Gay hedonist found dead from a suspected overdose

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A German aristocrat famed for his libertine lifestyle has been found dead in his apartment in London.

Count Gottfried von Bismarck, who was 44, was discovered by paramedics over the weekend. It is thought he died of a drug overdose.

The Count was first thrust into the tabloid limelight as a student at Oxford in 1986, when the 22-year-old daughter of Tory Cabinet minister Paul Channon died at one of his notorious parties.

In August 2006 he was again in the spotlight when a man fell 60ft from the roof garden of the Chelsea flat where Count von Bismarck was found dead.

The inquest into the death of Anthony Casey, 38, ruled that a ‘gay sex orgy’ was taking place at the flat of the aristocrat, who was the great-grandson of the 19th Century German chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

Police are investigating the Count’s death and a post-mortem will be held today.