Courtenay was in his time considered a notorious homosexual. His near neighbour and contemporary Rev.
John Swete (1752–1821) of
Oxton House,
Kenton in Devon, wrote of him in veiled terms as follows in connection with a discussion of the Parsonage House of the parish of
Powderham: :"Unconnected with the Lord of the Castle, to me its contiguity would be considered as a drawback of no little weight; I speak as a clergyman who would be solicitous for the welfare of his flock, and who is fully satisfied that his most earnest exhortations to the poor dependants, to be zealous after God and to attend their church, would have but a momentary effect when he who should set them an example was
parcus deorum cultor et infrequens" ("Heaven's niggard and unfrequent worshipper") (
Horace, Odes, Book I, Ode 34, line 1). Courtenay was described as follows by the genealogist
Thomas Christopher Banks (1765–1854) in a letter to
Lord Chancellor Brougham (1778-1868), who was an active force behind the decision of the House of Lords to revive the Earldom in his favour: :"One who ought to think himself happy that his titles and estates have not been forfeited, or himself paid the debt to the law like the
Lord Hungerford of Heytesbury" (beheaded in 1541 for offences against the
Buggery Act 1533), "one against whom a bill being found 'never ventured to put the question of guilt to a trial' but remained skulking abroad, afraid to venture on taking his seat in Parliament, his motto
Ubi Lapsus, Quid Feci" (i.e. ancient
motto of the Courtenay family, "Where did I slip, what have I done?") "putting a question which its owner avoids to leave to a tribunal of his country to answer".
Relationship with William Beckford As a youth, 'Kitty' Courtenay was sometimes named by contemporaries as the most beautiful boy in England. Beckford, 8 years his senior, was a wealthy art collector and
sugar plantation owner. In the autumn of 1784, a houseguest overheard an argument between the then 16-year-old
Hon. (his title at that time) William Courtenay and the then 24-year-old Beckford over a note of Courtenay's. There is no record of what the note said, but the houseguest said that Beckford's response on reading it was that he entered Courtenay's room and "horsewhipped him, which created a noise, and the door being opened, Courtenay was discovered in his shirt, and Beckford in some posture or other — Strange story." == Later life ==