Partner inherits designer's estate

Sir Hardy Amies had shared a love of fine art with Mr Freeman

An arts expert from south Wales has been left the estate of the Queen's favourite dress designer, Sir Hardy Amies.

Forty-six-year-old David Freeman's long-term relationship with the Royal dressmaker had been kept secret until the publication of his will.

Sir Hardy, who died in March at the age of 93, left his entire £1.5m estate to Mr Freeman, the former curator at Tredegar House, in Newport, south east Wales.

The couple first met in the 1970s and, despite their age difference, began a relationship which was fostered by a shared interest in the fine arts.

Mr Freeman, now a freelance fine arts consultant, has paid tribute to his famous partner, who regularly dressed the Queen throughout his long career in fashion.

'Dear friend'

"I'm touched Hardy thought of me in his will," he said.

"He was a dear friend and I believe his death marked the end of an era for high fashion and a certain element of Royal tradition."

Mr Freeman has lived in Usk for the last eight years, near to Sir Hardy's home in the Cotswolds, but has now bought a flat in Cardiff Bay.

During the last year of the fashion designer's life, Mr Freeman arranged for carers for him and making sure everything ran smoothly in his house, according to his former neighbour Audrey Davidson.

"He was with Hardy at his bedside when he died. David was extremely upset even though he knew that Hardy was a very old man and very ill."

Originally, the designer's sister has been the beneficiary of his will, but she had died first, said Miss Robinson, a retired senior nursing tutor.

Mr Freeman was curator of Tredegar House for many years

"He then made David the chief beneficiary. David was very surprised that he was made the beneficiary.

"He isn't a mercenary sort of man and he will take it in his stride," she said.

With the Queen as his most famous customer for half a century, Sir Hardy Amies' fashion house grew from strength to strength.

His 'House of Amies' developed into a multi-million pound empire that lent its name to licences around the globe.

Mr Freeman became curator of the 17th Century Tredegar House in 1978, developing it as a major tourist attraction and introducing an impressive collection of fine art.

He left the job to go freelance nearly five years ago.