An aristocrat from one of Britain’s grandest families is facing jail after subjecting his wife to more than two decades of domestic abuse.

Edward Alexander Somerset – a son of the 11th Duke of Beaufort – kicked his wife Caroline  and pulled her hair while affected by ‘drink or drugs or both’, a court  heard yesterday.

Lady Edward suffered bruising and a dislocated finger during the 22 years of violence.

The couple, who have two grown-up daughters, are now divorcing after three decades of marriage.

Yesterday Somerset, 55, admitted four counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, Daily Mail informs. 

Looking gaunt and unshaven, he wore a dark blue suit with a red tie, pocket handkerchief and silver earring as he spoke clearly to plead guilty to the charges.

Somerset admitted attacking his wife at the home they shared on the 52,000-acre Badminton Estate in Gloucestershire – home of the world-famous Badminton Horse Trials – and in France.

His lawyer William Clegg QC told Bristol Crown Court: ‘Between 1990 and 2011 there were incidents of violence between the two, often in drunk or drugs or both, whereby the complainant received injuries. They included scratches and hair pulls.’

Judge Mark Horton, who will sentence the father-of-two in February, told the aristocrat the offences were so serious a prison sentence was possible.

The estranged couple have not seen each other for a year and divorce proceedings are set to be finalised in the near future.

He will also consider whether a restraining order to protect Somerset’s wife from her estranged husband should be put in place.

‘At this stage, I am unable to say a custodial sentence would not follow,’ the judge told Somerset.