The “brutal” loss of Julia, the second wife of billionaire philanthropist Hans Rausing, was mourned by friends and family at a “very moving” memorial service at St James’s in Piccadilly.
Art expert Julia died in April at the age of 63 after a long battle with cancer. Eva, the first wife of Tetra Pak heir Hans, died of drug abuse in 2012.
“Life is very cruel,” Julia’s friend Daphne Guinness tells me. “In Hans she found a loving and kind husband in a victorious and romantic marriage.”
Other mourners included the Queen’s first husband Andrew Parker Bowles and TV’s Trinny Woodall.
The Prince and Princess of Wales were represented by Rebecca Priestley, Catherine’s former private secretary.
Daphne Guinness filmed herself attending a service that remembered her friend Julia Rausing. “Life is very cruel,” he said
Hans Rausing and wife Julia in 2015
Other mourners for billionaire philanthropist Hans Rausing included the Queen’s first husband, Andrew Parker Bowles.
TV star Trinny Woodall at the service at St James’s in Piccadilly
The king gives a home to a loyal servant who was the Queen Mother’s “voice”
As soon as Prince Charles ascended the throne, Queen Elizabeth’s personal assistant Angela Kelly, who had been promised a home for life, left grace and favor at a cottage in Windsor Home Park.
Miss Kelly, nicknamed ‘AK-47’ for her temper, moved to a house in the Peak District, 100 miles away, which the King bought for her. Now I hear that King and Queen Camilla have found a home in Windsor for one of their favorite servants, Leslie Chappell.
“Leslie has found a home of grace and favor in Windsor,” one of her friends tells me. “It’s a very generous gesture.”
Chappell worked as page to the Queen Mother and helped maintain Charles’ close relationship with his grandmother by acting as his “voice” when she was too weak to speak on the phone. He told her what Charles said and he whispered his answer for Chappell to pass on.
After the Queen Mother’s death, Chappell became housekeeper at Clarence House, Charles and Camilla’s London residence.
The King and Queen Camilla have found a home in Windsor for one of their favorite servants, Leslie Chappell (right)
Charles’s million pound Warhol failed to sell at auction
Don’t tell King Charles, but Andy Warhol’s portrait of him didn’t sell when it went under the hammer on Thursday.
The screenprint was estimated to cost at least a million pounds. In the same sale at Phillips Auction House. a portrait of pop artist Princess Diana cost £1.3 million.
Another of Warhol’s ‘Dianas’ fetched more than £2 million earlier this year. The photos are based on Lord Snowdon’s engagement photo of the couple.
Warhol’s work was done to celebrate their wedding in 1982. A Phillips spokesperson tells me, “Charle’s portrait attracted a lot of interest after the sale and sold quickly to a private buyer.” They refuse to disclose the sale price.
Andy Warhol’s portrait of King Charles failed to sell at auction on Thursday
Monika puts a bow on Sheryl’s ex
Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole married Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini after just three months of whirlwind courtship and split 18 months later.
Now I hear that a French businessman known as “JB” has found love with one of his company’s employees. JB, 43, introduced Monika Abrasheva, 24, as his ‘girlfriend’ at the Frieze party in London’s Mayfair this week. The Bulgarian is a project manager at JB’s energy supplement companies Eleven Eleven.
He must have given her a boost.
Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini, 43, ex-husband of Sheryl Cole, together with Monika Abrasheva, a 24-year-old employee of his company
Ellie’s old flame goes to former extremes
When Ellie Goulding’s four-year marriage to Eton-educated art dealer Caspar Jopling collapsed, the 37-year-old pop singer found solace in the arms of her Costa Rican surf instructor.
Her estranged husband keeps himself busy with extreme fitness challenges. Gallery owner Jay Jopling’s nephew shared this photo of himself competing in the Ironman challenge in Barcelona.
In a triathlon, swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run a marathon. “This was nine hours into my 11h 20m finish time,” he says of this photo, calling himself “sadly ill-prepared”. The former Team GB rower, 32, adds: “But who doesn’t enjoy pushing the limits sometimes.
“First Ironman, last Ironman (probably).”
Ellie Goulding with her Eton-educated ex-husband Caspar Jopling
Jopling now keeps herself busy with extreme fitness challenges. He will be seen competing in the Ironman in Barcelona
Pool news catches Harry and Meghan’s attention
They live it up in Montecito, California, in their £19.5 million mansion, which has a wine cellar, cinema, gym, spa, swimming pool, tennis court, wood-burning stove, barbecue – and 13 (-and-a-half) bathrooms.
But here’s news that might just make Prince Harry and Meghan spend the weekend on this side of the pond – at Soho Farmhouse, the Oxfordshire retreat where they stayed twice during the heady days of 2017 and where Meghan held her hen weekend the following year. .
It is seeking permission to install a “teenage pool” for “young children and under 16s” after realizing that its more mature patrons seeking relief from the stress of the capital may not want to be subjected to water bombs or hysterical screams. they are trying to relax by the pool.
The proposed small swimming pool provides an “obvious solution to the conflict”, the country house imploringly says in its application to the local council. Just the place to park Archie and Lilibet when Megs and Harry pop up.
(Very) modern ways
Prince Andrew denied he first met Virginia Roberts at his favorite London nightspot, the Tramp, in his disastrous Newsnight interview, insisting he had been at Pizza Express in Woking on the day he claimed they met.
Now a revamped private members’ club at St James’s has found a solution to any confusion over who has attended. It has installed a biometric facial recognition scanner.
The members face the camera, after which a green tick appears on the attached screen, which opens Tramp’s front door. No sweat!
A cartoon of Prince Andrew at his favorite London nightspot, the Tramp
Bank of The Beatles
The Beatles still make more money than most bands today.
The group’s Apple Corps accounts report £4.7m in pay for Sir Paul McCartney, 82, and Sir Ringo Starr, 84, as well as the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison.
The pay included £500,000 in dividends and £4.2m for “merchandising services and rights”.
The company’s turnover in January was a whopping £28.7m, with a pre-tax profit of £6.6m.
The Beatles still make more money than most bands today. Left to right: Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon
A spiritual song from Meghan’s guru
It’s all gone to Pete Tong Meghan’s spiritual ‘guru’ Deepak Chopra as the DJ has revealed to me that they are planning a music project.
Pete, whose wife is ayurvedic practitioner Carolina Tong, tells me: ‘We met Deepak a year ago, and he wants to do a musical collaboration, which I’ve talked to him about and I’m going to work on that soon.’
Speaking at the Jugad restaurant in Camden, north London, the DJ adds: “It’s about how sound improves and the power of sound.”