Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, 12th Earl of Shaftesbury

Nicholas Edmund Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 12th Earl of Shaftesbury, DL (born 3 June 1979), also known as Nick Ashley-Cooper or Nick Shaftesbury, is an English peer and landowner. He succeeded his brother as Earl of Shaftesbury in 2005.

He also holds the subsidiary titles Baron Ashley and Baron Cooper.

Early life


Nicholas Ashley-Cooper was born on 3 June 1979, in London, the younger son of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 10th Earl of Shaftesbury (1938–2004), and his second wife Christina Eva Montan (born c. 1940), the daughter of Nils Montan, a former Swedish Ambassador to Germany.

He had an elder brother, Anthony Nils Christian Ashley-Cooper (1977–2005), who in 2004 became 11th Earl of Shaftesbury, and also an elder half-brother and half-sister from Lady Shaftesbury's first marriage.

He was educated at Eton College, however, he quit Eton at the age of 16 because he claimed he "hated the ethos and routines".

Ashley-Cooper went on to dabble in a number of start-up companies, none of which were successful and then emigrated to New York where he was a part time DJ and musician in bars and clubs around Manhattan.

Father's murder
His father, the 10th Earl, was murdered in November 2004 by his third wife, Jamila M'Barek, a Playboy model turned prostitute, and her brother Mohammad.

The 10th Earl and M'Barek were separated in 2004 and divorce proceedings were set in motion. By that time, he had given her a windmill in the Gers region of southwestern France, the €700,000 duplex in a villa in Cannes, which included staff, a car, and a monthly allowance, ranging between €7,500 and €10,000. Lord Shaftesbury wanted to end this arrangement and the marriage so he could marry Nadia Orche. Orche, was a young mother of two children who has been described as a "club hostess from Cannes" and a "Moroccan prostitute". According to Orche, Lord Shaftesbury was planning to marry her after getting a divorce from his third wife.

However, during a dispute with Jamila M'Barek, a fight broke out between the 10th Earl and his brother-in-law, Mohammed M'Barek. The 10th Earl died during the fight when his brother-in-law strangled him, breaking his neck.

Both were convicted of his murder. Jamila M'Barek received a 25-year prison sentence as an accomplice to the murder, reduced to 20 on appeal, and was released in 2016 having served nine years.

Brother's death
Six months later, on 15 May 2005, the 11th Earl died of a heart attack in Manhattan, New York, while visiting his younger brother, and Ashley-Cooper then unexpectedly succeeded him in the earldom.

The Daily Telegraph described the 12th Earl as "a tattooed young raver". He then relocated to his family home from New York City and accepted the title of Earl.

Shaftesbury Estates


Wimborne St Giles in East Dorset is the home base and centre of business of the Ashley-Cooper family. Built in 1651, the family seat of St Giles House had fallen into disrepair as it had been unoccupied for approximately 60 years. In 2001, St Giles House was recorded on the Register of Buildings at Risk, as a Grade I listed building, indicating neglect and decay. Buildings recorded on the Grade I list include those of "exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important".

Discussions regarding future use of St Giles House and the estate have been resumed following inheritance by the 12th Earl of Shaftesbury. Work on the house began in 2011 and since then the restoration has won national awards including the 2014 Georgian Group Awards for the Restoration of a Georgian Country House, the 2015 Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Award for Building Conservation, the 2015 Historic Houses Association/Sotheby's Restoration Award, and the Historic England Angel Award, Best Rescue of a Historic Building or Site. During the Second World War, the house was requisitioned and used as a school for girls evacuated from London, Miss Faunce's Parents' National Union School. At that time, the family took up residence at the dower house, known as Mainsail Haul.

Lough Neagh controversy
Lord Shaftesbury also inherited the ownership of the bed and soil of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland, the largest lake in Ireland or the United Kingdom.

The lough supplies 40% of the region's drinking water and is also used as a sewage outfall. Discussions over the future management of the Lough have been ongoing with the Northern Ireland Assembly.

In October 2023, after negative publicity stemming from a report revealing that Lough Neagh had experienced its worst-ever levels of harmful bacteria amid a long-term infestation of toxic algae which had been allowed to fester in the lough during the Earl's ownership, Lord Shaftesbury stated in an interview with BBC Northern Ireland that while he was open to selling Lough Neagh to the Northern Ireland Assembly, he would "not give it away for free." He stated in the interview that "the sale is one that's borne out of an understanding that my ownership has always been very divisive and quite political and I always get blamed for things that are completely outside of my control. I feel it's often used as an excuse for political inaction and I always want to do the right thing by the people living here and what's in the best interest of the lough."

Personal life
In 2010, Lord Shaftesbury married Dinah Streifeneder, a veterinary surgeon from Munich, in Dorset.

The couple have three children. Their son, Anthony Francis Wolfgang Ashley-Cooper, Lord Ashley, born on 24 January 2011, is his father's heir apparent and the only person in the line of succession to the earldom.

A daughter, Lady Viva Constance Lillemor Ashley-Cooper, was born in 2012, and another daughter, Lady Zara Emily Tove Ashley-Cooper, in 2014.

Shaftesbury is an ambassador for the spinal cord injuries charity Wings for Life, which he began supporting following his own spinal injury. He has competed in several marathons and ultramarathons to benefit charitable organisations.

In 2019, he was commissioned to the honorary position of Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Dorset.