| Lady Victoria Hervey | |
|---|---|
| Born | Lady Victoria Frederica Isabella Hervey 6 October 1976 |
| Occupation | Socialite, model |
Lady Victoria Frederica Isabella Hervey (born 6 October 1976) is an English model, socialite, aristocrat and former "It girl".
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Lady Victoria is the elder daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol and his third wife Yvonne Marie Sutton. She is the older sister of the 8th Marquess of Bristol and of Lady Isabella Hervey. Her older half-brothers were the 7th Marquess of Bristol and Lord Nicholas Hervey, both deceased.
For the first two years of her life she lived at Ickworth House, the family seat in Suffolk, before her parents went into tax exile in Monaco. Educated at Benenden School, she spent a gap year in Florence and worked at advertising agencies in London. After turning down a place to read French and History of Art at Bristol University, her mother stopped her allowances and Hervey reluctantly became Michael Winner’s receptionist. She became a part-time catwalk model in a career move she hoped would take her into television presenting, but with her statuesque 6-foot height she took to the career full time, ultimately modelling for Christian Dior. In April 2000, she and friend Jane Blight opened Knightsbridge fashion boutique Akademi. Frequented by Victoria Beckham, Meg Mathews and Martine McCutcheon, it closed in 2001 with debts estimated at £350,000. Hervey was reportedly only £20 out of pocket by the business failure but in the year following the closure, Hervey owed a series of personal debts.[1][2]
It was during the launch phase of Akademi that Lady Victoria wore a risque dress to a party, which garnered high tabloid press attention. With no It girl to fill the gossip columns left empty by the cocaine-led downfall of Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Lady Victoria became the new press It girl. The party invitations and resulting photographs made her a staple of the British photo-tabloids and cover girl for men's magazines. Lady Victoria added to her own media publicity by penning the Party Animal diarist column in The Sunday Times.
In December 2003, Lady Victoria relocated to Los Angeles and secured a small part in the 2004 film RX opposite Colin Hanks (son of Tom Hanks) as a waitress in a diner.[3]
She returned to the UK, and took up various celebrity television appearance offers. In October 2004, she appeared on The Farm, a Five version of the RTÉ show Celebrity Farm. In July 2006, she appeared in the ITV show Love Island. On 18 September 2007, she appeared on ITV's Don't Call Me Stupid program, where she was asked to learn about the Labour Party Movement with George Galloway. Regarding the homeless, The Daily Telegraph quoted Lady Victoria as saying, "It's so bad being homeless in winter. They should go somewhere warm like the Caribbean where they can eat fresh fish all day."[4] She is due to appear in upcoming Living TV show Party Wars.[5]
Currently single, Hervey has had relationships with several celebrities, most notably Danish restaurateur Mogens Tholstrup,[6] F1 race car driver David Coulthard[7] and Boyzone member Shane Lynch.[8]