The son of George Stacpoole, 1st Comte Stacpoole (created by letters patent of Louis XVIII of France on 21 July 1818), and Catherine Gingell, he did his catechism at St Patrick's Church, Soho Square, attended Rugby School, and studied at Christ Church, Oxford (though left without a degree).
They financed repairs to the main bridge over the Tiber, helped to rebuild the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, and restored numerous ornamental fountains which had been derelict since the time of Napoleon.
He lived there happily with close friends Captain and Mrs Graves, leaving the house (alongside the bulk of his £68,833 estate) to them when he died at Glasshayes in 1848.
Sightings have been reported by builders working on extensions to the site, both at the beginning of the 20th century (when it was converted to the Lyndhurst Park Hotel) and in the 1970s, apparently berating and sometimes attacking them for disturbing his property.
Supposedly, every year on the night of his death (July 7) strange music can be heard in certain rooms, and legend has it that this is from a grand ball that the Duc holds annually for the dead.