C., where he served as vice-chairman of the board of directors. Upon his retirement from the role, a large clock was erected at the club's
Priestfield Stadium and dubbed the "Lord Sondes Clock" in his honour. The clock was removed as part of ground redevelopment work in the 1990s, and its subsequent whereabouts are unknown. The Earl was married four times. whom he married in 1981 and divorced in 1984, and another American whom he married in 1986, Phyllis Kane Schmertz (widow of
Robert Schmertz, owner of the
Boston Celtics), who survived him and inherited
Lees Court in Kent, which she transformed into an agricultural business growing pharmaceutical and biofuel crops. The Earl died from cancer, and was buried in the church in the village of
Sheldwich south of
Faversham in
Kent. ==Lees Court estate==