blonde", a French courtesan who had moved to London during the French Revolution, with whom he was frequently seen at the opera. He was later close to Lady Melbourne whose son William Lamb, later Prime Minister, was widely regarded as Wyndham's son and was said to look remarkably like him. Lamb often spent time at Petworth House as a child and continued to visit Egremont until the end of the earl's life. Egremont called off a planned marriage to Lady Maria Walpole, a granddaughter of Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole. Egremont inherited the recently built London townhouse Egremont House in Piccadilly, which was known as a haunt of Macaronis. As his country seat he rented Stansted House during 1775 and 1776 while renovation work was in progress at Petworth House. He also spent much time at East Lodge, his house in Brighton, at Kemptown, on the east side of Upper Rock Gardens. He attended Brighton and Lewes races and visited the Prince Regent at the Royal Pavilion. Egremont was known for his philanthropy, and was a founding subscriber of the Royal Sussex Hospital. He also donated £1,000 towards the founding of the Sussex Scientific Institution and Mantellian Museum at Old Steine in Brighton. Egremont maintained around 15 mistresses and fathered more than 40 illegitimate children at Petworth House. It is recorded that the peace of the household was often disturbed by disputes between the children, with their respective mothers joining in. The children, certainly of the more favoured mistresses and especially those of Elizabeth Ilive, were educated by Thomas Sockett, a protégé of the earl whom he appointed Rector of Petworth, who also acted as the earl's secretary. He also had four or five children by Elizabeth Fox and many others by other women. Illegitimate progeny Illegitimate children by Elizabeth Ilive (before their marriage): Col. George Wyndham, 1st Baron Leconfield (5 June 1787 – 18 March 1869), to whom he bequeathed his unentailed estates, namely the former Percy estates including Petworth House in Sussex, Leconfield Castle in Yorkshire and Egremont Castle in Cumbria. He adopted a differenced version of the Wyndham arms, with a bordure wavy, and was created Baron Leconfield in 1859. The loss of Petworth and the other former Seymour and Percy estates was a great blow to the 3rd earl's nephew George Wyndham, 4th Earl of Egremont (1786-1845) who by law had inherited the earldom but without