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A screenshot of Kent Adonai in the Mail on Sunday newspaper online edition.
(SNO) – A St. Lucian man is at least £20m richer today.
Kent Adonai has been rewarded a slice of a multi-million-pound fortune from the estate of his former late master, Colin Tennant, the third Lord Glenconner, after a long legal battle, according to the Mail on Sunday newspaper.
Adonai was a manservant for Lord Glenconner for many years until the English man’s death in 2010 at the age of 83.
Lord Glenconner rewarded the St. Lucian for his devoted years of service, leaving 27 acres of prime beachfront property, called the Beau Estate, for him. According to the Mail, Adonai plans to sell the property for £22.5 million.
However, not long after the man’s death, his family contested the reward in the courts, arguing that he had not been of sound mind when he rewrote the will.
However, the matter has now been settled after the ruling by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.
Cody Tennant, 24, who is Lord Glenconner’s grandson and heir to the title, has been left with only a stone phallus while the St. Lucian reaps a slice of the fortune.
The Mail on Sunday reported that it “has seen the sealed legal document settling the dispute, with parcels of land and shares divided up between the young Lord and the former servant, signed by both men”.
Despite the huge reward, Adonai said he has not ended up “with the correct share”.
He complained to the Mail about how long the case took while his main assets were tied up in the legal battle. He said this had forced him to take back up his fishing job to support his seven children.
Adonai told the Mail that had he had access to more financing he would have fought the case more vigorously.
“I’m not at all happy with the changes to the will. Previously I had everything. The will was what Lord Glenconner wanted and what he told me, and the family knew that. He wanted to leave a legacy behind. I’ve not ended up with the correct share. I didn’t have the money to fight the proposals. If I’d had the money I’d have had four lawyers giving advice. In the end I just gave up, it was too much to fight them. Although I had a lot of support from the public,” he was quoted as saying by the Mail.
He added: “My upset is the way they [the family] treated me. I can’t say anything bad about Cody. But some of the family treated me very badly when Lord Glenconner was alive. When Mr Tennant was suffering with cancer I looked after him all the time. With the will, I wanted to preserve his legacy, so his name will live on here.”
Adonai told the newspaper that he hopes to create a bust of his former master and place it at his burial site.
“The first thing I will do when I get money is have that bust commissioned. It will be his legacy,” Adonai said of Lord Glenconner, dubbed ‘The King of St Lucia’.
Lord Glenconner’s 85-year-old widow told The Mail on Sunday that everyone’s happy and that Adonai “certainly not been done out of anything – I’d be pleased to be in his shoes.”
Lady Glenconner said the piece of land awarded to Adonai is the “best one” because it is the only one with a beach.
She said: “Kent also had a great deal from my husband even before he died – two hotels and a lot of land. He’s well-off compared to my children. I’m very fond of Kent and he looked after my husband very well and he was well-rewarded over the years with quite a portfolio.”
“Also mentioned in the legal consent order was a watch which once belonged to Lady Avon, widow of former Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden, who was the godmother of Cody’s late father Charles Tennant. According to the document, the watch goes to Adonai – not Cody,” the Mail reported.
Lady Glenconner said: “That’s very odd, because that has sentimental family value and carries the signature of Winston Churchill, who was Lady Avon’s uncle. Kent was very happy with what he got and so was Cody.
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An article less than flattering with words reminiscent of a slavery! "Manservant"??? , "Master????".....An yet some lazy writer at SLNO choose to carry this article just as contained in UK publications. Why do ST. LUCIANS enjoy tearing down their own and moreover assisting outsiders in doing the same? Disgusting article. Would never get this anywhere else I bet, not in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, Grenada, nowhere else but this self loathing nation.
Like Juke Bois would say'Why don't you shut up in your mouth and sleep in your bedding like that?' The article was well written and it was written by a St Lucian writer in the UK. You are simply criticizing for the sake of it. The words were appropriate for the tale that was being told. "Manservant" has been used on numerous occasions and it's an old fashion word very much in the same way that "Master" is. This has nothing to do with slavery. These words are En Vogue and in the English language that you so proudly write in.
What do you know about slavery? People like you are living in the past and that is why you lot are not speaking correctly. If you live in the present time then your actions have to correspondent with the present time. I suspect you are envious of the fact that someone from our shoes wrote this story according to what I have read on social media. SLNO should be credited for featuring the story. We all want to know about things like this that are happening in our country.
Long before slavery took place on our shores our African brothers were committing atrocities against each other in the name of tribalism in Africa. They allowed millions of black Africans to be taken away to the Arab world to be enslaved. Please stop banging on about something that you do not know about. Neither you nor I was around during slavery. Slavery was abhorrent and abominable but we need to put the past behind us and to carry on with our lives. The thing is people like you are the ones full of self-loathing. You have nothing to offer anyone except destructive criticism and bunk.
How can St Lucia move forward when people like you bleat about the past? Slavery has been abolished a long time ago Mate in case you hadn't noticed. You need to look after the current generation. I very much doubt whether you would be helping our ancestors had they been alive today. You blooming hypocrite! Get A Life Mate! I would like to applaud the writer from St Lucia who wrote this excellent article and to commend SLNO for featuring it. Both have done a good job unlike folks like you who criticize. Before you criticize you must realize.
Just what's expected from a dunce!!!! Guess you're one of those who supports selling off chunks of your island for peanuts, shaking your ass for a few pennies at an all inclusive resort to make ends meet, or picking up the crumbs after your "Master", or better yet, being treated to a table where you feel like you're part of the club (at least for the night). You love subservience don't you??just as long as its to the fairer skin ones, and that gives you a bit of self importance, while neglecting to extend the same courtesies to your countrymen?? The likes of you are as backward as they come, speaking without knowledge, experience and whatever else, still shackled to the ship!! Can't even discern hypocrisy when your own response is writhe with it. Elevate yourself and remove the shackles MANSERVANT!!!
Did you use another moniker to write this dribble? It looks like it. From Reality to Factchecker. Well, I Never! All preeks like you do is to criticize. What is your contribution to this debate? Absolutely nothing!
We are no longer shackled to the ships. We are a free people and have been for a very long time. You are an old-fashioned pasha with nothing to offer to anyone so you bleat about the past. Why don't you do something to help your island instead of going on about its inglorious past. You were not present during slavery and neither was I.
Why don't you do something about the poor youths who are resorting to crime to make ends meet? Instead of wasting your time rattling on about past injustices, why don't you focus your energy on things like employment, healthcare, housing and food for the needy and hungry? St Lucia could do with help in these areas. Stop using slavery as an excuse. If our ancestors were alive today preeks like you would not care about them, so please stop being a poisonous hypocrite...And might I add also that I am as dark as dark can be. I am proud of my black heritage and always will go. Go figure and stop wearing the rags of your decayed inheritance. Get a Life mate!!!
You missed the entire point of the article.
Again another big scoop for the writer who co-wrote this magnificent article. He is originally from Soufriere. He is based in the UK and has been a Journalist for most of his life if I can remember. He used to write for the Voice, Crusader and Lucian Times back in the early 80's before he went to London. I know him personally and I would like to Big Him Up. I always knew he would make it one day. He has been writing for all the British papers. I have read lots of stuff with his bylines.
I am happy when St Lucians are doing well in other countries. Once more Big Up to you Mr. Maximin!!! Thanks for helping put St Lucia on the map. Your article was luminous and resplendent. Keep em coming, sir. Your family will be well proud of you in Soufriere.
As A Matter Of Fact, this is a brilliant story about how the great and powerful have been humbled. This man Kent Adonai worked his socks off to look after Lord Glenconner and was rewarded with a portion of land near the mighty Pitons, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Tennant family is anything but grateful for all what Kent did for the late Peer and so they took him to the cleaners to try to get the land from him. They lost and Kent won. This land is prime land and is worth a fortune. Kent has been there for Colin Tennant. He looked after him, took his abuse, stood up for him, vouched for him, spent lonely nights with him alone in the cabin and nursed him. This is what a good valet/manservant does.
From day one when the family in the UK realized that Adonai was left everything in St Lucia, they were not happy. They immediately decided to contest the will. They came up with the excuse that Lord Glenconner was not of a sound mind when he wrote the will which he bequeathed to Kent. They hired the former speaker of the house of assembly to represent them. Kent hired the daughter of the former prime minister to do battle for him. Both lawyers reached an agreement whereby Kent would get a portion of the land while the young Cody Tennant would settle for the other portion.
Tennant was not an easy man to live with. He was irascible and temperamental. He threw fits and was always angry with the people around him. I have seen many documentaries where his nasty temper was exposed. He lived in Mustique for many years and had to leave with his tail between his legs and sought refuge in St Lucia, where he lived for many years before he passed away in 2010. The Tennant family are prodigiously wealthy. They are from Scotland, the second largest country in Britain. Most of Lord Glenconner's wealth was inherited from his father and grandfather.
This land has been in dispute for many years. The property was sold to Colin Tennant by Black British martial arts champion Michael Jacques. Jacques alleges that Glenconner never paid him for the land and instead used corrupt lawyers in St Lucia to help him secure the property for him. He tried very hard to get his land back. His battle with Lord Glenconner is well documented in the British press. For many years this gentleman has been fighting to claim his property back only for the dishonest legal system in St Lucia to deny him. Things are so rotten in this establishment. The very lawyer who represented Cody Tennant was once representing Jacques when the case against Colin Tennant was ongoing. How corrupt is that?
I have been following this case for a while now. I have been reading about it in the British tabloids and broadsheets. Tennant and other white colonials believe that they own the lands in places like The Caribbean and Africa. They like to throw their weight around much to the dismay of the locals. They employ corrupt officials to do deals for them. These officials will go all out to please their white masters. They will stop at nothing. I don't think this will be the end of this saga. This will carry on and on. Where is the justice for Michael Jacques? Why can't he get his land back? Colin Tennant should not have been on this land in the first place. The land was not his entirely.
While Kent is being lauded another man is being left to contemplate his future regarding property he once owned. The world is not fair. St Lucia is populated with unscrupulous, unprincipled, deceitful and double-dealing lawyers who will do anything for a fast buck. They don't care who gets in the way. They serve in the country's parliaments, in it's governments and other functionaries, the list goes on. These people are not accountable to no one and so they do as they please. Where is the justice when one dishonourable lawyer can represent two opposing clients in a tripartite land dispute?
The Glenconner's have no right to do what they are doing. The land was not theirs to be giving away in the first place. Kent has every right to celebrate. He was there for Tennant and as a Thank You is being rewarded for his allegiance and hard work. But remember whose land it was in the first place. The scandalous lawyers in St Lucia ought to be ashamed of themselves. They know themselves.
well said my friend. This brother should have inherited more but they hustled him. I wish he don't sell the property but learn how to invest smartly and get the rest of what he is owed. St.lucian need to open their eyes and see what they standing on.
God blessed you and your family. May the Almighty God protects and guide you in your endeavors. Remember always put God first in your every day living never look down on no one.Bless others with a cheerful heart. Never turn from your family always thank them for the support. God blessed you in Jesus name Amen
Fortunate, but i disagree to selling the property, it will just go into the wrong hands, money leaves the island, another large development on our seafront...still i am happy for you Kent. I trust you keep your fortune to yourself and just disappear.
Great job..To God be the glory ..I read this story so many times..it's all fair game
Wow. I are so happy for Kent. That was a good ending to a long drawn story. We deserved dear. Hope you get the guidance to use your wealth in the right manner.
Way to go Kent I'm happy for u sometimes the underdog becomes top dog
Way to go Kent I'm happy for u sometimes the underdog becomes top dog.
Big up yourself Mawi Layfan
Mr Adonai, pls don't be greedy, being too greedy you may lose more. You get £22 million pls accept and be quiet. And to the nephew if you was treating your uncle you would be getting more.