Actress, celebrity chef and Britain's first black marchioness: Extraordinary life of the woman who is about to become the Marquess of Bath's daughter-in-law

Emma McQuiston, 26, is the daughter of a Nigerian oil tycoon
She is to wed Ceawlin Thynne, Viscount of Weymouth, 38
His father, the Marquess of Bath, is notorious for his harem of 'wifelets'
The Viscount is heir to Longleat House and its 100,000 acre estate
Her half-brother Ian is married to Ceawlin's aunt, Lady Silvy Cerne Thynne

PUBLISHED: 10:17, 1 April 2013 | UPDATED: 18:42, 1 April 2013

His father might be famous for his harem of 'wifelets' but Ceawlin Thynne, Viscount Weymouth and son of the notorious Marquess of Bath is taking a more conventional approach to marriage.

But his wife-to-be is anything but the typical aristocratic bride. Not only is artist Emma McQuiston the daughter of a Nigerian oil tycoon, she's a former actress and celebrity chef.

Yet despite the 26-year-old's impressive CV, the soon-to-be marchioness has admitted that her presence at Longleat has raised eyebrows among some elements of the aristocracy.

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Emma McQuiston from the May Issue of Tatler, posing in front of Longleat House. She is the daughter of a Nigerian oil tycoon, a former actress and celebrity chef who is soon to marry Viscount Weymouth

Bride-to-be: Emma McQuiston will become the UK's first black marchioness when she weds Ceawlin Thynne

Watch out Pippa! McQuiston shares her love of all things food and plenty of recipes on her blog

'There has been some snobbishness, particularly among the older generation,' she revealed.

'There's class and then there's the racial thing. It's a jungle and I'm going through it and discovering things as I grow up.

'I'm not super-easily offended but it's a problem when someone's making you feel different or separate because of your race, or forming an opinion about you before they even know you.'

Her mother Suzanna also admits to being worried on her daughter's behalf but hopes she'll be accepted.

'I always felt there might be this slightly snobbish thing about anyone that's black but it seems that everybody has taken Emma into their hearts and they love her.'

The snobbish comments are all the more ironic because McQuiston isn't exactly a stranger to high society.

Love: McQuiston first met the Viscount of Weymouth when she was just four years old

Family: Ceawlin, McQuiston's husband-to-be, with his father, the notorious Marquess of Bath

Cover girl: McQuiston is on the cover of the May issue of Tatler and gave an interview to the society magazine

In fact, McQuiston and her husband to be are technically already family.

The daughter of Oxford graduate, Ladi Jadesimi, McQuiston grew up in the rolling Wiltshire countryside and has long been part of her future husband's circle, first meeting him when she was just four years old.

Her mother, Suzanna McQuiston, had already been married when she met Emma's father, and had a son named Ian, now 51.

Ian is the husband of Lady Silvy Cerne Thynne, the daughter of the sixth Marquess of Bath by his second wife, and the half-sister of the current incumbent.

Lady Silvy is the Viscount of Weymouth's aunt, which means that his soon to be brother-in-law is also his uncle.

With connections such as these, it is perhaps no surprise that McQuiston was a regular guest at Longleat celebrations, often spending Christmas and Easter with the Bath family.

So familiar with Longleat is she, McQuiston even made the state rooms the subject of a dissertation she wrote at 18.

'I've always loved it here,' she says of the house. 'I would see Ceawlin at Christmas, Easter and family get-togethers.'

After studying history of art at University College London, she became an actress before reinventing herself as a celebrity chef with her own internet television show.

McQuiston also has her own food blog in which she charts her passion for eating, posting a stream of photos of herself posing with the unusual food and drink she unearths.

More recently, her blog has taken on a distinctly romantic flavour with McQuiston happily posting photos of herself and her fiance on holiday at Disneyland, as well as writing of wedding dress fittings with her mother.

Love: The Viscount of Weymouth proposed during a romantic trip to Disneyland, according to McQuiston

Future home: McQuiston will become the chatelaine of the stunning Longleat House after she marries

Glamorous: McQuiston has led an interesting life, including stints as an actress and TV presenter

Heir: Emma's husband-to-be, the Viscount of Weymouth, is heir to the palatial Longleat House

Excited though she is about her impending nuptials, McQuiston admits that she's still feels herself to be something of an outsider.

'I have never had anything horrible said or happen to me,' she told the Daily Telegraph. 'But it is something you sense.

'You can just tell with some people when they meet you, particularly in America when you are acting and you speak with a British accent.

'You just become a little more aware of how you look.'

One person who clearly isn't worried is McQuiston's 38-year-old husband-to-be, who proposed after just 18 months.

Unlike his father, who has had an estimated 70 'wifelets' since the end of his marriage to Ceawlin's mother, Anna Gael Gyarmathy, the Viscount of Weymouth has had a far less colourful love life.

Prior to McQuiston, the Viscount's most famous relationship was with Jane Kirby who was tragically killed in 1996 when a building collapsed during a holiday to New Delhi.

'We'd been to a party and in the middle of the night he woke me up to ask me,' McQuiston revealed of the proposal in an interview with Tatler magazine.

'I made him do it again and again until it sunk in.'