Lady Mary bows out

She is probably the last of an era. Lady Mary Fairfax who died on Monday at age 95 was farewelled today at a service at the church of choice in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, St Marks in Darling Point. Lady Mary was the second wife of Sir Warwick Fairfax, the heir to the Fairfax publishing empire which at it's peak published the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in Melbourne regarded as two of the great broadsheets of the world.

Whispers attended numerous parties at Mary's Darling Point pile Fairwater. Fairwater has been left in trust to the National Trust with the stipulation her loyal staff live there until they too pass on. Indeed we also spent a week at Lady Mary's New York penthouse on top the Pierre Hotel which was once the most expensive apartment in the world and which had it's own full sized ballroom. Mary wasn't there at the time but she arranged for her loyal chauffeur and his wife to host us.

Lady Mary's charity parties were the stuff of legend with guests like Prince Edward and Albert, Prince of Monaco ( Lady Mary was the Honorary Consul for Monaco) hosted in a giant marquee in her garden that backed on to Sydney Harbour.
With great style, Mary would invite selected media (like Moi) and we would be treated as equal guests, usually joining a line-up with her staff to be introduced to the royal guest of the evening. In a way it summed up not just Lady Mary's exquisite manners but the way she treated all people of varying backgrounds equally. Having risen to such great heights and privilege, Lady Fairfax devoted her life to charitable causes for the disadvantaged.

At one of Mary's parties we attended spoon bender Uri Geller was the star guest, Mary sent her butler to retrieve some of her silver cutlery which Geller proceeded to bend while dozens of guests found keys in their pocket bent out of shape or watches stopped or started. One guest, the representative of a French champagne company spent the night sleeping in his car when he found his car & house keys twisted out of shape.

Party guests: Albert of Monaco* Prince Edward, Uri Geller * James Murdoch

Pals: Ron & Nancy Reagan, Pope John Paul

When Lady Mary arrived at her New York penthouse just as Whispers was departing, she engaged us in a detailed conversation as to whether she should purchase a new Rolls Royce or a simpler Cadillac in which she was to be driven to Los Angeles (inviting us to accompany her but we had to turn her down as we were traveling on to London). Mary eventually purchased a sparkling new Roller and was duly driven to LA and when she asked her chauffeur to arrange for it to be shipped to Sydney he pointed out it was a left-hand drive:" Perhaps Madam should sell it and buy another one in Sydney". Instead she donated it to a local California charity to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
While in the US Mary would always drop by the White House in Washington to dine with her pals Ronald & Nancy Reagan. As a Catholic convert, they say she had The Pope on speed dial.

At another party at Fairwater Whispers photographed a young lad who had lain down on a sofa and promptly fallen asleep. He turned out to be a 14 year old James Murdoch on work experience for his dad Rupert Murdoch's Daily Telegraph. Mary's family purchased a portrait painting of Lady Mary by Whispers and artist Skid Stuart in 1995. We like to think it may still hang in the drawing room along side her  Rodin statue.
Lady Mary Fairfax, born in Poland is survived by her sons Warwick Fairfax , Garth Symonds from an earlier marriage to businessman Cedric Symonds and children Anna Cleary, Charles Fairfax and 12 grandchildren

Enter Lady Georgia Campbell

What a treat is in store for northern New South Wales as one of England's Grande Dames Lady Georgia Campbell is to grace our shores as a contestant in the British reality program I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
Whispers knows Georgia fairly well and have been to many parties with the aristocrat. Indeed we once shared adjoining seats on a Lear jet owned by Saudi mega billionaire Adnan Khashoggi, on a flight to Monaco to attend a gala party on his sumptuous yacht The Nambila (Whispers was writing a social column at the time for a European magazine owned by Khashoggi.)

Campbell's history has been well covered in the past in articles like this. Born in Jamaica she married Lord Colin Campbell the son of the Duke of Argyle but the marriage only lasted 14 months. Since then she has written hugely successful books about the British Royals. Georgia now lives in a petite townhouse in London's Kennington with the 2 young Russian boys she adopted - Mischa and Dima who were whisked away from Moscow poverty to be brought up amongst minor British aristocracy



More recently Georgia featured on the Aussie TV show Ladette to Lady where her good friend publicist Liz Brewer -left, (Liz was married to Australian John Rendall of Christian the Lion fame) brought in Lady Campbell to introduce the ladettes to the British upper classes that included a successful used car dealer, an aging Count and a handful of golly gosh Hooray Henry's. What fun.
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 And the excitement just keeps coming. Manager of Double Bay's Casablanca nightclub Karim Gharbi, above- a regular fixture on these pages, has been snapped up to write a monthly lifestyle column in Maxim Australia called OZ HOT SPOTS. It pays to have several irons in the fire these days especially as the owners of the building where Casablanca is located have a proposal with Woollahra Council to turn the building into private apartments

A Spare $100M ?

$100 million- that's the going price for a house regarded as one of Sydney's finest, certainly the most expensive.
Elaine in Double Bay  has been in the Fairfax publishing family since 1891 and is next door to Fairwater still home to Lady Mary Fairfax and which also doubles up as the Monaco Consulate (Lady Mary is Honorary Consul).

The Shuttle has partied at Elaine many times- it was rented for many years by society figure Elizabeth Fox (pictured on the right). One of it's best features is a full sized ball room that opens out onto expansive lawns that lead to a private beach with views across the harbour to the Sydney Opera House.
 Elaine's current owner John B.Fairfax is selling his home unlike sister-in-law Lady Mary, she has willed Fairwater to the National Trust with the stipulation that her staff live there rent-free for the rest of their lives..

Cartier Style

Patricia D'Arenberg and Baroness Jean de Gunsburg                 

They do things a little differently in Paris. 

 

 

To start with publicists can distinguish between the dreaded paparazzi and social snappers. The former go into a lather over the Lara Bingles of the world, whilst the latter tend to actually know who is who, dress accordingly for the event and believe good manners are appropriate. 

Lately Sydney's publicists seem to be employing just one well known snapper to cover events. This is no different to perhaps just one journalist writing for every publication or one public relations officer handling every single account, one restaurant being the only event location and so on.

 Why is that Melbourne , New York, Paris and London can get it right while Sydney still revels in the dark ages, sometimes trying to live up to it's reputation as the ' Chicago of the Southern hemisphere' and all that it implies ?

                    Archduchess Eleonore Von Habsburg, Princess Francesca Von Habsburg & Prince Albert de Monaco * Nefer Suvio & Nick Rhodes * VV Brown* Kristin Scott Thomas & Joely Richardson

Here are a few snaps from the Shuttle's Parisian operative Rindoff Petrov of the fabulous Cartier

retrospective organised by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux-Grand Palais, the Cartier. Le style et l’histoire , a celebration of Cartier style and an expression of cultural recognition that affirms Cartier’s place in the world of decorative arts. From 4 December to 16 February 2014, this creative heritage will be on display at the Grand Palais in Paris, offering a testament to the Maison’s style and craftsmanship. More than 600 creations have been selected: high jewellery pieces, mystery clocks, watches and precious objects will be exhibited alongside private loans on show for the very first time.

 Spot the difference if you can ! 

                  Archduchess Eleonore Von Habsburg and Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Al Than , Emmanuel & Pia de Brantes, Baron Guy Ullens de Schooten, Baroness Helene Ludinghausen and Philippe Venet

Gina Spends Up

When you are the richest woman in the world and in line to be the richest person on the planet, what's a few million dollars here and there.

 Gina Rinehart is buying up property abroad and has purchased 2 luxury apartments for nearly $44M in Singapore's new Seven Palms Sentosa Cove project. That's off-the-plan as they haven't actually been built yet and Gina's taking a bit of risk here with the Asian property market swings of highs and lows putting Dubai's property plunge to shame.

Lady Mary Fairfax

The last Aussie to splash out on property abroad was newspaper heiress Lady Mary Fairfax who bought the 3 storey penthouse in the ritzy Pierre Hotel in New York in 1988 for $12M . That pad came with it's own ballroom, 5 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms and featured spectacular views over Central Park. Lady Mary had plenty of cash to splash about at the time having picked up at least $250M in the failed takeover bid of Fairfax Newspapers by her son Warwick Fairfax which ended in tears although the extended Fairfax clan became immensely rich in the process.

The Pierre Hotel

The Pierre Ballroom

Fairwater

 This month that clan will gather at Lady Mary's Sydney harbour side mansion Fairwater in Double Bay to celebrate her 90th birthday. Fairwater doubles-up as the Monaco Consulate as Lady Mary is the Honorary Consul. When Mary passes the house has been left in trust to the nation although it's stipulated in her will that her retainers, servants, chauffeurs and gardeners can live there rent free for the rest of their lives

As for that Pierre Hotel penthouse, Lady Mary sold it for $21.5M in 1999, a record for a New York apartment.
That record was soon eclipsed by another Aussie newspaper baron Rupert Murdoch who paid $44M for a flat in the Rockefeller Centre but he was soon topped by David Geffen paying $45M for socialite Denise Rich's sumptuous pad on 5th Avenue (the Shuttle partied there for Milton Berle's 80th birthday). All this expensive real estate is put in the shade though by a penthouse that has just gone on the market for a whopping $95M in the mid-town Manhattan City Spire building

exclusive: Naomi Watts channels Grace Kelly in China

Naomi Watts (wearing Montblanc Collection Princesse Grace de Monaco Fine Jewelry), CEO of Montblanc Lutz Bethge, Nicolas Cage and Jessica Alba

Shuttle pal, the gorgeous actress Naomi Watts attended a party in Shanghai this week and our Chinese operative has sent us some pics of the shindig.

Amber Heard

The Chinese economy is going gangbusters so upmarket label MontBlanc have opened it's largest store in the world in the ritzy Sanlitum area and they bussed in a few Hollywood pals to do the honours including Naomi, Nicholas Cage, Jessica Alba, Amber Heard and assorted Chinese stars including actress Maggie Cheung.

Four sumptuous floors carry all manner of goods like the brand's famous writing pieces, clocks, leather goods and fine jewellery and a range of beautiful watches dedicated to Grace Kelly- the Collection Princesse Grace de Monaco.

Patina Lin Jia-qi

Bianca Bai

 

: Zhang Liang & Patina Lin Jia-qi

Maggie Cheung

Rock Gi & Shatina Chen

Bonnie Chen

 

Prince Albert of Monaco-In Happier Times

This video of a magician shot at a club in Monaco must be seen. It's amazing. How does the pianist stay on his stool ?.
Note in the audience-Prince Albert loving the act.

Fear & Loathing in Monte Carlo

What is happening in the ritzy playground of Monaco ?. Stories abound of the South African beauty Charlene Wittstock fleeing the principality over tales of her philandering fiance fathering children but then being 'persuaded' by French police in Nice to return after her passport was confiscated.

 Robert Eringer is a former investigative journalist who has also worked for the FBI and CIA, written a book on the mysterious Bilderberg group and 5 novels. For a few years he was Prince Albert's security expert and set up Monaco's intelligence service. He reported directly to Albert.
According to the former spymaster Monaco has changed for the worst since Albert took over from his father.

Erlinger says Albert is an 'habitual liar' and is ruining Monaco's reputation. He reckons Monegasques are "horrified by Albert's self-indulgence and self interest and are aghast at his clownish behaviour". And he says that Albert has fathered a third child, an eighteen month old boy whose mother is a waitress in a Moroccan  restaurant with a 'dubious reputation' in Nice.

wedding guest Sophie Edington

Erlinger says it was news of another illegitimate child that was the final straw for Wiittstock that saw her flee. Palace officials have threatened to sue for libel and legal letters have been sent to the French newspapers La Monde and L'Express that first broke the story of the prospective bride's flight but Erlinger says tellingly, those letters only demand the name of their informant. Apparently Albert is terrified there is a leak in his palace and according to Erlinger there are heaps more potential scandals to emerge. He says Albert's subjects are alarmed by the shady characters that have flocked into Monaco. Erlinger whose job included background checks on potential residents says he warned the Prince that many had dubious backgrounds but that Albert has ignored all his advice.

More worrying is the fact that the feared Russian Mafia  now have foothold in the tiny country. Erlinger no longer works for Albert and he's launched a lawsuit in the US against Albert and Monaco for unpaid wages.

Lady Mary-invited

The Shuttle went to Monaco once in the 1980s. That was on a junket hosted by Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi who owned a European magazine we worked for at the time. Three days spent lazing on his luxury boat Nabila (later sold to Donald Trump) and nights at the casino were enormous fun. We never went back but we did meet Prince Albert a few years ago at a party in Sydney hosted by Lady Mary Fairfax at her home Fairwater which doubles as the Monaco Consulate. Lady Mary has been invited to the wedding but is too frail to attend.

Today begins three days of celebrations for the royal wedding and Australian guests will include swimmer Sophie Edington , a long time friend of Wittstock's. British and European royalty and celebrities like Karl Lagerfeld will pack the principality for the celebrations that  Monaco residents hope will bring back the glamor days of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace. Robert Erlinger isn't feeling too positive about that happening.
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While nearly 500 people were celebrating at the Finger Wharf in Woolloomoloo on Thursday for the Variety charity and a host of local show-biz star were entertaining, a tragedy was being played out right next door.

Yesterday the news broke that former Australian Idol judge Jay Dee Springbett  had been found dead in his apartment directly opposite the wharf. Jay worked for Sony Music and was originally from the UK. He was instrumental in the careers of many local stars like Human Nature and Jessica Mauboy

Sony boss Denis Handlin had become worried that he hadn't heard from Springbett and phoned local police who discovered Jay's body in the early hours of Friday morning.

It's been reported that Jay may have been suffering from a heart defect. Friends say he was enthusiastically making plans to holiday with his wife Louis McCole and his two small daughters. Denis Handlin says he will set up a fund in Jay's name so his daughters are financially cared for and music pals like Natalie Bassingthwaighte have rallied around to support them.

that publicist guide in full...an occasional series

Cracking the so-called social scene isn't as easy as it seems. Talent and beauty is all very well but why not take the fast track and hire a publicist. But not just any PR will do. As one of the richest woman in Australia, Lady Mary Fairfax (right) found when she bought the most expensive apartment in New York in 1990-the penthouse of the Pierre Hotel which came complete with it's own ballroom and 4 amazing terraces overlooking Central Park and the NY skyline.

Lady Mary's Sydney parties were legendary-US presidents and the British Royal family members were regulars. Lady Fairfax is the Honoury Consul for Monaco and her palatial harbourside mansion Fairwater the Consulate with Prince Rainier and Prince Albert dropping in as household guests.

She had all the qualities to crack the New York scene-she is mega-rich, a noted philanthropist, has impeccable credentials and top-notch connections and was a regular guest at the Ronald Reagan White House. But did Lady Mary hire the right PR firm ?. An expensive publicist isn't always the best and in the end you are only as good as your publicist's connections.

Whilst New York's social media was intrigued by the media mogulette from Down Under, she really needed 3 of the most connected PRs in town to infiltrate New York's snooty upper class. The Pierre apartment remained largely empty for years except for the occasional visit from Lady Mary's loyal chauffeur and his wife who acted as a part-time caretakers. In 1999, she sold it for the knock-down price of $21M to a hedge fund manager. She was asking $35M.

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Lady Mary may have done better with New York public relation's expert R.Couri Hay.

 Couri Hay is one of Andy Warhol's Factory survivors and a refugee from the legendary nightclub Studio 54 for which he was the publicist and has an amazing handle on the local media from  alternative publications to direct lines to the all-powerful Cindy Adams, Richard Johnson, and Michael Musto. Hay is an often featured commentator on diverse TV shows from Geraldo At Large to Larry King Live.

And he has the Hamptons wrapped up. If you can't make it in the Hamptons-forget New York.

clients: the Ritz Carlton Hotel, British Airways, department store Bergdof Goodman, fashion label Fendi, private eye Frank Monte, jewelers Bulgari & Harry Winston, magazine Ocean Drive and the American Ballet Theater.