She got here near dying on the age of 26 when the helicopter she was travelling in misplaced management and crashed right into a area in Oxfordshire.
Since then, Marks & Spencer heiress Rebecca Sieff's life has been outlined by extraordinary twists and turns of fortune, together with moments of triumph, akin to marrying Simon Howard at her household house, the inimitable Citadel Howard – the backdrop for each Brideshead Revisited and Bridgerton – in addition to failures, none extra disappointing than Simon's dying, at a time when he was unfit to problem the intense allegations in opposition to him in court docket.
Now, I can reveal that two years after Simon died in hospital from an insulin overdose, Rebecca seems to be prepared for a brand new romantic chapter.
She was a voluptuous magnificence who, with what her followers name the 'wow' issue, has had an electrical impact on males for many years – as Simon found on the finish of his childless, 16-year marriage to Annette, often known as 'Scruff'.
Marks & Spencer heiress Rebecca Sieff is outlined by a unprecedented ups and downs of fortune
Now, I can reveal that two years after Simon succumbed to an insulin overdose in hospital, Rebecca seems to be set for a brand new romantic chapter
Simon Howard and his spouse Rebecca at their stately house, Citadel Howard
And, at 57, her powers haven’t diminished. I'm instructed she is having fun with the corporate of a businessman known as Patrick Waterfield, 65, whom one acquaintance jokingly described as 'just a little outdated rua'.
My buddies are shocked. One pal instructed me, 'He's a extremely old school, very English man.'
'Crimson trousers, Gucci loafers and doubtless spent plenty of time at Brinkley [the Chelsea watering hole]He's the type of Englishman who thinks it seems to be cool to put on garments with holes in them.'
Waterfield, who has three grownup daughters from his marriage to the baronet’s daughter Nadia Stewart-Clark, can’t lay declare to Citadel Howard or the ten,000 acres surrounding it – or much more modest land akin to Welham Corridor, the manor home into which Simon and Rebecca moved when Simon was eliminated as custodian of Citadel Howard by his elder brother Nick in 2014.
It was a blow that Rebecca, who’s the great-granddaughter of M&S founder Michael Marks, felt much more acutely than Simon, with whom she had twins Marilyn and Octavia.
Simon Howard and his spouse Rebecca are pictured exterior their former stately house Citadel Howard in North Yorkshire, which they left in 2015
Citadel Howard because it appeared in Brideshead Revisited
An aerial drone panorama of the Citadel Howard property in 2020
Three years later, Rebecca mentioned: 'Every time I go Citadel Howard now I get a shiver via me, as if somebody had been strolling on my grave.'
She was deeply damage by an article printed in {a magazine} in 2001, a 12 months after she married Simon. The headline learn: 'The girl who determined to marry house.'
However her love for Simon was evident in his ultimate, troubled years. He suffered a mind haemorrhage in a fall down the steps and was so unwell he couldn't attend court docket, the place he was discovered responsible 'on the information' of sexually assaulting a lady in 1984.
Rebecca mentioned that, had he been capable of defend himself, she had little question the result would have been totally different.
Waterfield instructed me: 'It's early days, however we're very glad.'
