Kawerau resident a fugitive from a fairytale

By ROSALEEN MACBRAYNE

To the manor born she may be, but Lady Denise Edgcumbe lives in an ordinary wooden house in Kawerau, her days revolving round her four children and small-town activities.

Within sight of Mt Edgecumbe in the eastern Bay of Plenty, it is a world away from historic Mt Edgcumbe House, set in vast grounds overlooking Plymouth Harbour in Cornwall.

And the hands-on mum, distractedly dishing up homemade soup for hungry kids after school, is a far cry from a pampered lady.

Then off she flits to unearth photographs and a copy of the family tree. There is no affectation - just a friendly, slightly eccentric woman, constantly on the move, with a smattering of eyeshadow glitter, chipped nail varnish, and tangled tresses.

"My hairbrush has broken down," she laughs, while agreeing to be photographed and posing exaggeratedly.

Underfoot are two kittens and two dogs, the TV blares, the phone rings often, and her sons' friends wander in and out of the cramped little house.

Denise Edgcumbe was 22 when her unremarkable life - and those of her parents and four younger sisters - changed irrevocably in December 1982.

Plain, hardworking Kiwi farmer Bob Edgcumbe, then 43 and managing a 1200ha Lands and Survey Department sheep and cattle station near Kawerau, woke one day to become the eighth Earl of Edgcumbe.

The death of an elderly uncle in England meant he inherited a 300-year-old title, his unpretentious wife, Joan, aged 41, was suddenly a countess and their five no-frills, country-bred daughters were titled ladies.

From not owning their own home, the Edgcumbes faced the prospect of living in a huge, stone, stately home built in the 16th century, complete with valuable antiques, paintings and furnishings. It was the stuff of legends - or maybe winning Lotto.

Lady Denise remembers being told she would be a lady one day, but that it would not make any difference.

"At that age I read fairytales and it was just like that. We were brought up pretty much with no fuss and bother."

Eventually the Earl, the Countess and Ladies Megan, then 20, Tracy, 16, Vanessa, 13, and Alison, 11, took up residence in the impressive mansion, with its dozen bedrooms and bathrooms, huge marble-floored reception areas and dining room seating 30.

In love with a farmworker on her father's block, Lady Denise, now divorced, forsook the aristocratic life to stay put and have her own family of three sons and a daughter.

Meanwhile, the bubble soon burst for the innocents abroad. The naive New Zealanders found themselves hounded by the British tabloids. Making headlines here too were the stories of the Countess running off with the village odd-job-man and the Earl taking up with the local barmaid.

In the years since, they have fiercely protected their privacy and do not want their lives dragged through the mill again.

Lady Denise's father is in New Zealand on an extended visit but refused to be interviewed. Despite finding he could not afford to be monarch of all he surveyed, the Earl enjoys some of the perks of being landed gentry and travels regularly, mostly to get away from the English winters.

He and the Countess have never divorced and "get on really well together," although they and three of their daughters all live in separate houses on the Edgcumbe estate.

Their accommodation is more modest than the Tudor mansion through which tourists now trek and from where some treasures had to be sold to pay hefty death duties.

Lady Tracy has settled back in New Zealand and the daughters have produced nine grandchildren for the Earl. However, on his death his title will go to a nephew.

It rankles a little with Lady Denise that, as the eldest child, she cannot inherit because she is female. But most of the time her noble standing is immaterial.

She says her children - Jonas, 16, Nicholas, 14, Kieran, 11, and Golda Cole, 7 - have not shown much interest so far in the family history.

Friends sometimes tease her about her title, which she rarely mentions.

"I think it puts people's noses up in some cases. But if I go to Auckland and stay at the Sheraton, my fiance likes to use it. You get better service that way."

Kawerau may be one of the least glamorous places in the world, but this daughter of a peer - who has twice visited the ancestral seat - has no regrets about being "the ordinary farmgirl left behind."

"New Zealand is a wonderful place to live."