It was the most meticulously planned hen party. As it appears, the social media strategy.
‘My girls gave me the best weekend, my heart is so full,’ said Holly Ramsay, middle daughter of celebrity chef Gordon, on Monday, sharing a series of glamorous snaps on her Instagram page.
One showed bride-to-be Holly crouched down in front of her 12-strong hen party – which included her mother Tana, sisters Megan and Tilly, Tana’s best friend Victoria Beckham and a gaggle of pretty friends.
The bash, at the super-exclusive Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire – a sprawling members-only estate in Great Tew – took place on Saturday night, ahead of Holly’s marriage to Olympic swimming champion Adam Peaty in a few weeks’ time.
Victoria also made sure to mark the occasion, sharing her own Instagram snaps, captioned ‘girls night’. Which indeed it was: there were cocktails, champagne and plenty of giggles over the weekend, all documented online.
But there was one conspicuous absence from the celebrations. Holly’s mother-in-law to be, Caroline Peaty, was nowhere to be seen. Although Adam’s stunning sister Bethany made the cut, the woman who grafted tirelessly to support her son Adam’s ambition to become an Olympic gold medallist since he was a boy growing up in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, did not.
I’m told Caroline is no longer welcome at the wedding and Bethany is now the only member of her older brother’s family who looks set to be invited to the big day.
Now, a briefing war has broken out between the Ramsays and the Peatys in a family drama that is certain to overshadow Holly and Adam’s no-expense-spared nuptials.
Holly Ramsay and Adam Peaty are due to get married next month – but the groom’s mother won’t be in attendance
Guests at Holly’s glamorous Cotswolds hen do included Victoria Beckham
One source claimed Caroline may not have been invited to the hen do because she is not a certain ‘type’ and would have ‘stuck out’
Those familiar with chef Gordon and his wife Tana say that the Peatys ‘are not their cup of tea’ and there have been some ‘difficulties’ between the two families since Holly, 25, and Adam, 30, got together after meeting on the Strictly Come Dancing set, where Holly’s younger sister Tilly competed alongside the swimmer.
‘The Ramsays are rich and they like the nicer things in life because they can afford it,’ says the friend. ‘On the other hand, the Peatys are far less polished. Adam has a starry new life now and it seems he has left his family behind.
‘You only have to look at the picture to see that there is a certain “type”,’ says one person familiar with the party.
‘They all look the same and you wonder if Caroline might have stuck out a bit. She’s a normal woman, not a celebrity. You look at Holly’s Instagram and it’s all so planned, so super-glam and very, very showy. That’s not Caroline.’
Instead, while Holly was celebrating, Caroline was at home caring for her five-year-old grandson George – Adam’s child with his artist ex Eirianedd Munro. Meanwhile, Gordon was a guest at Adam’s stag do, which is unsurprising given how close the two men have become.
The briefing against the Peatys, however, did not end there. Those who know the Ramsays labelled the Peatys ‘jealous’ and claimed that they wanted to ‘ruin’ Holly’s hen weekend. They also point to ‘wider problems’ in the Peaty family and explain that there have been ‘horrible’ threats of violence against both Holly and Adam, who are due to marry at Bath Abbey at Christmas.
‘It’s fair to say that the Ramsays aren’t going to take any nonsense here,’ says one insider. ‘Gordon has got a top PR machine and he isn’t going to let anything ruin his beloved daughter’s wedding.
‘Families are difficult and tensions often rise at weddings. Sadly, this one doesn’t look as if it is going to have a happy ending.’
Although, earlier today, Team Peaty gave it a very good go.
Caroline Peaty supported her son’s successful swimming career but she has been blacklisted from the big day
Adam is said to have been welcomed by the Ramsays with open arms and they are ‘incredibly grateful’ to him for bringing joy into Holly’s life
Caroline took to social media with a cryptic post which read: ‘The ones I love are the people who hurt me the most.
‘When you love someone, you protect them from the pain, you don’t become the cause of it.’
Caroline’s sister, Louise Williams, also became embroiled in the row when she jumped in to influencer Holly ‘divisive and hurtful’ in a rant about the family rift. She wrote to Holly on Instagram: ‘I’m so glad that you had a great hen do. As a bride, you deserve that. However, as a person you were divisive and hurtful towards a woman [Caroline], who I have loved and continue to love deeply.
‘A woman who opened her home and heart to you. You decided, for whatever reason, not to invite her, your prospective mother-in-law, to your hen night yet Adam invited his father-in-law, your dad, to his stag night.
‘You invited your mum (quite rightly) and even your mum’s assistant, your sisters, your friends, my niece, but not my sister, your future mother-in-law.’
Meanwhile, another family member, Adam’s Auntie Janet, claimed on social media that Holly and Adam banned Caroline from the wedding because she refused to apologise for failing to show up on a family trip to Bath because of cancelled trains.
Initially, Caroline and husband Mark had been invited to the wedding, along with other family members, and Caroline excitedly bought a dress for the occasion.
But, according an insider, Holly and Adam didn’t like it so offered to buy her a different one of their choice.
The trip to Bath in question was planned in order for Caroline to buy a new dress for the wedding.
But the planned trip never happened because train services going south were either delayed or cancelled because of the horrific knife attack on a train in Cambridgeshire two weeks ago.
The source claimed: ‘Caroline and Mark couldn’t make the journey and, instead of rearranging it, Adam went mad they had missed it and moaned they had wasted his money and he wouldn’t be able to get a refund.’
Janet also claims that Adam wanted his mother to take his side over his two brothers who suffer with ADHD and mental health problems and, as such, Adam, she says, ‘considers them to be an embarrassment’.
She adds: ‘However, it was ok for Adam to make money off his brothers’ problems in his book,’ seemingly referring to his motivational book The Gladiator Mindset, released in 2021. It touched on his own struggles with ADHD.
Finishing her tirade, Janet says: ‘Holly and Adam have broken my darling sister.’
Meanwhile, I’m told that the Ramsays adore Adam. They have taken him into their family and are ‘incredibly grateful’ to him for putting a smile on Holly’s face after she suffered from mental health problems – a journey she has been very open about.
She has been sober for almost five years after she said she ‘hit rock bottom’ with her drinking which she has said she struggled with while taking antidepressants.
Adam, too, has suffered his own demons, including alcohol. He has told of his mental and physical struggles which led to him nearly quitting swimming, a period of burnout and self-destructive behaviours.
‘Holly had some real difficulties and she’s through them now,’ says a friend of the family. ‘I guess going through something like that makes you all the more protective of your health and those around you.’
Anyone who knows the Ramsays, including Holly’s siblings Jack, Megan and Tilly, say that they are a ‘warm’ and ‘super friendly’ bunch.
Tana will know all too well the pain that family feuds can cause, having seen for herself the upset that her best friend Victoria has endured after the fallout with her eldest son Brooklyn.
As for Holly’s father, a source adds: ‘The thing with someone like Gordon is that he is kind and caring, he adores his kids and their partners, but he generally gets whatever he wants.
‘No matter what family dynamics are at play, when you have a normal side of a family and a very, very rich and globally famous one on the other, there are going to be difficulties.
‘But, sadly, there is currently no reconciliation in sight.’
