thumb|David Herbert in 1940 {{for|the US artist|David Herbert (artist)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Use British English|date=July 2012}}
The Honourable '''David Alexander Reginald Herbert'''<ref name="Stevens">{{cite book|last= Stevens |first= Christopher |title= Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams|publisher= John Murray|year= 2010|isbn = 978-1-84854-195-5|page=392 }}<!--|accessdate=10 June 2012--></ref> (3 October 1908 – 3 April 1995<ref name=Ind>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-david-herbert-1614237.html|title=Obituary: David Herbert|date=4 April 1995|work=The Independent|author=Michael De-La-Noy}}</ref>) was a British socialite and writer, seen in the 1920s as one of the Bright Young Things.
== Early life and education== [[File:Wilton House, view of the south front from the park.jpg|thumb|Wilton House]] David Herbert was the second son of Reginald Herbert, 15th Earl of Pembroke.<ref name="Stevens"/> He spent some of his early years at Castletown House in Ireland, while his father was an aide de camp to Sir Arthur Paget, Commander-in-Chief, Ireland. At the age of four, he moved to the family seat of Wilton House, near Salisbury,<ref name="Stevens"/> and from there was educated as a boarder at Wixenford School and Eton College.<ref name=Ind/>
== Career== Herbert had brief periods as a film actor, appearing in 1930's ''Knowing Men'', and as a cabaret performer. He briefly shared an apartment with Noël Coward in the East End, and was satirized by Lord Berners as the character Daisy Montgomery in his 1936 satiric novel, ''The Girls of Radcliff Hall''.<ref>Hoare, Philip. ''Noël Coward: A Biography''. Page 238. University of Chicago Press, 1938</ref> He was also scathingly satirized as "Peter Barclay" in William Bayer's novel ''Tangier''.
He first visited Tangier, Morocco, in 1933 with Poppet John, a daughter of Augustus John, and took a property there where he could afford to maintain a standard of living beyond his means in England. Apart from a house with a large garden, there were cottages, in which his servants lived, a cook, a housemaid, two gardeners, and a Moroccan manservant-chauffeur.<ref name=Ind/> He spent almost fifty years in Tangier, where he was known for his vibrant personality, frequent lavish parties,<ref name="Stevens"/> good taste, and ruthless snobbery.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/11/the-aesthetes/|title=The Aesthetes|last=O'Hagan|first=Andrew|date=11 April 2014 |access-date=2016-08-05}}</ref> He was referred to by Ian Fleming as 'the Queen Mother of Tangier'.<ref>Carr, Virginia Spencer. ''Paul Bowles: A Life''. Page 205. Simon and Schuster, 2004.</ref><ref>Obituary of Countess Katalin Banffy-Jelen, ''The Times'', 18th February 2025</ref> He was labelled as the 'most terrible snob' by author Patrick Thursfield, who attended his famous parties.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Walton|first=Tony|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ErV9AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA233|title=Up the Kasbah|date=2011|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-0-9566091-1-3|language=en}}</ref>
During the Second World War, Herbert served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.<ref name=Ind/>
Herbert's books recall his years in the company of such figures as Cecil Beaton, Lady Diana Cooper, Noël Coward, Paul and Jane Bowles, Cyril Connolly, Brian Howard, Barbara Hutton, Osbert Sitwell and Tallulah Bankhead. These include ''Second Son: An Autobiography'' (1972), which included a foreword by Paul Bowles and photographs by Cecil Beaton, ''Engaging Eccentrics: Recollections'' (1990), his second volume of autobiography, and ''Relations and Revelations: Advice to Jemima'' (1992), a book of memories and opinions written in the form of advice to his great-niece Jemima.
== Death== Herbert died of kidney failure in 1995 and was buried in the cemetery at Saint Andrew's Church, Tangier. He had been a devout Anglican. On his tombstone was engraved, "He loved Morocco".
<gallery> File:III Church of St. Andrew's, Tangier, Morocco (2).jpg|Church of St. Andrew's, Tangier, Morocco File:Grave of david herbert tangier.jpg|tomb of David Herbert </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.paulbowles.org/photosfriendsone.html A Biography of David Herbert by Kenneth Lisenbee] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026232735/http://www.paulbowles.org/photosfriendsone.html |date=26 October 2021 }} *{{IMDb name|0378524}} *[http://www.wiltonhouse.co.uk/ Information on Wilton House, home of the Earl of Pembroke]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Herbert, David}} Category:1908 births Category:1995 deaths Category:20th-century Anglicans Category:20th-century English male actors Category:20th-century English memoirists Category:English socialites Category:English gay actors Category:Younger sons of earls Category:People educated at Eton College Category:People educated at Wixenford School Category:English people of Russian descent Category:English interior designers Category:British expatriates in Morocco Category:Deaths from kidney failure Category:English Anglicans Category:British cabaret performers David