Stripping Off with Matt Haycox

Lady Victoria Hervey: Royal Scandal, Media Hacking, and The Cost of Hollywood Fame

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From tabloid headlines to Hollywood, Lady Victoria Hervey has lived a life few can imagine. In this no-bullocks conversation, she reveals the truth about growing up aristocracy, the rise of the “It Girl,” her fashion empire, and the dark side of fame. She also opens up about defending Prince Andrew and why she believes the media still gets it wrong.

You’ll learn:

  •  What it was really like inside Britain’s high society.
  •  The truth behind tabloid culture and the “media monster”.
  •  How Victoria built and lost a fashion business in London.
  •  What life in L.A. taught her about resilience and fear.
  •  Why she returned to England and reclaimed control.

📲 Follow Lady Victoria Harvey:
 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladyvictoriaharvey/
 Website: https://ladyvictoriahervey.com/ 

Timestamps:
0:00- Intro
1:41- The “It Girl” Origins
5:10- Aristocratic Roots & Boarding School
21:40- Forgoing University for Modelling
30:51- Running a Fashion Boutique
35:02- Life in L.A. & Producing
40:35- Ladyship Brand & Entrepreneurship
45:41- Networking & Reinvention
53:32- Defending Prince Andrew & Media Truths
01:10:47- Future Plans & Reflection

Keywords: Lady Victoria Harvey, It Girl, royal family, Prince Andrew, British aristocracy, fame and mental health, celebrity scandal, Epstein case, resilience, Prince Andrew's ex, Podcast.

Listen weekly on Stripping Off with Matt Haycox:
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SPEAKER_02:

That Prince Andrew Virginia photo, there's literally over fifty things wrong with that photo.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the show, Lady Victoria Harvey.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you. Talk to me about Prince Harry. It's this whole sort of leftist victim, oh my god, look at me, poor me. Like, no Harry. He was never like that before he met Meghan.

SPEAKER_00:

When I was a teenager, you were like the posh hot girl in the papers. Right.

SPEAKER_02:

This photographer got a side shot of me and it was like part of a nipple, and then suddenly it was like, oh my god, Lady V has flashed.

SPEAKER_00:

When you were becoming the it girl in England, did you relish that attention?

SPEAKER_02:

It just became an increasingly sort of a pressure that as soon as I walked out the door, that someone was taking a picture. You um quite famously dated Prince Andrew. Prince Andrew was like, he has been the scapegoat for this whole thing. I'm hoping like in the next few months, Prince Andrew can be exonerated from all of this.

SPEAKER_00:

Guys, welcome to Stripping Off with Matt Haycox, where we metaphorically, of course, strip off our guests.

SPEAKER_02:

I know, I've got lots of layers on right now. There's definitely it's quite hot in the air.

SPEAKER_00:

It's only just beginning. So we strip off our guests so we can dig deep on their story, their experiences, and what we can learn from it. And I've got a great guest with us today. I have got a socialite, a broadcaster, a model, an aristocrat. Cat, aristocrat, or an aristocrat? Well, both, yeah. And a former IT girl. Welcome to the show, Lady Victoria Harvey.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you. And you said my name correctly, so that is a very good idea.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm always very nervous. I'm always very nervous about name pronunciation.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, it gets it gets, you know, it gets confusing because it is, it's pronounced Harvey, but we're in the Harvey, so you know, it's it takes a while for people to get it, but thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

So before we get going, you have to tell me because so I remember you from when I was uh when I was a teenager, a late teenager, and at the time you you were like the posh hot girl in the papers.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, yeah. I I was in uh wow, they kept putting me on like the front page of The Sun. David Yellen, who was the editor at the time, I think, had a little bit of a crush. And um, you know, basically it's it really started as like I went to a party and I had a like a low-cut dress on, and it was like, you know how the press in England they're a little pervy, and it was like this photographer got a sideshot of me, and it was like a part of a nipple, and then suddenly it was like, oh my god, Lady V has flashed, and um, you know, that made the news like worldwide. Um so yeah, so it kind of started. I suppose I kind of rose to my it girl stardom at around uh about 19 years old. Uh I left school, I had a gap year, I was gonna be going to uni for four years to do French and History of Art. And uh, you know, I got some great A levels, and I was gonna be going to Exeter or St Andrews or Bristol, and then the appeal of starting for four years. Um once I started earning money and I, you know, I was modeling and I was modeling internationally for big brands, you know, like Chanel and Dior, the idea of being a student. I I was a boarder at school for 10 years from the age of eight.

SPEAKER_00:

Which which boarding school?

SPEAKER_02:

So I was at a prep school called Sibden Park in Limage in Kent. And then from Sibton I went to Benedon, which is where Princess Anne was. Um you know, Posh All Girls, all girls' school in the middle of Kent. And um, you know, after 10 years boarding, I just saw uni as sort of an extension of boarding school, which it is. I think it's fun for people. If I hadn't already been at boarding school for so long, like friends of mine that were at day school, you know, uni was like something new. But I uh yeah, I started working and earning money, and I was dating someone a lot older than me, so I was sort of flung into this uh social scene of London very young, and uh and that is when I started being labelled It Girl because I was out everywhere, and then from that I had a column for the Sunday Times um called Victoria's Secrets, so then I had this added pressure that I had to go out all the time because I had to have fun things to put in my column, and you know, those were the days that it wasn't like phones back then, you couldn't do emails on phones, like you know, we we kind of look back at like 2001 and 2001 was the first camera phone, but it wasn't a good camera phone, it was like a little Nokia. You couldn't do an email from that.

SPEAKER_00:

So you remember sending dirty messages made up made about a exclamation marks.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, it was crazy. What I had to go through to get my column in, like just say I would be like on a boat in the south of France, in the middle of the ocean, you know, I would have to find a fax machine to like fax in my column on time, and if we didn't have a fax machine and I'd have to find one really quick, it was um it was a lot more complicated back then.

SPEAKER_00:

So just taking a pause and rewinding for a second, exp explain to me the lady bit because so you I can't even say the word, but I'm gonna say you so your father is the sixth is it Mark Marquis? Sixth Marquis of Bristol. Yeah. What does that mean? How does that make you a lady, and what's the royal connection?

SPEAKER_02:

You know, it is it's a long, long family history, and I'm still learning about my history every day. Um so my father was the sixth Marquis, my mother was the third wife or the sixth Marquis. So I actually had two half-brothers, both deceased.

SPEAKER_00:

Because are they materially older, were they all?

SPEAKER_02:

They they were older, yeah. They were they were older, but they still died relatively young, um, in comparison to what you should live to. Um I was born lady, so the children of a Marquis are automatically Lord or Lady.

SPEAKER_00:

So so you so your your brother, your half-brothers they were.

SPEAKER_02:

My when I was younger, John Bristol, who was the eldest son of my of my father. My father died when I was eight years old. And he became the Marquis at the time. And then it basically jumped from him to my brother because the other son in between died before John, about a year before Nicholas. So yeah, my brother now is the he was actually, and I think at the time, the youngest Marquis they he was known as.

SPEAKER_00:

This is your full brother?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, my full brother. He was it was a lot of pressure for him, you know. He was just starting university, he was like 18 years old, and he sort of had that responsibility like thrust on him.

SPEAKER_00:

And and when you say responsibility, uh I mean like what what it hits you.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, it's a responsibility of the name, you know. So like our family house, which was been in our family for generations, um, it is national trust now. And but even though it's national trust, you know, he has certain obligations. Um he also started a charitable charitable trust to get the chapel read on, which is where like all my family are buried. Um, and that was kind of falling apart. So we've had that completely renovated and it's it looks amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

Um and it's been the marquis. I'm saying that right, yeah? Yeah. It's been the marquis, is that a job? Like is that how you get your money as well?

SPEAKER_02:

Or no, no, it would have been back back in the old days, right? Um, but uh you know it's it's it's a sort of it's a I suppose it's a responsibility that he has. Now he has two little children, and so the eldest son of the Marquis of Bristol is called Earl German, which my brother was never that because he was never the eldest son. But his little boy is Earl German, um, named after German Street. So my family back then uh built quite a lot of Mayfair, so that's how we got the name German.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. So going back to your story then, well actually, well no so as so as a youngster, as in boarding school days.

SPEAKER_02:

So we you know, we moved to Monaco when I was uh very young, and um so I you know, I I had a mixture of of living between the two. But I was, you know, I started travelling and and being pretty independent young. You know, I was like the kid, unaccompanied minor with the little thing around my neck, British Airways or Air France, and I was on planes on my own, you know. Um for half times. My grandmother used to take me for exatts, she lived in Kent, so that was that was really good.

SPEAKER_00:

In so in I guess in terms of your childhood um let's say fr friends or people popping around for a Sunday roast, are they are they other kids of Marquises? A are they royal family members? How do you fit into all of that?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, a mixture. I mean, what I'm really enjoying is living back in England. I moved back uh last January. I was living in LA for 18 years, and um it was just it was time to move back, time to be closer to family. Like I had a great time. I had you know, I met some amazing people, but it gets um you know, it's quite a soulless place, and the last few years California literally has collapsed. Uh like like most of America, actually. Um, like America has literally fallen. So Yeah, I I so now I do. I I've I re I've reconnected with a lot of old friends, but I've always been close to quite a few of my school friends, you know, because those people you bond with so much, especially when you're living together, you're in dormitories and stuff. Um I'm actually friends with quite a few people from prep school.

SPEAKER_00:

I I went to a boarding prep from um from 11 to 13 as well, actually. Uh I was supposed to go on to full board after that, but n never did.

SPEAKER_02:

Did you enjoy it or not really?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, I can't tell you how I remember it at the time. Yeah. It was like super fun times. Yeah. Um because I guess you know, you're just hanging out with your mates every day, aren't you? I mean, you've got to do school anyway, but you know, you you get to you get to sleep there, hang you know, hang out with them and stuff. I mean, I was forever in trouble, which is never made it to proper boarding school because after after getting kicked out of the uh the the the prep one, uh my parents decided it was time to keep me at home. But um so I left there, so I just dreamed up. But I left there in 93. Okay. And I didn't have any contact with anyone, literally, because in those days there's no mobile phones, there's no nothing.

SPEAKER_02:

That's it, you just have to get like your friend's address, and like if they've moved address, then you're not you're gonna lose them, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

And then about 2006. Well, yeah, this is it. So about 2006, Facebook's out, yeah. Uh, and somehow, you know, someone friend requests me. I got put into like some kind of group where people were talking about the the old the old reunion. Yeah. And I went back to this reunion down down at the school, so I'll have been 25, 26 at the time. I said we've not seen these people or had a word said since we were 13. And when we all met up, because we met in the pub before we went to the school, it was as if we'd just seen each other yesterday. Oh, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02:

So bizarre, but that is what like real friendship is. Like you know, and I had that exactly that exact thing with a lot of old school friends. Like, I'll pick up and even the ones that I do see regularly, but then just say I was back in LA, and then it was like I had COVID, I didn't see them for two or three years. Literally, like the conversation just goes straight back. I um I was down at Benedon um a couple of months ago. It was like an anniversary event, and one of my old friends, I literally, because I I missed the official reunion because you know, I would be in LA, and it was uh it was always more complicated, like doing those type of things when I didn't live here. And one of my friends, I literally hadn't seen her since school. She looked the same, she was like the same, like so amazing. Um, and now she's teaching little kids, actually, like in Bellendon Village. So like her life is really kind of like stayed there. She sees me as like, oh my goodness, you're doing all these wild crazy things and Hollywood and this, and I'm like, it looks glamorous, but it's stressful. Um, but prep school, prep school for me was super fun because we were allowed pets. Oh really? And um, yeah, so we had like we weren't even allowed to we like mated our rabbits, like my rabbit had babies, and um yeah, it was a fun time. Um, always was in trouble quite a lot, but we had like ponies and we used to hide our sweet stash like in the horse jumps. Um, we used to also hide them like in the loft, but like the mice would get to them. So my grandmother would always send me back with these giant uh bottles of quality streets, like those big tubs. And it was quite strict at school because you only allowed a certain amount of tuck, you know, it was very limited. And so like I would be the one with like all the suites. Um so yeah, I have I have good, I have pretty good memories about that, but I would be in trouble. Like I was I remember they would make me stand in the corridor at night just looking at a wall for like hours.

SPEAKER_00:

You're gonna stand under the clock.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and having to write lines, you know, I must do like a hundred times, or um, we got caught one night sleeping in the cupboards as a dare because someone's like watch beeped or something. So the matron like heard us, and we were like sleeping on these shelves in the cupboard. We thought that was fun.

SPEAKER_00:

You've just used two words that I haven't probably heard either of them since literally since 1993, which is exeat.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Because I mean that's a word that is completely unique to boarding school kids. Uh and tuck. I mean, I know people probably know tuck shop, but yeah, we again it was a boarding school thing, always abbreviate. What have you got in your tuck? What have you got your tuck?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, the tuck box was the best thing ever. Um, so yeah, you would have your sort of limited amount. Um, but you see, at prep school we didn't have the tuck box. We had that at secondary school, we had that at Benedon. And um, but yeah, I was always sneaking stuff in.

SPEAKER_00:

What was so how old were you living in Monaco? And what was that like? I'm a massive Monaco fan.

SPEAKER_02:

As a child, it was the best, it was a really amazing place to live because it was a lot of um we we spent a lot of our time outdoors, you know. I I learnt to swim at the beach club in Monaco, which I think is still one of my favourite all-time swimming pools there.

SPEAKER_00:

Um better than learning at the local swimming bath in England, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02:

I know. Well, when we would be then in England, um, it would be like the indoor pool at Vic in Victoria, the Queen Mothers, and I was like, I kind of miss the other one. Um, but no, it was it was an amazing life. Um, very, you know, safe. The other thing, you've got cameras everywhere in Monaco. Like, literally, like I went out with my friends quite young, you know, and my mother was not worried about me because it just felt very safe compared to living somewhere else. And actually, like my friends from Monaco, like I'm still friends with them that I've known like my whole life as well. Um now to live there, it it is very small, like it is very like everyone is in each other's business, like you can't really do any anything without the whole of Monaco knowing. And so I understand that was like one of the reasons why my mother wanted to move back here because it it's um sort of gets lonely, you know. There's not that much going on there. I think it's a great place to visit though and spend some time.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, do you still go back to visit?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I do. Um, I haven't been back since the summer, but I'll be there uh in May. So I usually go to Cannes Film Festival. But that is a very crazy busy time to be there. Like I don't necessarily like Grand Prix. I mean, for you, you probably love it because it's like testosterone and natural.

SPEAKER_00:

I hate it because it's because it's too busy. I I used to um um so I've been living in Dubai, as I was saying, for the last three or four years. We we'd always leave for the summer and we'd leave mid-May, and I have a boat. Well, I hope the boat is now in Dubai, but the boat used to live in Cannes, and we'd uh we'd do like four months of the summer there and then go back to Dubai. Uh but I'd always want to jump off it during um during film festival time because it was just it was just too busy to be around.

SPEAKER_02:

But Grand Prix, I'd be like, But Grand Prix, if you're gonna do Grand Prix, if I think staying on the boat is the only way to do it. Like you cannot be staying on the land.

SPEAKER_00:

You're having to walk around, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It's just these little things, you know. I actually I I always forget when I'm there, there's no Ubers in Monaco. Like, good luck trying to get back to Cannes. I was last year I was because I I rented a place in Cannes for the whole festival. So when I went to Monaco, I just thought, oh, just get the car in and out.

SPEAKER_00:

It's fine getting in, but getting back out, it's like a real well it's not just that there's no Uber, it's I mean it's a total monopoly on the taxi that you can't call any taxi pop up on Monaco taxi, which is about 12 of them, aren't there?

SPEAKER_02:

So I had to literally get one of Prince Albert's drivers to get me back because I was like, there's no other way I'm gonna get back.

SPEAKER_00:

I'll have to try that next time. I'll be what's up for you.

SPEAKER_02:

So I think if you have a boat, like yeah, if you have a boat, you can do Grand Prix, but it is like it's a shit show. Like it is really hard getting around and it's really stressful. And it actually made Cannes Film Festival feel like really chill. When I would be in Cannes, then Cannes felt very like full on, and then I was like, oh my goodness, because you've got the noise of the cars, and it's a whole nother beast.

SPEAKER_00:

So you were you were a naughty kid, a little a little bit cheeky, but uh but you did well at school. You got three were two A, two A's and a B for you?

SPEAKER_02:

I did. I um I was like one of those people that was a bit of fluke, um fluky, fluky child. Um, I did a lot of like cramming at at last minute, you know. We would take proplas caffeine pills and be listening to Aerosmith and revising. So um yeah. Well, French was always a language, right? That was always a subject I knew I was gonna get an A in.

SPEAKER_00:

You spoke it anyway, did you?

SPEAKER_02:

So yeah, was at French school. So when I was younger, I actually spoke to French better than English. So that was an advantage. I would always, you know, if I had children, make them speak languages really young. Because they pick it up. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00:

As kids, you don't want to do anything. But then when you get to 18, you you regret not, you know, like if when you're a kid, you don't want to play the piano, you don't want to learn an instrument, you don't want to learn a language, you don't want to do anything. But at 18, you think shit, I wish I could, you know, ruck the guitar at the party and you know, speak to that Spanish girl in Spanish or whatever. So I mean I'm absolutely gonna ramp someone like that.

SPEAKER_02:

But they just pick it up so easily, you know. And as you get older, like I think of myself like I still ride a lot, but I'm not as gutsy as I was when I was 12 years old. That was just jumping over fences without a saddle, you know. Um at that age, you you're just not you're invincible. You're not really thinking about am I gonna get a broken bone? And if I do, I mean, I did break quite a lot of bones as a as uh a teen. Broken arm, leg, wrist. One of them was jumping off top bunk at school in the middle of the night. We would play games, right, when the lights went off and um flew off top bunk, and the girl underneath stuck her head out, so I had to suddenly jump, missing her head, and then landed in like on my arm. So, but it's kind of fun when you break your bones at school. It's cool, like everyone's like writing on your plastic.

SPEAKER_00:

It's like a metal, like a metal one they give you.

SPEAKER_02:

Who is it? Is it metal now?

SPEAKER_00:

It doesn't seem to be very ceramic and plastered. Although I've not seen that.

SPEAKER_02:

And then people are writing nice little messages and stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

Or not nice or not nice messages.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, but the broke the broken leg was the worst though, because we were living in Monaco, and I remember having to put a knitting needle down it to try and itch because it was the summer and it was so itchy. That was that was bad.

SPEAKER_01:

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SPEAKER_00:

So you didn't go to uni in the end, did you? No, I did not. But you got in what was it you wanted to study?

SPEAKER_02:

So I had a gap year, and in my gap year, I decided that I wanted to travel to Asia. And I met this girl who, well, she was at school with me who lived in Malaysia. She was based in Kuala Lumpur. And um so I traveled around Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore for a couple of months, um, visiting different friends, and then I did a secretariat at Queen's College for shorthand and you know, any other secretarial. Like, I mean, my shorthand, which I really need to like scrub up on it, but I was really, really good. And from doing that, you see, I could do like tamping jobs, which would pay quite a lot of money at the time. Uh, I mean, I'm sure they still do. So that was that was a like a kind of a bonus thing to do. And then I was studying in Florence. I was studying history of art in Florence for about six months, and that's where I also met some people that are still very, very good friends of mine. And why I actually ended up in LA was this girl Consuelo, my friend in Florence. I ended up then moving to LA um with her because she that's where she's from.

SPEAKER_00:

So And you see you say you're doing some of these jobs that uh or some of this education, so you so you could earn earn some good money temping. Yeah. I mean, I mean, what was your what was your financial situation like that?

SPEAKER_02:

So my you know, my mother was was good, you know, she was quite quite hard. You know, it's it's hard when you're you've been given everything, right? Your whole life, and then suddenly it's like you're on your own, you've got to earn your own money. And it's like Was that their attitude as parents? Yeah, that was like what my mother was like. And it was like, what do you mean? Like, I'm used to this really expensive lifestyle, and then suddenly I've got to like pay my own bills. Like, how do I do that? Um so yeah, that that was hard, you know. It's almost easier if like you don't have you're not given too much when you're younger, because suddenly, like, when that gets taken away and you have to like pay for that yourself, it's like that's hard. Like, um, so I was, yeah, so I was I was doing some temping jobs. Um, this is like in my around like my gap year kind of time.

SPEAKER_00:

Um so And how'd you become the It Girl in the papers at this point?

SPEAKER_02:

This was before pre pre-It Girl, you know, maybe the six months lead up to the It Girl. Um I worked for this company, Moro Farrell, The Winters, which is a theatrical um agency, uh, Music Week magazine. These were the days where like it was a lot more chill, like people were like smoking at their desks, and you know, like those old days. Um, but because I was the youngest, you know, I was always given like all the jobs where the older people were like not really doing anything. It's like, oh Victoria, can you do this and do this? And uh yeah, then I basically started modeling and earning a lot of money, and then I was like, okay, don't need to do that anymore.

SPEAKER_00:

How did you get the modeling work? I mean, was that something you looked at?

SPEAKER_02:

That so that sort of came to me really kind of accidentally. Um, I was very lucky to meet uh very a well-known photographer who was the rural photographer called Patrick Litchfield, and um he put me forward for this job for a big dueling brand jeweler um called David Morris. And I got the job and Patrick shot the campaign, and everything kind of took off from there. Like once you have Patrick Litchfield as the first photographer taking pictures of you, you're kind of set. So I was really lucky, and then I think my the first shoot I did sort of on location, that was when I was a cowgirl in New Mexico for Tatler. Um, and that was super fun. I got to be a cow girl, I got to like lasso cows and you know ride western saddles. Um, so yeah, it was it was it was good.

SPEAKER_00:

Was that your full-time work at that point then?

SPEAKER_02:

At that point, yes, it was. I was traveling a lot. Um some of it was quite tiring, you know, like you're sort of 18 and you're you're traveling a lot. It's like it all looks quite glamorous, and it is glamorous because you know, you're wearing all these beautiful couture dresses, and but it's hard, the hours are long. You know, when you see a runaway show, you just see the end result, like you don't see the rehearsals and the gearing up to it, and it's kind of like that adrenaline rush, and then you just feel exhausted afterwards, you know. So I did enjoy that. The column was good, the shot was good, and then I basically moved to LA. I I had a kind of a lot of bit of a hard time with the press over here, and I was I was just very much like under the microscope, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Is this a is this in a kind of a build them up, throw them down kind of way?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, it is, and it was very easy to do that do that to someone like me because I was so young at the time, and um you know, I hadn't had that much experience to like how evil the media can be. And you know, when I was younger, I was very much like if a journalist tried to talk to me, I was very much like on the defense mode. And you know, as I've grown older, I've learned it's better to be friends with them and give them what they want than just don't give them anything and just be rude to them. Um, because being rude to them is not gonna really like resolve anything.

SPEAKER_00:

What was what was your parents' attitude to your uh or your mother's attitude at this point to to your fame, if you want to call it that? Because I would imagine they didn't have it.

SPEAKER_02:

It was sort of hard for my mother, you know, and then there was like GQ magazine, and it was like me in the back of a limo with this giant Afghan hound. It was a very cool shoot. But you know, they would like to put me in kind of revealing style outfits, and for me, like I grew up in south of France, so like I was never really wearing that many clothes anyway. Um, so I think that is why like it didn't seem any different, really. Um, but yeah, I think it was sort of hard for her um when I started getting like attention.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, are there any particular stories with the press that spring to mind where you know you were caught doing something you shouldn't have been doing, or or they they spun a story that didn't really exist in any any real bad negative moments?

SPEAKER_02:

There's so many. They spun so many stories. Like I found out years later that I was hacked at the time uh by the mirror. I'm sure like News of the World also hacked me, but um, and I didn't pursue it because I was living in Los Angeles and I just kind of like shut down. I remember when I first moved to LA, I didn't even come back to England for like at least a year and a half. And you know, pre-social media, like I could really go to LA and sort of disappear. You know, when David Beckham moved, it kind of everything changed, and then suddenly there was a lot of English paparazzies that moved to LA. But pre pre their moving out there, it was very much like you could get lost in LA.

SPEAKER_00:

And is and is that what you wanted? You wanted to disappear.

SPEAKER_02:

I did. You know, most people go to Hollywood to do the opposite. I actually went to Hollywood to like just get away from the media.

SPEAKER_00:

And but prior to that, when you were becoming the it girl in England, and obviously it kind of happened by accident, but when it did happen, did you relish that attention?

SPEAKER_02:

You know, I mean, look, it was yeah, look, it was it was fun. You know, I just have brands every day sending me gifts and uh holidays, and who who who doesn't want that? But it just became an increasingly sort of a pressure that as soon as I walked out the door, there's someone's taking a picture. Now, things have changed a lot, like since Instagram and since Twitter, there's not that. Kind of paparazzi attention, like anywhere, because everyone's updating everyone, anyway. So the value of a photo from a paparazzi is really not worth much anymore, unless obviously, if that person is like having an affair with someone they shouldn't be, or but like a regular picture of someone just going out their front door going shopping or whatever. Like, I know this photographer, and he's and he said to me, God, I had a real issue selling pictures of it was like Rihanna in a park, and normally that would go for loads, right? Park in London, and no, he got like£100 for it,£150 for it. So it's like that kind of work isn't there, so we don't get hassled as much now. I feel like it was like time I could come back to England and not be hassled like I was back then.

SPEAKER_00:

And just rewinding a second, just pre-LA, um, you you you opened uh a clothes shop, you started your own business uh in your in your early 20s. Uh just tell me a bit about that, you know, what why you wanted to do it. I did.

SPEAKER_02:

I would have been uh 24 years old at the time. My first business. Um and why it works so well was and actually like we had an amazing location, was on Motham Street, 21 Motham Street. I had Christian LeButa on one side, which back then it was their first store.

SPEAKER_00:

This is just up Oxford Street, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02:

No, no, no, off Sloane Street. Okay, not Oxford Street, we don't do Oxford Street, not so classy. So Mottcom Street, so like um Christian Lamutha, it was their first store they ever had in the world. I had them on one side of me, and on the other side I had Jimmy Chu when they only had one store in the whole world. And so, like, Motcombe Street, I mean it still is, it's a it's an amazing street, but it was like super thriving at that point of like year 2000, 2001. Um, and yeah, it was a great, you know, why it worked so well originally was that I would find these designers, I would model for them, and then say, Okay, I have a store. Like, do you want to stock with us? And obviously, like Harrods would want them, but I would say, Okay, if you can be with us exclusively for the first or still second two seasons, and then you can go to the bigger stores. But I used to get the Alfayad children coming to me to buy my clothes all the time. Like Jasmine Alphayad was like one of my really good customers, Victoria Backer and Meg Matthews, that whole sort of that whole era of like Oasis. Um, yeah, they were all in my store all the time. We had a definitely like a good kind of thing going. Chris Evans at the time, he was married to Billy Piper and they lived around the corner. And so they would be in Mottam's wine bar all the time, basically. And so it was, yeah, it was it was a fun, fun time. Nick Hucknell would come by all the time, and yeah, it was a vibe.

SPEAKER_00:

And uh after two years, it shut down.

SPEAKER_02:

So it shut down our our boyfriends, uh, me and my partner Jane, both our boyfriends were the investors, which yeah, it was great getting it set up, but um we sort of went through quite bad breakups. I'd been with my boyfriend about four or five years, and um at that point, and when we broke up, we needed more money put in, and they were like, nope, we're not doing it. So Academy sort of that collapsed. We went into liquidation.

SPEAKER_00:

Academy was the name of the store.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it was called Academy with a K and an I.

SPEAKER_00:

And why did why did it need more money? Because obviously you it sounds very successful with the people visiting, was it just not?

SPEAKER_02:

Because if you so when you have a buying season, you just need an influx of cash to buy the new collections, and uh it just wasn't well calculated at that point. We didn't even need that much put in, but like our boyfriends were like, they just wanted us to fail at that point. But then I had this new woman that was gonna come in as a partner, change the name of the store, and she totally screwed me over. So at that point, I then went into like doing this new business in my location under a different name, trading name, and then I was like, I'm done. I'm going to LA. I was I was spending a lot of time in LA at this point. I would usually go to LA for award season for Oscars, and then I would never want to come back because it'd be so cold here. So I would go there for the fun, uh like beginning of March, and then I would stay for like a month or two, and it got to the point where I was like, okay, I just need to, I just need to move to LA.

SPEAKER_00:

But you but you were going there for a fresh start, get away from England.

SPEAKER_02:

So I sold my flat and I just moved, I did it, um, with my friend Consuelo. So she was already based out there.

SPEAKER_00:

There was never gonna be a friend called Sarah, was it?

SPEAKER_02:

I have some good friends called Sarah actually.

SPEAKER_00:

So did you have a plan of what you were gonna do in LA?

SPEAKER_02:

Not really. Um I start, you know, I've I had done some TV work. Um I remember like though, the so I started with to get my visa was was kind of like the the first hard bit. And so I started with an H1B, which was a modeling visa. So I basically went on the modelling visa. But the problem is when I first went out there, I was booked for this film, and then we're literally like on the set in Mexico, and then it's like, oh shit, I don't have the right visa to do it. Um so yeah, it's uh, but then I've yeah, had an 01, you know. It's um it's become really strict. Apparently, it's a lot easier just walking over the border than like actually getting it the legal way.

SPEAKER_00:

I've got um I had an issue with my Estra a few years ago. I used to live in I lived in Vegas for five years. Oh really? Had an issue with my Estra a few years ago, and I basically don't qualify for one anymore.

SPEAKER_02:

So I have to really did you overstay or something?

SPEAKER_00:

It's it's a it's a long, long, long, long story for not long story not for a podcast. Okay, and uh I need to get around to doing a visa, but uh there's so many times I've missed out on trips, and I always think, well, why don't I just fly to Mexico and pop over the border on the room?

SPEAKER_02:

Everyone else is doing it, and they walk over the border and then they get given money and accommodation, and like US citizens are being kicked out of their homes for these people. I'm gonna freaking do it. I'm just gonna put a wig on and like a mask and pretend I'm somebody else. Why not? Fake ID. Actually, a lot of them don't even have a passport. So I started, um, you know, I was uh I was doing uh yeah, I started like when I first moved, like modeling work, bits of TV, then I got into producing. I think one of my like really fun producing uh credits I did was like this uh this fr this guy that I met through another mutual friend, and he's like he knew I was sort of connected, and you know, in America, like the lady thing does help. And um, he goes, Right, Victoria, I need you. I know you go to Cannes Film Festival every year. I know you know people, I've got this job for you. I need seven celebrities booked in four weeks for this uh televised poker special in Cannes. And he's like, you know, who do you know? And I'm like, oh my god, who do I know that plays poker? That's like a big name. And I actually thought, okay, Dennis Hopper, right? So we had kind of a list of actors, and you know, I ended up getting everybody, which is so crazy. I never even had a producer credit at this time, but obviously, like I'd done TV, and you know, the managers, you know, they responded, oh yeah, Lady Victoria Harvey, we've heard of her, like, and um, so Dennis Hopper, like I happened to know his wife, and I'd been to an event at his house because he's respected, right? You always have to go for the eldest one who the other actors respect, because once you have that first signing, then the others will come. So I got him to agree. He happened to have three movies, two movies in Can that year, and um, you know, so we ended up paying for his filler, and you know, it was it was a pretty cushy deal. So once I had him, then I got Sama Hayek, and Sama Hayek wanted Ed Norden, her ex. And like it just kind of went from there, and then I had Tim Robbins and Goldie Horn and like Adrian Brody, and they all said yes, and it was nuts.

SPEAKER_00:

And I remember like this was a live game of a real game of poker.

SPEAKER_02:

I got them all to can, and I remember like having to do like the the nitty-gritty, you know, with their agents and managers, and the person um representing Woody Harrelson, so Woody Harrelson, what a character he is! He actually ended up winning this poker festival. His uh his agent goes to me, right? He's on a live uh set in Bucharest right now, and he's gonna be coming straight from Bucharest. So, like, if you want him in a tux, like you need to fly it out with it, I'm gonna give it to you. So they drop off this tuxedo from Dolce Gabana and this pair of like vegan shoes, because he's like super vegan and won't wear leather. And she's like, Yeah, if you don't get this to him, he's gonna just show up in shorts. So I fly with the stuff. Just before flying, I look in this box because I it's like I don't want to, you know, he's known to smoke weed and stuff. I'm like, I don't want to deal with a situation where I don't know what's in the box. So inside the shoes, there was all these notes, and I can't remember the movie he was playing at the time. I think he was like nominated for an Oscar for it. Um anyway, it's all these notes like rolled into these shoes. It was so bizarre. But anyway, I met him in the hotel long.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, kind of notes, sorry. It like a movie that he was doing.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah, written notes, yeah. It was like, and I meet him in the lobby of the hotel, and literally he shows up like a few hours before the event in flip-flops and shorts, and I like hand him his Dolce Gabbana suit, and I'm like, here you go, go change. Um it's like those kind of moments, you know, like it's fun. It's like, wow, I can't believe I've actually pulled this off.

SPEAKER_00:

And and and you you like that, you like the business, you like doing deals.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I like doing deals, you know. Um, for me, it's whatever comes, really. I don't I don't kind of say that I'm in one specific industry. Like right now, I'm working in commodities and fashion. I have a fashion brand, I'm relaunching because I started this swimwear company just before year before COVID, and it really like was going really well. And then my the factory that I was using in Asia, uh China by Hong Kong, everything turned into mask factories during COVID. And everything fashion, forget it. Um but I um yeah, I'm kind of been concentrating on that again now.

SPEAKER_00:

Um how do you sell it?

SPEAKER_02:

It goes into stores or most of it online, actually. I'm just getting my online store done up at the moment. I'm gonna do kids as well because I think kids is a massive market.

SPEAKER_00:

Matching ones.

SPEAKER_02:

I was just thinking I actually did. I've got my nieces that are gonna be modelling for them.

SPEAKER_00:

I've just got some of the day, just buying some new shorts and yes, it's it's my daughter is desperate to get some matching things, but she was a big thing. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

It's such a massive market, and like kids grow out of stuff so quick, so it's big, yeah. So I'm I'm going into children as well. Um, but you know, like all of us, like during COVID and stuff, we had to kind of flip into a different business. And for me, I started selling gold. I mean, it was bizarre, but you know, I I'm having I kind of have a secret life as a broker.

SPEAKER_00:

And so we'll talk commodities in a second. We just finished off the on the on the swimwear. Um what what aspects of that do you get involved? I mean, do you I'm the designer?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I I design I every little detail, you know, it's like I choose, okay, which bit do I want the crystal on the side of the bikini with what you know material? And then I choose something that I like or have a design done, and then it's amazing when you see that actually like come full circle and it's actually printed like the material is like how they make it. Um, so yeah, so that will be that'll be launched for this summer.

SPEAKER_00:

What's it called?

SPEAKER_02:

Ladyship.

SPEAKER_00:

Ladyship.

SPEAKER_02:

So it's a kind of play on the lady, but also can be ladyship. So yeah, I'm excited about that.

SPEAKER_00:

And what what can what kind of customer, what kind of price point?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, I'm doing it, it's like affordable luxury. So, you know, when I look at like other brands, just say like a friend of mine's done very well, Melissa Audibash, but mine are actually less than hers, and I think they're more exciting.

SPEAKER_00:

We'll try to get her booked on the show actually.

unknown:

Don't tell her that.

SPEAKER_02:

No, but um, so yeah, about like 180 for bikini swimsu uh swimsuit. Um but yeah, quality's good, material's good. I'm very picky about that because it's like whatever I put my name to, but I'm also doing leisure wear and then going into like bags and like I've designed, yeah. So so it's kind of so ladyship is like the holding brand, and then I have Ladyship Swim for the swimwear. I'm doing ladyship ski as well. Oh, cool. Ski wear is massive. Like I was just skiing about a week ago, and it's huge. It's like it's it's something that has become so big now, having like all these new brands are emerging, and people spend a lot of money. People that ski, it's expensive, they want nice stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

My my elder daughter just rinsed me for a couple of pairs of seller pets, cost me a fortune.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, it's expensive, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And then you're going on to the commodities and the gold. Uh, I mean, what what exactly are you doing? How did that come about?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that just I don't want to get into it too much, but um, that was just, you know, we all kind of had to flip into something new during COVID, and it was like, oh god, what am I gonna do? Can't sell bikinis. That that factory's now become a mask factory. So um, and gold is something, you know, when the economy is so uncertain, which it has been for the last four or five years, everyone's wanting to buy gold.

SPEAKER_00:

So and you're you're you're selling the physical the physical pieces for people to take stock of, not like uh physically taking it, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so gold and uh doing some other sort of uh other things as well. Very, very suspicious, very jewelers at one. Yeah, so um, yeah, a friend of mine has uh some mines near Columbo, Sri Lanka. So I'm gonna go visit sometime. Looks amazing just by looking at the pictures, like looks super authentic, like the way they're actually going in and getting these sapphires. Um, so yeah, for me, I'm an entrepreneur, I see myself as an entrepreneur. I don't see myself classed as just one thing. At the end of the day, it's like wherever you got that connection, right? That's what it is. It's it is a lot of it, of course, what you know, but it is who you know, and a lot of this.

SPEAKER_00:

And I mean, one of the main things I talk about, not on some other sort of podcasts, but in my my personal content, if you like, and what I attribute, you know, a vast part of my success to is my network isn't networking in general. You know, I am I'm spending 50% of my life networking. I mean, this podcast is is is is a form of networking for me. How much of your I guess how let's say proactive and thought out is networking for you? Because I mean, obviously in the life you were born into, you you were you were probably born um or knowing a lot of a lot of you know very useful and influential people from childhood. I mean, d do you do you just naturally acquire people or or do you actually think of networking as a as a as a uh a task, an activity that you do to grow your network?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, yeah, it's a little bit of both. But you know, like when I moved to America, I sort of, it was almost like I was rebelling against all that. I was rebelling against my network, right? I just wanted to go be like free and live in California and live in t-shirts and shorts and be in the sun all year round and really not have a responsibility because most people in Hollywood don't work. Um, you know, you go to a supermarket in the daytime in LA and it's like super crowded, whereas other places like people have an office job. But I think the last few years changed all that because more and more people work from home now. More and more people learnt that actually they don't need to spend a huge amount of rent getting an office when they can actually work from home. I mean, I suppose it's it's uh, you know, my friends tell me that I'm just I do it naturally. Um I I you know I am a quite a sociable person. I'm a Libra, apparently, but my my sign is quite a sociable sign. Um, so I do like being around people. Um I do have nights at home quite regularly, though. People think I'm this like crazy party girl, but actually no, I like being home with my dog a lot of the time. But um, yeah, the network thing, the thing is, like my mother always said to me, she's like, you're not gonna meet anyone sitting at home, right? You're not gonna improve your life. And the thing is, what I've learned is is like one baby step leads to another one, leads to another one. So I could be at an event and I reconnect with someone I haven't seen for maybe 10 years, because this kind of situation happens all the time. And then they tell me about, oh, you should be coming to this. And so I would never even heard about this other thing if I hadn't gone to that first event. Um, and then suddenly, you know, you can meet whoever, like you might meet the person that is gonna help you with a business or anything. So I try and force myself to be social sometimes, even when I'm not feeling it, because once I'm out, I feel so much better.

SPEAKER_00:

And what brought you back to England from LA? What why why did you kind of trend your Joe Biden?

SPEAKER_02:

Joe Biden, Joe Biden, and um yeah, America is not quite what it used to be, and I've literally watched it fall apart, especially California. California is quite um it's having a huge problem with homelessness and crime. And I think at the point of three years ago when I had to buy a gun because the police, the head of the Beverly Hills uh police and LAPD actually went on the television and said, We cannot guarantee your safety. Like he they were telling people if they didn't need to come to LA to not please not come, and actually encouraged us to buy guns to arm ourselves. That was at that point, I was like, you know what, I can't live like this. I I never even left and I lived in a good area. But the problem is, like when I first moved to LA, it felt very safe. Like when I was living in Beverly Hills, literally kept my door open. Um, never felt unsafe. And now it's like it's it's it's bad. I mean, I had a I'm sure I was sort of had some kind of PTSD when I got back because I was so used to like having either a taser or like a pepper, even a pepper spray. We can't even you're not even allowed that here, I don't think. Um, but I was so used to automatically having that with me even when I walked the dog. Did you carry the gun as well? No, didn't have the gun, like kept that like in the house. Um but I never went outside with a taser, you know. Um, and the thing is, like, in LA, it's it's a lot of these homeless that I said they're so high on drugs and they're so crazy. Like I had I had one like throwing glass at me, you know, telling how he wanted to kill my dog just because my dog barked at a squirrel. Like, that's what dogs do. Um, it just got very sketchy. I know someone else that someone came up behind them as they were walking down the street and like started strangling them. Like this was happening. My best friend from yoga, that the thing that I actually miss about LA the most of my yoga classes, I did Kundalini and my school's amazing over there. Um, but my friend Trish from Yoga, she had a bullet shot through her engine, and like she was just driving along on the border of Beverly Hills and and Venice, um, on Santa Monica Boulevard, and she hears this noise and she thinks it's her tire, she thinks she's like run over something, so she stops, and um her mechanic tells her like the next day, you know, you have a bullet through your engine. Like, you know how that that is like so scary, and that is not the only story. Like, other people I know have had other encounters, and so it just got to the point where I was like, you know what, this is just like this could happen to me at any moment. Like, I need to get out of here, and I miss my family, you know. I'm I my mother's not getting any younger, I mean, she's in great shape. Um, but still, like, I feel like I need to be around for my family at this point. My brother, my nephews and nieces, you know, and my sister, she lives in Portugal, just being closer to family. LA is so far away. Do you not find uh England a dangerous place?

SPEAKER_00:

Certainly compared to where you're left.

SPEAKER_02:

I know, but everyone says, Oh, England's so dangerous. No, we got it good here. And I try and I try and tell my friends that live here that complain about England. I'm like, go to LA, go see what's going on over there. Then you will all go to New York and see the situation over there. It's way worse. I mean, I know it's not like super fabulous in England all the time, but it's nothing like over there. Like I don't feel like I'm I don't feel like my life is in danger like it was over there. And the Brits love to complain, you know. We do that really well.

SPEAKER_00:

We do. But uh, I mean obviously I've you know spent the last few years in Dubai and uh I mean you get used to a a real next level of of safety there.

SPEAKER_02:

I have I have friends that move to Dubai as well, and they love it. They they you know, when I go and visit, it's like they're like, don't worry, you can leave your phone on the table and walk away and it will still be a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean people reserve something with watching it.

SPEAKER_02:

Everyone can wear your watch. You know, I mean, no, England you can't wear a watch either. Um so yeah, there it's like you can bring the watches out and you can just leave things on the tables. Like, you know, if you're in a restaurant, sitting outside, you're not gonna get someone just swooping in and stealing it. No, it does. It feels it feels safe. Um, makes sense if you had lived in Vegas, because I feel like Dubai is the sort of Arab version of Vegas. Well, it's Vegas with rules.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Um, but what I like about Dubai is it has a mixture of like everything. It's got like every nice restaurant that we can think of, it's in Dubai, right? They have everything there.

SPEAKER_00:

So we can't have Lady V here without talking about uh about some some royal gossip and some some some some juicy things. But uh to uh I guess to to warm us up on that, uh you um quite famously dated Prince Andrew for uh for a time a while back.

SPEAKER_02:

Um I wouldn't really want to go into that part so much, but um he you know he is a friend, and I have been pretty much the only person defending him publicly um in the whole uh fake photo scandal, Virginia Jufrey.

SPEAKER_00:

As in the photo that kills.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So I really want the person who recently um went into detail about the Kate Middleton photo that they found, you know, was heavily edited. I mean, I didn't even for me, I didn't even see that as it was edited right away. That Prince Andrew Virginia photo, there's literally over 50 things wrong with that photo.

SPEAKER_00:

And and I've been a bit out of touch with all this for a while, so uh forgive me if this is common knowledge now.

SPEAKER_02:

So is it is it is it um a publicly stated thing that it's a fake photo or is it you know if Ghillanne has has said in her interview a year ago, she said there's actually over 50 things wrong with it. Um I've also found that amount. I have a witness that is coming forward soon, and I have a whistleblower as well who is on a gag order until May. But once that comes off, like the gloves are off. Like, you know, the public will be able to learn a lot more about the truth behind it.

SPEAKER_00:

And what would the origin of that photograph be?

SPEAKER_02:

So I'm actually in contact also with the real photographer, but he was scared to come out for a long time because obviously, like it's a criminal offense, really, what he's done. And because he does have a um uh he was he was in prison for something really stupid that happened to him, but you know, he has uh that on his record, and so he's been very nervous. But um, we plan to get that out. I have this guy, George Tonks, who's the whistleblower. So as soon as his story comes out, I will bring in the photographer. Who why is he gagged? He is gagged because he's being silenced, because the US courts are very corrupt. And he's literally the whistleblower in this FBI case that is happening at the moment. And what do you what do you suggest the the agenda is as in, you know, who who's who who who's leading it, you know, who's Well, it was Epstein at Epstein and Virginia, but um, you know, I mean this was literally like an attack on the royal family um that was premeditated, and uh Prince Andrew was like he has been the scapegoat for this whole thing.

SPEAKER_00:

Has he and Jeffrey fallen out prior to this thing?

SPEAKER_02:

I don't think so. I think uh well I mean at the time like this was premeditated, like this happened back in 2001, um, and they were still friends, you know, after that. But the girls I have investigated complete con artist liars. So, you know, it just kind of makes you think, well, like obviously Jeffrey Epstein, he definitely like he he definitely played the field and he, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Did you know Jeffrey?

SPEAKER_02:

I did, yeah. I I knew uh I only knew I knew him through Ghana Maxwell. But I think she has been treated completely unfairly as well.

SPEAKER_00:

And did you I mean when when you when you say know him as in like a little bit or you spent a lot of time together?

SPEAKER_02:

I mean I knew her like we had a lot of friends in common.

SPEAKER_00:

Not Joanna, sorry, but Jeffrey.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, Jeff Jeffrey?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so I said yeah, did you know Jeffrey?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh no, I yeah, I mean I knew him through her. Okay, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

But did I mean did you ever did you see stuff?

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, the only thing that I thought was weird was when I stayed in um one of the apartments and like and I had this like weird sensation, like I felt like I was being filmed or something. But besides that, I went to dinners that were totally normal. I never saw girls that are underage. Um, you know, he he was kind of like that guy that you see in Saint Tropez at lunch, you know, in one of the popular places with a bunch of like good-looking people around them. Like that was what it looked like. Um but I think the timing of it all, it was it was cleverly timed, you know, by the lawyers that this story would come out during Jubilee, so they would just pay her off and be done with it. And you know, that isn't how it turned out. Like it's been you know, ongoing, and you know, I'm hoping like in the next few months he can be completely Prince Andrew can be exonerated from all of this.

SPEAKER_00:

Is his low profile being pure purely off the back of this, is it?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, well, he he just wants we've got to, you know, get through the next few months basically. Um, but a lot will be revealed end of May when my witness will be off a gag order.

SPEAKER_00:

And you I mean you use the words a lot more my witness or my you know, I'm doing this. I mean, uh is is this in the capacity of a friend of Andrew? Have you got some someone officials?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, the whistleblower guy is is a is a guy who's in based in Chicago. I've never haven't actually met him in person. We've just been talking for about a year and year and three months or so. Um he is the person that has the evidence on that Virginia lied and Maria Farmer lied about a lot of it as well, and it will help Galen.

SPEAKER_00:

But but your your role in this is just as friends of those.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, no, for me, it's just like I just want this whole thing to go away because like you know, originally I did some interviews for a couple of networks. I can't even remember which ones I've done, I've done so many at this point, and I didn't want to get too close to it because it's very hard, you know, with this Me Too movement, it takes like a lot to stand up to it and go, actually, no, they lied because you know you're gonna have everyone after you for saying that. And in 2019, on Piers Morgan's show at the time when he was doing The Breakfast Show. I said, I thought, I think that photo looks fake. And I said about the girls saying they don't, this is not girls that are trafficked. Like for me in my head, knowing stories of trafficking, like trafficking girls that are trafficked are literally chained up and like beaten and put in a cage and you know, raped all day long. They're not girls like on a yacht drinking champagne, getting flown in, and like, you know, these girls were all like hookers, basically. They're all hookers. Um, Sarah Ransom, like I found her original agency that she was at with her agency pictures and everything. Like, they're cool girls. Um, they're not sweet little innocent girls. They knew exactly what they were doing. And actually, none of them were even living in Epstein's house in New York. They all had boyfriends and they all had their own apartments. They could come and go as they wanted. So there was no like forced anything.

SPEAKER_00:

I'll be interested to see how it all plays out. Uh me too. We'll do it. We'll do it.

SPEAKER_02:

I literally just want my life back because it's got to a point where it really did take over my life. Um, and you know, I'm living in this weird bubble with a few of us knowing like the truth. And it's like it gets hard for me sometimes to actually like talk to people in like real life because we're living in this like weird bubble. So yeah. I wanted to get back to normal.

SPEAKER_00:

Talk to me about Prince Harry. Uh, you've uh you've uh spoken out about that recently, saying that you think he should be back here.

SPEAKER_02:

It's it's really hard, right? He's in love with this woman who has taken him away from his family and his friends.

SPEAKER_00:

And do you know him personally, by the way?

SPEAKER_02:

Met him years ago. I haven't seen him recently. Um, and he's someone that is like he was very well loved by Britain, and pretty much everyone loved Prince Harry. You know, he's like the rebel royal, he's kind of cool, like he's off in Vegas, like, you know. Um, but he was seen as like the cool rebel who was like had a kind heart, and then he falls for this woman who has completely kind of taken over his mind, and no one seems to be able to get through to him. But it was like, I always said in the beginning, I have a feeling she's gonna take him to America. You know, that's what a lot of these narcissistic type of people they do, especially like the covert narcissist. Like they want to take them away from their surroundings, from their friends, um, and keep them keep them away so they can control them. And that is like what has happened to him. I mean, he moved to LA at the worst time in history. Like, he moved there like during COVID. It was like terrible there. Um, so literally, like he moved as I was, I was getting ready to leave and couldn't wait to leave. Um, but yeah, do I see that lasting? I really don't see it lasting. But the problem is those kids now, like, where are they gonna go? Like, she's not she's not gonna obviously move back here, and I don't think she would be welcomed here. But for Harry to make up with William, you know, I don't see those two making up while Harry is still married. I think it'll take years to repair, but if he is on his own and he kind of apologizes for his behaviour, I mean, the, you know, I also think like Kate's cancer is probably, you know, aided by a lot of the stress that they've caused them.

SPEAKER_00:

And you you say that to uh, you know, you you believe they're playing the part of victim to get to gain attention, etc.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it is. It's this whole victimhood, it's this whole sort of leftist victim. Oh my god, look at me, poor me. Like, no, Harry. Like, look at you. You're in the living this amazing life. Like, you know, oh, everyone has trauma. Like, everyone has childhood trauma. Like, I lost my dad young, I lost two brothers young. Like, we all have to get over it. Um, I think the me, me, me thing, it just doesn't work. Um, but he was never like that before he met Megan. Like, this is a new thing. It's almost like he met her and he's she's sort of become his like therapist. Um and that book was just it's just terrible. Like, how can you how can you write a book on your family like that? You know, I just don't know what the other books are, you know, it's supposed to be like a four or five book contract. So I don't know what's going on with those ones. You know, we've got the Meghan autobiography, haven't we? And then there's a book that they're doing together on like a lifestyle sort of book, apparently. So yeah, who knows? But I think um, yeah, the UK. I did feel sorry for her in the beginning, I gotta say. Like, I know how evil the press can be here, but she didn't play the game, you know. How could she think that she's gonna marry Prince Harry and and everything's gonna be easy? Like, she obviously went in thinking like this sort of Cinderella story, and she likes to do like the kind of fancy events, right? She didn't want to be going to hospitals every day, like the kind of stuff that Kate does. Um, and then she's like, Okay, I'm piecing out, I'm going back to Hollywood. And but I think it'll get to a point where she'll just dump Harry, she'll like go off with some sort of you know, billionaire type, and um he'll be sort of thrown thrown out. I don't know. I just don't see it ending well. I think Harry is just too much of a nice guy, and I think he's been completely like mind, his mind has been taken over, but you can't tell anyone, right? When they're in love, like you can't tell them, and then afterwards they're like, Why didn't you tell me? It's like Harry, the whole world has been telling you.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, just in a slightly different vein speaking about victims, uh, you spoke out recently as well about your sister who um who has been subject to domestic violence, but what, two weeks to speak for herself?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I mean, you know, she then actually did an interview. Um, I thought it would be really important for her to do it because, you know, this thing had been going on, she only told her family like a few years ago about it.

SPEAKER_00:

At what point did she split up with the husband?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, about a year ago, he ran off with another woman. He ran off with the woman who is like the agent selling their house. And then like moved in with her within about three weeks and just left. And that was the best thing for her because if he sorry, if he hadn't done that, then um, you know, it would have been a lot harder for her to leave. So she gave him the ultimatum and and and and he he left. Um, but it's been it's been very hard for her. Obviously, like three small children, he left her with pretty much like nothing. I mean, she's living in this mansion, but like, you know, when I went there in December, he cut the heat off. She had electricity, but there was no heat. I was like, I opened the door and she's got like a puffa jacket on inside, and I'm like, God, this is really bad. He wouldn't put the heat back on, and it was in his name, and the company would not put it into her name. Can you imagine that? So luckily, we were like in the middle of changing lawyers, and the new lawyer managed to do an agreement with his lawyer, and the heating came back on. But I said to her, How long has the heat off been off? And she lives in Portugal, so look, it's not as cold as England, but it gets pretty chilly there in December, you know. Um, yeah, he'd had the heating off, I suppose, like the whole time, you know, because you don't need heating there in like October, but it probably starts like November, December. So yeah, it's been really hard. I think the kids are the ones that are really suffering. When that happened with the house, the oldest one, Victor, he said to my sister, he's like, I know daddy is killing the house because he doesn't want us to spend time here anymore. So, like the kids know that their father was making the house cold, so they didn't want to be in that house. And then my sister's done really well with her cycling, and she got into the uh into you know, sh in the team for representing Great Britain, and I was meeting her in Scotland in the summer. She calls me up crying at the airport the day before, or the day she was flying, and she's like, Oh my god. He he um basically got a court order done. She was at the airport with her youngest daughter, India, because India is very prone to getting like sick more because she was a twin and the twin died, and uh he got this thing where my sister Sonny was gonna be arrested at the airport because she was flying with India to Scotland. And I said, Look, just go back to the house, we'll figure it out. I ended up booking her a new flight to go the following morning. She made it to the you know, the the championship, and um, you know, I said, You have to like prove him wrong because he's just trying to break her right now, and for him, it was like, Oh yeah, what she's good at, I'm gonna stop her going. Like, this was a massive thing that she was representing Great Britain in this. Um, so yeah, it's been hard for her, but the cycling has really helped her a lot, and now getting the voice out, and it sort of got to a point where I was like, Isabella, like, I need your permission to stop putting out those photos on Instagram and like let's see what reaction we get. And of course, like journalist friends of mine messaged me quite you know, quite quickly and were like, Wow, I can't believe this. And I was like, Yeah, it's time, but it that took a lot for her to be brave because the retaliation was crazy, and every time she does something, you know, he fights back with something else. Um, so it's been it's been hard, but I was a witness in court for her um about 10 days ago.

SPEAKER_00:

You've got a full you've got a full-time job taking taking care of friends and family.

SPEAKER_02:

I know it is. So that's another thing. It's just like better that I live in England now when I'm dealing with stuff like with my sister, and I can fly to Portugal like easily, you know. And LA was it was getting to be like too far away to do things last minute.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it's been um a whirlwind of uh a life over the last uh you know thir 30-ish years. Um what um what what have we got to look forward to? What what big projects are on the on the horizon?

SPEAKER_02:

We shall see. Um right now, yeah, I'm concentrating on ladyship, my brand, so that's sort of like number one right now.

SPEAKER_00:

And any other particular passions or interests?

SPEAKER_02:

Passions and interests. Um you know, just like my hobbies, I I just yeah, I love sport. What sport do you do? Um, well, horse riding or water sports, skiing, those type of things. I love traveling. Like for me, travel, it just kind of keeps me like it gives me that boost of energy when I'm away. My mother always says to me, I don't understand, you love traveling. She's like, but your grandfather was a diplomat. My grandfather was um a diplomat for South America, and she's like, You must get it from him because I feel I feel alive. Like I love being home, but as soon as I'm in like a new place in a new surroundings, like I feel like alive, you know, that feeling.

SPEAKER_00:

I like the destinations, I just hate the travel.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I don't like the airports.

SPEAKER_00:

Listen, Lady Victoria.

SPEAKER_02:

Good to meet you.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you very much for being here. Thank you for being our uh poshist and uh and most uh social item royalist guest that we've ever had. Um but uh yeah, no, it's but it's been a pleasure having you here. Um and I guess um along with the along with the swim rare brand, just just for anyone watching or listening who who wants to maybe buy that or or or catch up with you, where can we find you online?

SPEAKER_02:

So um my website is ladyshipswim.com, which is being made right now, but I have an Instagram as well, which is LadyshipSwim. So that will tell you more updates. And uh yeah, I'm hoping to kind of you know stop my own show at some point soon as well. Well, you can have me as a guest. So yeah, I get asked to be doing a podcast, and I'm like, I know, it's just like it's just starting it, isn't it? It's like that little first bit of getting the setup and your mic and all of the git.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_02:

I need tips. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you very much again. All right.

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Matt Haycox

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