{"id":7454,"date":"2023-09-09T00:01:33","date_gmt":"2023-09-09T00:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latestnews.top\/2023\/09\/09\/eden-confidential-chelsea-club-legend-who-partied-with-prince-harry-james-hewitt-and\/"},"modified":"2023-09-09T00:01:33","modified_gmt":"2023-09-09T00:01:33","slug":"eden-confidential-chelsea-club-legend-who-partied-with-prince-harry-james-hewitt-and","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latestnews.top\/eden-confidential-chelsea-club-legend-who-partied-with-prince-harry-james-hewitt-and\/","title":{"rendered":"EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Chelsea club legend who partied with Prince Harry, James Hewitt and"},"content":{"rendered":"


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For the best part of the last four decades, he has been host, friend and \u2013 perhaps above all, given the uninhibited behaviour he\u2019s witnessed in the small hours of the night \u2013 custodian of secrets.<\/p>\n

Now, though, at the age of 78, the man who can truly be called \u2018Mr Chelsea\u2019, the urbane, effortlessly engaging Giorgio Burlo, founder of 151 \u2013 the basement nightclub in London\u2019s King\u2019s Road from which Prince Harry<\/a> once beat a retreat via the fire escape \u2013 is calling it a day.<\/p>\n

The club\u2019s opening night, in 1985, was attended by the so-called \u2018Seducer of the Valleys\u2019, baronet Sir Dai Llewellyn, who became a fixture, as did Princess Diana<\/a>\u2019s one-time lover, James Hewitt. So, too, did doomed socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson \u2013 \u2018she lived there,\u2019 reflects Giorgio, explaining that Tara was, for a time, girlfriend of one of his sons, Simon \u2013 and Bob Geldof<\/a>, who held \u2018lots of parties\u2019 in 151, \u2018including his 50th\u2019.<\/p>\n

With so many rich memories, Giorgio is only embracing retirement with reluctance \u2013 and after a protracted tussle with Cadogan Estates.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Giorgio<\/div>\n

Giorgio Burlo, founder of 151 \u2013 the basement nightclub in London\u2019s King\u2019s Road from which Prince Harry (pictured on Thursday) once beat a retreat via the fire escape \u2013 is calling it a day<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Headed, until his death in June, by the uncompromising 8th Earl Cadogan \u2013 who memorably closed a restaurant on his 93 Chelsea acres because it failed to impress him \u2013 Cadogan Estates refused to renew 151\u2019s lease after the end of lockdown<\/a>. \u2018I was paying rent, but they sent it back,\u2019 Giorgio tells me. \u2018I always did what they asked, but, for some reason, they wanted the club back.\u2019<\/p>\n

Its closure caused dismay among devotees, with one of them writing: \u2018I feel like a piece of me is missing.\u2019<\/p>\n

With no sign of the impasse being resolved, Giorgio underwent what was meant to have been a routine thyroid operation, lasting half an hour. But a mistake \u2013 \u2018the surgeon forgot to close my vein\u2019 \u2013 nearly proved fatal. \u2018I went into a coma,\u2019 adds Giorgio, who remained unconscious for a week.<\/p>\n

Subsequently, he accepted the inevitable, aware that, with a \u00a35.6billion fortune, the Cadogan family could afford to sit tight, even if it meant the club lying empty.<\/p>\n

\u2018They\u2019ve bought the remaining 15 years of my lease,\u2019 he tells me, adding that Cadogan has also handed over a very modest sum for the right to use the 151 name.<\/p>\n

But he still has his memories \u2013 including those of the two Princes. \u2018Harry came a few times,\u2019 he recalls. \u2018He walked around, talked to people. William was serious. He was sitting there, in a corner. He behaved like a prince, like someone who would one day be king.\u2019<\/p>\n

Another royal, not normally associated with night-time frolics, popped in. \u2018Prince Edward came,\u2019 recalls Giorgio, adding that Edward was accompanied by \u2018an entourage\u2019 of friends.<\/p>\n

There were much older visitors too, including actor Leslie Phillips, forever known for his fruitily voiced \u2018Ding Dong\u2019 catchphrase, who cruised into 151 when in his fifties, and lawyer George Carman, who notoriously contrived to secure the acquittal of former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe, when Thorpe was accused of conspiring to murder his former lover, Norman Scott. Carman, remembers Giorgio, \u2018danced \u2013 and everything.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/div>\n

The club\u2019s opening night, in 1985, was attended by the so-called \u2018Seducer of the Valleys\u2019, baronet Sir Dai Llewellyn, who became a fixture, as did Princess Diana \u2019s one-time lover, James Hewitt. Pictured: 151 Club in Chelsea<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Only those who failed to meet Giorgio\u2019s standards of dress and decorum were turned away. George Michael was one of them. \u2018He had an earring,\u2019 recalls Giorgio, explaining that men with earrings or tattoos were barred.<\/p>\n

More recently, the 151 had become a home from home for the stars of Made In Chelsea, like Binky Felstead. \u2018I treat it a bit like a second home,\u2019 Binky said. \u2018If I\u2019m not getting enough attention or I\u2019ve had a lot to drink, I just kick off my heels and go to sleep.\u2019<\/p>\n

Other club owners might have reacted with fury. Not Giorgio. \u2018I thank everyone who visited the club,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n

Of Cadogan Estates, he reflects: \u2018It is very well run \u2013 ruthlessly well run. Let\u2019s hope that running 151 will get them to \u00a36billion.\u2019<\/p>\n

Cadogan Estate confirms that it has purchased the lease for the club as \u2018part of an agreement which was reached following the tenant\u2019s desire to retire and close the business\u2019.<\/p>\n

A spokesman says: \u2018Cadogan recognises the value that establishments such as The 151 Club bring to Chelsea and, for this reason, has taken the decision to retain the premises\u2019 name and use, and will shortly be looking to lease it to a new occupier in keeping with the spirit of the original.\u2019<\/p>\n

As potty-mouthed media magnate Logan Roy in Succession, Brian Cox had trouble with his warring children. In real life, his four offspring can be almost as challenging.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking at a BFI event in London to celebrate his 50-year career, the Scotsman, 77, says: \u2018I have grown-up children who I love, but they can be occasionally nasty. My daughter is wonderfully crazy, but the boys can be a little tough to handle.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"As<\/div>\n

As potty-mouthed media magnate Logan Roy in Succession, Brian Cox had trouble with his warring children<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The smart set’s talking about… Flora’s brush with her Churchillian past<\/h2>\n

Flora Soames is too young to have met her great-grandfather Sir Winston Churchill, but she chose a venue close to his heart for her book launch.<\/p>\n

The interior designer, 40, left, held the party at Lavery\u2019s Studio in Kensington, West London, where Churchill was taught how to paint by artist Sir John Lavery.<\/p>\n

Her book, The One Day Box, is a \u2018memoir of the houses I\u2019ve lived in and that I love\u2019, she tells me. \u2018The book is about my insanely out-of-control collecting habit. I have had a one day box for my entire life: a place where I store things that I could not bear to let go of, from fragments of letters, textiles, old paper and china.\u2019<\/p>\n

Her husband, the ceramic artist Alexander \u2018Blondie\u2019 Macdonald-Buchanan, was one of her inspirations: \u2018He\u2019s incredibly supportive. I feel like it\u2019s very much our tale to tell.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\"Flora<\/div>\n

Flora Soames is too young to have met her great-grandfather Sir Winston Churchill, but she chose a venue close to his heart for her book launch<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Jemma: I’m having too much fun to marry<\/h2>\n

The Duke of Wellington\u2019s son and heir, Arthur Wellesley, is due to be married to Canadian Hayley Whitehead, but his former wife, Jemma Kidd, won\u2019t be exchanging vows with her billionaire boyfriend, Arpad \u2018Arki\u2019 Busson, any time soon.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m not engaged,\u2019 the model and make-up artist tells me at a party in West London. \u2018I\u2019ve only just got divorced and I\u2019m enjoying life very much and liking where I am right now.\u2019<\/p>\n

She has been going out since 2021 with French businessman Arki, 60, pictured with Jemma. He has two sons with Aussie supermodel Elle Macpherson and a daughter with Pulp Fiction star Uma Thurman.<\/p>\n

Jemma, 48, the sister of TV personality Jodie, has three children with Arthur. \u2018I\u2019m starting a new business, which is at an embryonic stage,\u2019 she says. \u2018I just have my head down because a new business is like having a newborn baby. It\u2019s to do with wellness and everything I am passionate about.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\"Jemma<\/div>\n

Jemma Kidd (pictured in 2013), won\u2019t be exchanging vows with her billionaire boyfriend, Arpad \u2018Arki\u2019 Busson, any time soon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Jemma<\/div>\n

Jemma Wellesley, Countess of Mornington and Arpad Busson attend the Fashion Trust Arabia Prize 2022 Awards Ceremony<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Pregnancy has given Pixie Lott a taste for meat. \u2018I\u2019ve been a pescatarian for a long time and now I eat chicken,\u2019 the pop singer tells me. \u2018I really enjoy it and I don\u2019t know how this has happened.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lott, 32, who\u2019s expecting her first child with her husband, the model Oliver Cheshire, adds: \u2018I love eating Nando\u2019s and there\u2019s a takeaway near us called The Fat Chicken \u2014 that is the one.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bond girls blast 007 bosses for killing spy<\/h2>\n

Bond girls are still shaken and stirred from Daniel Craig\u2019s final outing as 007, No Time To Die, when not only did he have a child but the spy was killed off, to boot.<\/p>\n

\u2018The fact Bond died upset me,\u2019 The Spy Who Loved Me star Caroline Munro tells me at the launch of Alistair Guy\u2019s photography exhibition, Incidentals 2, at House of Swaine in Mayfair.<\/p>\n

Martine Beswick, who appeared with Sean Connery in From Russia With Love and Thunderball, says of the latest film: \u2018I did not like it.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Referring to Lea Seydoux, the French actress who starred opposite Craig, Beswick says: \u2018I didn\u2019t like the main Bond girl. [And] I didn\u2019t understand why they had to have a child \u2014 it did not work.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\"Martine<\/div>\n

Martine Beswick, who appeared with Sean Connery in From Russia With Love and Thunderball, says of the latest film: \u2018I did not like it.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Dust off your topper, Wills!<\/h2>\n

It could be rather deafening in Norfolk today, thanks to the \u2018Turnip Toffs\u2019, who\u2019ll not only be shooting partridge but letting fly volleys of champagne corks \u2014 especially at the van Cutsems\u2019 4,400-acre Hilborough estate, home to the Prince of Wales\u2019s great friend William van Cutsem and his wife, Rosie.<\/p>\n

For Rosie\u2019s younger sister, Lucia Ruck Keene, 37, has got engaged to Old Harrovian landowner Jack Wrigley, 32.<\/p>\n

Lucia grew up in Oxfordshire, in the manor house once owned by Jerome K. Jerome, author of the Victorian classic Three Men In A Boat.<\/p>\n

But during lockdown she took refuge at Hilborough, where her brother-in-law taught her to box.<\/p>\n

\u2018Apparently, my left hook was like a wet lettuce when I first started,\u2019 reflected Lucia.<\/p>\n

Luckily, she was also allowed time to work on Troy London, the fashion label she and Rosie founded a decade ago and which counts the Princess of Wales among its ardent fans.<\/p>\n

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\"Lucia<\/div>\n

Lucia Ruck Keene, 37, has got engaged to Old Harrovian landowner Jack Wrigley, 32<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Antiques expert Bunny mourns hero husband<\/h2>\n

She once discovered what was then the world\u2019s most expensive doll, which sold at auction for \u00a3188,000. But Antiques Roadshow favourite Bunny Campione has now lost something infinitely more precious \u2014 her husband, Major Iain Grahame, who has died aged 91.<\/p>\n

During his time in the King\u2019s African Rifles, Grahame had Idi Amin, later dictator of Uganda, under his command. He subsequently visited Uganda with his second wife, Didy, who, to the horror of those present, told Amin to remove the fake VC from his chest.<\/p>\n

Amin complied \u2014 one of the reasons, perhaps, that Grahame was sent back to Uganda after Amin ordered the execution of Denis Hills, a British writer who\u2019d described him as a \u2018black Nero\u2019 and a \u2018village tyrant\u2019. Again, Grahame \u2014 and Hills \u2014 survived.<\/p>\n

His first meeting with Bunny was inauspicious: they drove into each other going round a corner on a country lane. But many years later they met again. Love blossomed and they married in 2002.<\/p>\n

Heidi Klum’s girl catches up with distant dad\u00a0<\/h2>\n

German model Heidi Klum split up with Italian billionaire Flavio Briatore while she was pregnant with his child.<\/p>\n

By the time she gave birth to her daughter, Leni, she was going out with pop star Seal, who later became Leni\u2019s adoptive father.<\/p>\n

When Briatore, now 73, was asked about his relationship with Leni seven years ago, he told an Italian newspaper: \u2018It\u2019s hard to miss a baby you never see.\u2019<\/p>\n

Now, however, he appears keen to make up for lost time. I can reveal that Leni, 19, who appeared in a lingerie advertising campaign with her mother, has been enjoying a holiday aboard a yacht in Monaco with Briatore, pictured.<\/p>\n

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\"Leni,<\/div>\n

Leni, 19, who appeared in a lingerie advertising campaign with her mother, has been enjoying a holiday aboard a yacht in Monaco with Briatore, pictured<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

(Very) modern manners<\/h2>\n

If you see a familiar-looking head hanging out of a window first thing in the morning, it could be Julia Bradbury\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The television presenter, 53, has a health routine that may surprise the neighbours.<\/p>\n

\u2018One of my most important daily rituals involves sticking my head out of the bathroom window, rain or shine, as soon as I wake up,\u2019 she says. \u2018The morning light works directly on the human brain, setting the internal clocks that are critical to every cell in our body. It has been a life-changer.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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For the best part of the last four decades, he has been host, friend and \u2013 perhaps above all, given the uninhibited behaviour he\u2019s witnessed in the small hours of the night \u2013 custodian of secrets. Now, though, at the age of 78, the man who can truly be called \u2018Mr Chelsea\u2019, the urbane, effortlessly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[8758,870,3332,7763,102,23,521,11368,741,11370,1857,694,11369,1338,1309,24],"acf":{"source_article":"","image_credit":""},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latestnews.top\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latestnews.top\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latestnews.top\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latestnews.top\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latestnews.top\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/latestnews.top\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latestnews.top\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latestnews.top\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latestnews.top\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latestnews.top\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}