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MALTATODAY 22 November 2020

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8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 NOVEMBER 2020 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA AN inheritance battle has bro- ken out among the heirs of the aristocrat Lord Gerald Strick- land, one-time prime minister of Malta, which includes the magnificent Villa Bologna in Attard. Once the seat of the Count of Catena, the 18th century coun- try house in Attard became the property of Gerald Strickland in 1882 after a protracted lit- igation between the putative heirs. Now the entire estate, as well as over €500,000 in precious furniture and works of art in- side the grand home, is the subject of a court battle be- tween siblings Jasper de Traf- ford, who lives in the house, and Aloisia de Trafford. When their father Gerald de Trafford died in 2015 at 85, he bequeathed unto his son Jas- per the vast contents of Villa Bologna as well as the entire property, today managed for wedding celebrations. His daughter Aloisia was left with a handful of furniture pieces, a Copley Fielding landscape, and a water-colour portrait of her father. The elder daughter instantly renounced the inheritance up- on learning of the will, and in November 2015 gave notice to her brother and the law courts that she was expecting that she inherit one-sixth of the estate as laid down at law. A court now has to decide on whether Aloisia de Trafford will become part-owner not just of Villa Bologna, which is managed and lived in by her brother, but also to liquidate in her favour the value of the country house's belongings as well as part of a loan or dona- tion from her father to his son to acquire a Valletta home on Battery Street. In an affidavit to the court, Aloisia de Trafford says her father had already drawn up a will in the records of notary Paul Pullicino, in which he held his estate – in equal portions – to the two siblings. "Unfor- tunately, my brother started working on my father and in- sisted that he would only come to Malta if my father were to leave him his estate to my ex- clusion," de Trafford claimed. "My father was already weak and vulnerable and with my mother's aid and assistance, he was convinced to do so. My father had previously told me that he did not want to change his will." But in 2008, at the age of 79, Gerald de Trafford changed his will and left everything to Jasper, a London banker. "As soon as the will was read out, I realised that I was completely done in," Aloisia de Trafford said, claiming her brother had also been given some €90,000 from their father to finance the acquisition of a Valletta home which he split into three apartments for short lets to tourists. "I knew my father had sold land and as far as I know, also bonds, stocks and shares, to finance Jasper in acquiring the property... This can all be verified from my father's ac- counts." The siblings also disagree on the valuation of the Villa Bo- logna estate, with Aloisia de Trafford's realtor valuing the home at €23 million, while Jasper de Trafford's valuation from an AP architect valuing it at €5.4 million. His sister protested that the AP valuation is a market val- ue for how much a third party would be prepared to purchase Villa Bologna and the gardens, Strickland heirs' feud over Malta's grandest of stately homes De Trafford siblings in court after five-year feud since father's death, who left entire estate to his youngest son, a London banker who now runs Villa Bologna DESCRIBED as "perhaps the finest privately owned 1 8 t h - c e n t u r y country house in all of Malta", Villa Bologna was built in 1745 by Fabrizio Grech – an advisor to Grand Master Pinto – as a wed- ding present for his daughter Maria Theresa Grech and Nicola Perdicoma- ti Bologna, who were married in April of that year. In the 1890s Villa Bologna was inher- ited by Sir Gerald Strickland, who at one point his illus- trious career was elected both an MP in the UK House of Commons and as the Prime Minister of Malta. In 2009, Jas- per de Trafford – the great grandson of Gerald Strickland – moved back to Malta to take over the man- agement of the estate. The house is a re- pository of 17th century Maltese fur- niture, Favray paint- ings, portraits of the Stricklands by Mal- tese master Edward Caruana Dingli, and 16th century silver artefacts. Villa Bologna "As soon as the will was read out, I realised that I was completely done in." Aloisia de Trafford Jasper de Trafford, a former City banker now living at Villa Bologna, runs the estate's wedding business and has invested greatly in the villa's renovation. The siblings disagree on the valuation of the Villa Bologna estate, with Aloisia de Trafford's realtor, Benjamin Grech, valuing the home at €23 million, while Jasper de Trafford's valuation from AP architect David Felice valuing it at €5.4 million

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