A PORN star was the unlikely guest performer at a special aristocratic birthday bash held at Longleat House on Saturday night.

To celebrate the 30th birthday of Lord Bath's son, Viscount Weymouth, Playboy legend Dita von Teese, the girlfriend of gothic rocker Marilyn Manson, flew in specially, after the Viscount admired her photo.

Graphic images of the porn actress were floodlit across the front of Longleat House for the occasion.

Tim Moore, Lord Bath's land agent, said the family party had a a private guest list closed to the public.

"If you are having a private party you can ask who you like.

"It's a family home with a lively history and will continue to be that way.

"Longleat House is not as dead as state-owned and National Trust properties, it is still very much alive," he said.

Popular with families and tourists for days out, Longleat House opened to the public as a business enterprise in 1949.