Polo-playing playboy Rhodes passes away

 

Friday, 27 January 2017 By Farnham Herald in Local People

 

 

 

 

POLO-PLAYING playboy Philip Rhodes, famed for the charity balls he hosted on his Haslemere estate, has died.

 

Born in 1943, he spent most of his life in the Haslemere area, where his grandfather, renowned architect G W Rhodes, built many of the town’s houses.

In 1969, Philip Rhodes bought Carvers, a mock-Tudor mansion with 11 acres of grounds, where he hosted memorable parties for the rich and famous until 2009, when he sold it.

He spent most of the years since until his death in Midhurst, on January 15, travelling and staying with friends in France, Switzerland, Scotland and Argentina. and moved out of the county.

Polo was his ticket to mix with rock royalty, including Stewart Copeland of The Police, Genesis’ Mike Rutherford and Roger Taylor, of Queen, all of whom he counted as friends.

Many famous faces stayed at the house, from a fledgling Eurythmics, whose members took inspiration from it for their debut album ‘In The Garden’, and their third single ‘This Is The House’,

Legendary Cream drummer Ginger Baker, who played with Eric Clapton, lived in a wing of the property for three months.

Until the late 1990s, Rhodes also held charity balls at which Queen and Genesis played.

The flamboyant 1970s bathroom at Carvers, with its giant circular tub and green velvet floor, featured in the 2005 film Stoned, charting the final days leading up to the death of Rolling Stones’ guitarist Brian Jones.

“Everything you read about polo players is true,” Mr Rhodes told the Daily Mail in 2009, when he put Carvers on the market for £4.15million.

“We’re an awful bunch.

“One year I charged £100 a ticket. For that, you had fine food, wine and a woman. If you paid £200 you got two women and for £300 you had three.”

Married twice, he is survived by his son and daughter and three grandsons

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