A former under butler to Prince Charles, Lanarkshire born Harrold has morphed into “a Jeeves for hire”. He agreed an out of court settlement after being likened to the killer Raoul Moat and now charges £80 an hour for etiquette tips. He “adores” the Merchant Ivory film The Remains of the Day and claims to “put the ‘royal’ back into etiquette”.
Category: SOCIAL BUTTERFLIES
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Grant Harrold
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Denise Eisenberg Rich
Rich by name, rich by nature. This US-born Grammy nominated singer-songwriter’s billionaire ex-husband, Marc Rich, received a pardon on President Clinton’s last day in office after she’d given more than a million dollars to the Democratic Party and the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park. She renounced her US citizenship and became and Austrian citizen in 2011 and financial records showed that she had $144 million in a trust in the Cook Islands in 2006. She’s got over 10,000 followers on Twitter and has written songs for Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige and Jessica Simpson. Yachting Magazine nicknamed Rich, who sold her Fifth Avenue penthouse for $54 million in 2011, ‘Lady Gatsby’ given her love of hosting extravagant events. -
Tamsin Lonsdale
A Brit who redefined the concept of supper clubs in London, L.A., Miami and New York, Tasmin Lonsdale is the dynamo daughter of the jeans tycoon Tony Lonsdale and model Chekkie Maskell. An Edinburgh graduate who also does event planning, Lonsdale states that what makes for the best parties is a “great mix of people from different industries”. She’s a big fan of Montepulciano. -
“Lady” Sandra Bates
This voluptuous art dealer and public relations consultant goes by the name “Lady Sandra” and claims to have been “born in The Playboy Club”. She auditioned for Big Brother 2009 and drinks champagne for breakfast. Of life, this rather eccentric sort states: “I’m a very, very happy lady”. How terribly swell. -
Alice de Janzé (nee Alice Silverthorne and also known as Alice de Trafford and Comtesse de Janzé, 1899 – 1941)
A wild socialite and daughter of an American textile industrialist, de Janzé is one of the best known members of Kenya’s notorious Happy Valley set and was one of those suspected of the 1941 murder of Lord Errol. This hedonist shot herself and her lover, Raymond de Trafford, in the Garde du Nord railway station in Paris in 1927 and though both survived, she is said to have simply gasped: “Take care of my dog!” as onlookers came to their rescue. Pardoned and fined less than the figure set for shooting a deer out of season, this supposed bipolar disorder sufferer subsequently married and then divorced de Stafford before committing suicide with the very gun she’d used previously. She requested that her friends held a cocktail party on her grave. You couldn’t make it up. -
Miriam “Muffie” Potter Aston
Married to one of the world’s most prominent cosmetic surgeons, this blonde East Coast socialite formerly was the executive vice president of marketing and advertising at Van Cleef & Arpels. Described as a “whirlwind” and a “staple at benefits”, New York based Potter Aston colour codes her closet and makes “it a point to not do anything social” at weekends. -
Candy Spelling
With her screenwriter husband, this Californian socialite and writer built the largest home in Los Angeles County in 1988. She sold the 123-room property for $85 million in 2011 and then sued the developers of the $47 million apartment she moved into as they had failed to set up a restaurant in the building. Her first published work was the bizarrely titled How I Gave My Father An Ulcer. According to Joan Rivers, she won $90,000 on a slot machine in Vegas in 2011 and called it “pocket change” and of her relationship with her Beverley Hills, 902010 actress daughter, Tori, she has commented: “There was a time when things were rocky between us, and we worked that out, and I’m going to be on her reality show”. -
The Bouquet of Christie's
Always dressed to the nines and a prominent feature at Christie’s auction receptions, this lady plainly loves a perm as much as she likes antiques and fine art. She’d most definitely make a perfect body double for Hyacinth Bucket and Baroness Thatcher would, without doubt, have been green with envy over her collection of handbags. -
Donna Air
This Geordie lass has most certainly done good. An actress and presenter, Air starred in Byker Grove at 13, had a daughter with Damian Aspinall at the age of 24 and began dating The Duchess of Cambridge’s brother, James Middleton, in early 2013. Of her gilded life, she comments: “I always joke on Sunday morning, ‘Where’s the butler gone?’ Especially when I’m getting up to make my own bacon and eggs”. Some may nickname her the “Airhead” but frankly they are the ones that are laughable. -
The Julian Assange lookalike
He parties here, he parties there, he parties absolutely everywhere. Some say he looks like Julian Assange and others comment on his champagne loving companion. (more…)