RICHARD EDEN: Baronet's 'predatory' new wife is attacked over 'deathbed heist'

Undoubtedly one of the most unusual weddings of the decade, even given the eccentricities of the aristocracy, the union of baronet Sir William Jaffray and Gowri Siva now also threatens to become known as one of the most sensational and contentious.

The marriage ceremony – conducted, as I disclosed earlier this month, in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, with the Old Etonian, 74, and his bride, 60, both seated on his bed – is the subject of a string of incendiary allegations made by one of his family members.

The furious relative of Sir William describes the union as a ‘predatory marriage’. They accuse the new Lady Jaffray, a lawyer-turned-art specialist, of a ‘calculated heist of a defenceless man’.

Sir William, who has four children with the first of his two previous wives, fought Lloyd’s in the 1990s on behalf of investors who, like him, suffered huge losses in the London insurance market.

The family member tells me: ‘To secure the estate and title, Gowri isolated him from his family by banning us from his ward, contrary to his wishes. When the hospital refused to provide a registrar, she smuggled an external one on to the Acute Assessment Unit and withheld news of the marriage for a week to prevent legal intervention.’

As for Gowri’s suggestion to me that, at some point, she and Sir William will be honeymooning on the Orient Express, they say witheringly: ‘He [Sir William] was incapacitated and unfit to travel for years, making the suggestion of a “honeymoon” a cruel distortion.’

Lady Jaffray responds: ‘You can’t “smuggle in a registrar”. William wrote to the hospital and to the registrar, saying that it was his irrevocable wish to marry me. It was his idea not to tell the family.’

Of William’s eldest son and heir, Nicholas, she says: ‘He and his wife are very supportive. He can see my feelings for his father are genuine.’

No way to treat a Lady! Amelia leaves model firm

Crowned ‘the most beautiful member of the Royal Family’ on the cover of Tatler magazine in 2016, Lady Amelia Windsor was snapped up by Storm, the top modelling agency which discovered Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne.

The Duke of Kent’s granddaughter, who was still at Edinburgh University at the time, went on to sashay down the catwalk for labels including Dolce & Gabbana.

Now, however, I hear that Mel, as she’s known to pals, is no longer on the books of Storm. Her profile has been removed from the company’s website. A spokesman for Lady Amelia, 30, confirms the news, insisting she was not dropped. ‘Lady Amelia Windsor and Storm Management parted ways mutually. This was an amicable decision.’

This week she joined stars including Margot Robbie at the launch party for US furniture giant RH’s flagship store RH London in Mayfair.

Sophie reunites with 'ex' Perry

Game Of Thrones star Sophie Turner’s split from husband Joe Jonas became highly acrimonious, with her suing the American singer for ‘wrongful retention’ of their daughters, claiming he was keeping their passports and refusing to let them return to her native England.

By contrast, her break-up with aristocratic boyfriend Peregrine Pearson last year appears to have been so amicable that friends question if they are, in fact, still together.

I hear that Sophie, 30, was reunited with Viscount Cowdray’s elder son and heir, 31, at the Cotswolds wedding last weekend of Perry’s close friend Rupert Gorst and Amadea Kimmins.

The bride and groom went on a ski holiday to the French Alps with Sophie and Perry in 2024.

At the wedding, the actress was almost unrecognisable because her blonde hair was dyed brown for her role as Lara Croft in the forthcoming Tomb Raider television series.

During the weekend, Sophie was photographed by a friend lying in the grass wearing sunglasses and a yellow cardigan. Perry, meanwhile, was pictured in a T-shirt and shades.

YouTube star Zoella in furious row over 'excessive' garden plans

Her word was once enough to inspire hundreds of thousands, even millions, to buy whatever she’s wearing. So was his. But 36-year-old Zoella, more formally known as Zoe Sugg, and her fiancé, fellow vlogger Alfie Deyes, 32, are finding it tougher to sway opinion in West Sussex.

The couple, who carved out fame as two of the first YouTube stars and now have two young children, are scrabbling to secure permission for a ‘tractor parking area’, donkey enclosure, donkey stable, three ‘shepherd huts’ and a wildlife pond on land close to their home.

This has gone down badly with neighbours, who’ve lodged letters of protest, and the Hurstpierpoint Society. Branding the huts ‘excessive and inappropriate’ and ‘incongruous’, it notes ‘much of the development is already in place’, so permission, if granted, will necessarily be retrospective.

The society points out that ‘contrary to the statement’ in the application, numerous trees and saplings were ripped up to facilitate their plans. Only by removing some, ideally all, of the huts would the proposal be ‘acceptable’.

Zoella’s representatives haven’t responded to my inquiries.

Pixie’s golden rule for holiday packing

Pixie Geldof may have grown up among the international jet-set, but she’s no diva when packing for a summer holiday.

‘I’m an under-packer,’ declares the 35-year-old daughter of Bob Geldof and the late TV presenter Paula Yates. ‘I have realised after years and years that I wear the same thing most days on a trip.’

The Gucci model adds: ‘I have one blue and white striped shirt that’s incredibly flimsy. I got it from Zara 15 years ago. It comes on every trip with me. It doubles as a hat, a towel, a pillow. On the beach I’m there with this poor rag, essentially. But I know I’ll wear it again.

‘You need so much less than you think you need. Just do carry-on [luggage] and you will dress better. My parents were the same. I could do a month in a backpack, a hundred per cent.’

Chris O’Dowd’s wife Dawn O’Porter admits being married to the Hollywood star is good for business. The author, 47, who’s promoting her new memoir, Hungry Eyes, says: ‘I get a lot of those comments, like, “Your books only sell because of who you’re married to”. 

'Even if that’s the case, my husband was still a brilliant decision of mine, so I will take the credit. If that is why I’m successful, I’m still being this wife, working every day at this marriage.’

(Very) modern manners

Made In Chelsea star Binky Felstead was criticised after her aide asked a baker to make a cake for her son’s third birthday in exchange for online promotion. But one of her fellow ‘influencers’ is even more grasping.

A Cotswolds gastropub has claimed one prominent figure not only wanted a free lunch, but demanded the boozer pay him to dine there. 

‘A food influencer wanted to charge us £2,000 to eat at our pub,’ says a spokesman for The Ship Inn, at Stroud in Gloucestershire, which has not named the individual. ‘You get a lot of influencers here asking pubs to pay them.’

Manifesting Roxie conjures up £1.4m

Manifesting is the idea that we can ‘think’ a goal into becoming reality through the power of belief. And it’s certainly working for Roxie Nafousi.

The former girlfriend of pop superstar Harry Styles and artist Damien Hirst has become known as the ‘queen of manifesting’ through her books such as Manifest: 7 Steps to Living Your Best Life.

Newly published accounts for her private company, Roxie Nafousi Ltd, disclose that the ‘self-development coach’, 35, conjured up £1.4 million in riches, including a £500,000 profit for the year to March.

Footie-obsessed peer’s unusual office décor

Expected to join Andy Burnham in Downing Street, his adviser Lord O’Neill of Gatley is an odd cove.

The crossbencher and former Conservative Treasury minister, 69, has an almost childlike obsession with Manchester United.

A former colleague recalls that his office was decorated with paintings of Sir Alex Ferguson, the football club’s legendary former manager, and a mural adorned with various Man Utd motifs.

‘It was the sort of thing you find in a bad Italian restaurant, with football symbols instead of cherubs and grapes,’ they explain.

My source also notes that when O’Neill was on the telephone to friends or family he would, before ending the conversation, rise to his feet and holler ‘stand up for the champions’. This was done without apparent irony.

The World Cup’s ‘hydration breaks’ are roundly booed by football fans who see them as a cynical ploy by the US co-hosts to screen more commercial breaks.