Thursday, April 18, 2024

BUSINESS

Her Grace Deborah Cavendish, The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire DCVO (1920 – 2014; née The Hon. Deborah Freeman-Mitford)

The last surviving Mitford sister, the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire was nicknamed “the housewife duchess” and made Chatsworth one of the most successful and profitable stately homes in Britain. This remarkable lady had tea with...

Princess Yasmin Aga Khan

The twice married daughter of the actress Rita Heyworth and Prince Aly Khan was married to the Greek economist and shipping heir Basil Embiricos between 1985 and 1987. Princess Yasmin Aga Khan was born...

His Royal Highness The Duke of Bavaria, of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine (born Franz Prinz von Bayern)

The senior co-heir general of King Charles I of England and Scotland came to public attention during Scotland’s independence referendum in September 2014. The Duke of Bavaria has never married and lives in a...

Carter Cleveland

The founder of the Artsy describes his website as “where art meets science” and has some 5,000 followers on Twitter. Princeton educated Carter Cleveland’s impressive roster of backers number Jack Dorsey, Larry Gagosian, Wendi...

Lady Wolfson

With her late husband, Lady Wolfson was and remains as one of the UK’s leading philanthropists. The Lord Leonard and Lady Estelle Wolfson Foundation provides around £35 million per year “to support scientific and...

Marissa Mayer

With some 725,000 followers on Twitter, Wisconsin born Marissa Mayer is a popular and powerful lady. Formerly the key spokesperson for Google, San Francisco based Mayer became the CEO of Yahoo! in July 2012 and...

Brian Chesky

The co-founder and CEO of “hospitality exchange” Airbnb grew up in Niskayuna, New York and attended the Rhode Island School of Design. Brian Chesky jointly set up his business in 2008 in San Francisco...

His Highness Sheikh Shakhboot Bin Nahyan Al Nahyan

This “famed show jumper” began riding at the age of three and competed at the 2010 World Championships aged just 19. He was fourth in the 2011 Pan Arab Games team event with Valentino...

Bobby and Ivey Leidy (AKA Mr and Mrs Robert Leidy, Jr.)

This wealth manager is the eldest grandson of Lilly Pulitzer and his wife runs an organic, gluten free and vegan West Palm Beach bakery named Sweet Ivey’s. This modest philanthropic couple held their wedding...

Dr William Shockley (1910 – 1989)

Considered by some a racist, “The father of Silicon Valley” was an American born in London who won the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics. Stanford professor William Shockley’s attempts to comercialise his transistor design...

Felix Dennis (1947 – 2014)

This maverick publishing legend and poet founded Dennis Publishing in 1974 and was the first person to say the word “cunt” on live British television in 1970 on David Frost’s The Frost Programme. Born...

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (AKA “The Winklevii”)

Born in The Hamptons, the 6’5” tall Winklevoss twins have achieved success in both rowing and online ventures. Their long-running legal wranglings with Mark Zuckerberg over who founded Facebook scored them a settlement of...

Archibald Hall (AKA Archibald Thomson-Hall, Roy Fontaine, the Killer Butler and the Monster Butler, 1924 – 2002)

A bisexual conman, thief and serial killer who targeted the aristocracy. Hall was born in Glasgow and took elocution lessons during his first of many stints in jail. He variously pretended to be an...

Charles Cadogan, The Rt. Hon. the 8th Earl Cadogan, KBE, DL

This thrice married aristocrat and landowner allegedly once said that he prefers the company of horses to people. After dining in a Sloane Square restaurant that served food that wasn’t to his liking, Earl...

Evan Spiegel

This Stanford graduate supposedly turned down an offer of $3 billion for his “wildly popular” Snapchat app in November 2013 despite his operation having no revenue. A Pacific Palisades resident, Spiegel serves on President...

Paul Reichmann (1930 – 2013)

This Vienna born Canadian businessman built and lost a fortune on Canary Wharf and was renowned for his frugality and as a “man of honour”. Strictly Jewish, Reichmann also developed New York’s Financial Center...

Yan Assoun

The term “bonfire of the bankers” truly applies to the life of this divorced Frenchman who has variously been based in London and New York. Back in 2009, he told Bloomberg: “I haven’t cried...

Catherine Hooper

The founder of Black Umbrella moved in with Andrew Madoff three days before the black storm of his father’s Ponzi scheme broke. Hooper, a graduate of Bryn Mawr, launched her firm – which aids...

Carlo Mondavi

Educated at the University of Aix-en-Provence and the University of Milan, this scion of the Mondavi wine making dynasty married his wife Megan on the Nippozano Estate in Tuscany. Naturally, after proposing at the...

Pear Pimpisa Chirathivat (แพร พิมพิศา จิราธิวัฒน์)

A teenage member of the dynasty who control Thailand’s Central Group of companies. Like her brother, Peach (พชร จิราธิวัฒน์), Pear is an aspiring pop star, but it is expected that she will work within...

Arkadiy Abramovich (Аркадий Романович Абрамович)

Born in 1993, this heir to the fortune of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is the founder of ARA Capital, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker ZOL. In 2010, he...

Matthew Winthrop Barzun

The United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom was appointed in August 2013 and is a descendant of John Winthrop, an early 17th century governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Married to the heiress...

Rich Ricci

This “ebullient” American’s name is most apt. A former Barclays bank executive who likes to wear sunglasses come rain or shine, Ricci retired to a Kentish mansion at 49 and supposedly travels by private...

Prince Fahad bin Faisal Al Saud

This grandson of the brother of the Saudi Arabian ruler was the Head of User Operations for Facebook Arab until August 2011 and once stated: “Facebook is the reason I'm not going for an...

Percy Shaw OBE (1890 – 1976)

The inventor of the Catseye road stud never married and was an eccentric Yorkshireman who kept four televisions running constantly so as not to miss anything. Shaw had two Rolls-Royces on the basis that...

Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun

If being vice president of product development at Tiffany’s isn’t enough, why not help yourself to a little bit more to be sure? That’s just what Georgetown University graduate Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun did after 22...

Richard Desmond (nicknamed “Mr Badger”)

This twice married, self-made billionaire publisher and philanthropist is a polarising force. Desmond’s portfolio has at various times included titles as diverse as the Daily Express, OK!, Asian Babes and Penthouse and this is...

Nicholas van Hoogstraten (also known as Adolph von Hessen and born Nicholas Marcel Hoogstraten)

This controversial tycoon is allegedly worth £500 million and believes Robert Mugabe to be “one hundred percent decent and incorruptible”. Nicknamed “The Maniac in the Mink” and “Nasty Nick”, van Hoogstraten is famed for...

Jean-Christophe, His Imperial Highness the Prince Napoléon

An heir of the legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte, this investment banker is based in New York and works for Morgan Stanley. He succeeded his grandfather Louis, Prince Napoléon as Head of the Imperial House...

Jesse Livermore (1877 – 1940)

One of the greatest traders ever to have lived. This thrice married American was famed for making and losing several multi-million dollar fortunes and once stated: “People who look for easy money invariably pay...

Laurence Benson

Laurence Benson is an international jetsetting businessman who is based in Belgravia, Florida and the Seychelles. The son of a renowned cricketer and umpire, Benson claims to “fear a 9 to 5 office job”...

Michelle Mone OBE

When her husband left her, she could of ‘moaned’ but instead she got on with it and paid her now ex-husband some £24 million for his share of her lingerie business. Glasgow born, Mone...