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

Exclusive : James Packer & Miranda Kerr Together in New York

The Shuttle has scoffed in the past at tales of the supposed love affair between billionaire James Packer and supermodel Miranda Kerr but the exclusive amateur photographs we have obtained means we may have to eat humble pie.
Our source, an ardent fan of Kerr followed her from the ritzy Pierre Hotel in New York at 2pm one afternoon last week to a luxury apartment block on 56th Street. She disappeared inside and emerged around 6pm as the sun was setting and he snapped Miranda on his IPhone looking very discreet as she headed for a waiting car.
 But it was half an hour later that our fan got just a little curious as the same limo returned to the building. He took a snap of the extremely tall and casually dressed gentleman who emerged from the same apartment
block and slipped into the same car. A further source has confirmed that the apartment block contains a Packer company owned flat that is used for business.
So there we are- the very first photographs, grainy as they are of what may have been a liaison between Australia's richest man and undoubtedly Australia's richest model.

Lady Mary's NY Pad For Sale

Lady Mary Fairfax's former New York penthouse- the most prized in that city , is up for sale again for $125M US.

The 16 room palace at the top of the Pierre Hotel has sensational 360 degree views of the city and Central park. Lady Mary purchased the pad in 1986 and made a foray into New York society, eventually selling up for $21.5M in 1999, a record then for NY. In typical Fairfax style she departed New York for California in a brand new Rolls Royce purchased for the journey after doctors forbade her from flying for a fortnight after an eye operation.

After telling her trusted chauffeur they would ship the car back to Sydney , when he informed her it was a left hand drive rather than right hand, she said "oh well, we'll find some deserving charity in LA to donate It to and they can auction it".





Mary still lives in her home Fairwater  (left ) in Double Bay which is also the Monaco Consulate-Lady Fairfax is the Honorary Consul . She has donated Fairwater to the heritage Trust but all her employees must be allowed to live there for the rest for their lives.

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

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.