Lady Victoria Hervey
Encyclopedia
Lady Victoria Frederica Isabella Hervey (born 6 October 1976) is an English
model, socialite
, aristocrat and former "It girl
".
and his third wife Yvonne Marie Sutton. She is the older sister of the 8th Marquess of Bristol
and of Lady Isabella Hervey
. Her older half-brothers were the 7th Marquess of Bristol
and Lord Nicholas Hervey
, both deceased.
For the first two years of her life she lived at Ickworth House
, the family seat in Suffolk
, before her parents went into tax exile
in Monaco
. Educated at Benenden School
, she spent a gap year
in Florence
and worked at advertising agencies in London
. After turning down a place to read French and History of Art at Bristol University, her mother stopped her allowances and Hervey reluctantly became Michael Winner
’s receptionist. She became a part-time catwalk model in a career move she hoped would take her into television presenting, but with her statuesque 6-foot height she took to the career full time, ultimately modelling for Christian Dior
. In April 2000, she and friend Jane Blight opened Knightsbridge
fashion boutique
Akademi. Frequented by Victoria Beckham
, Meg Mathews and Martine McCutcheon
, it closed in 2001 with debts estimated at £350,000. Hervey was reportedly only £20 out of pocket
by the business failure but in the year following the closure, Hervey owed a series of personal debts.
It was during the launch phase of Akademi that Lady Victoria wore a risque dress to a party, which garnered high tabloid press attention. With no It girl to fill the gossip columns left empty by the cocaine
-led downfall of Tara Palmer-Tomkinson
, Lady Victoria became the new press It girl. The party invitations and resulting photographs made her a staple of the British photo-tabloids and cover girl for men's magazines. Lady Victoria added to her own media publicity by penning the Party Animal diarist column in The Sunday Times
.
In December 2003, Lady Victoria relocated to Los Angeles
and secured a small part in the 2004 film RX opposite Colin Hanks
(son of Tom Hanks
) as a waitress in a diner.
She returned to the UK, and took up various celebrity television appearance offers. In October 2004, she appeared on The Farm
, a Five version of the RTÉ
show Celebrity Farm
. In July 2006, she appeared in the ITV
show Love Island
. On 18 September 2007, she appeared on ITV's Don't Call Me Stupid program, where she was asked to learn about the Labour Party Movement with George Galloway
. Regarding the homeless, The Daily Telegraph
quoted Lady Victoria as saying, "It's so bad being homeless in winter. They should go somewhere warm like the Caribbean where they can eat fresh fish all day." She is due to appear in upcoming Living TV show Party Wars.
and Boyzone member Shane Lynch
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
model, socialite
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
, aristocrat and former "It girl
It girl
"It girl" is a term for a young woman who possess the quality "It", absolute attraction.The early usage of the concept "it" in this meaning may be seen in a story by Rudyard Kipling: "It isn't beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It's just 'It'."...
".
Background
Lady Victoria is the elder daughter of the 6th Marquess of BristolVictor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol
Victor Frederick Cochrane Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol , was a British aristocrat and businessman. He is notable for having served a jail term for jewel theft...
and his third wife Yvonne Marie Sutton. She is the older sister of the 8th Marquess of Bristol
Frederick Hervey, 8th Marquess of Bristol
Frederick William Augustus Hervey, 8th Marquess of Bristol , succeeded his elder half-brother the 7th Marquess in January 1999 as Marquess of Bristol...
and of Lady Isabella Hervey
Lady Isabella Hervey
Lady Isabella Frederica Louisa Hervey is a British socialite, model, and actress. She is the youngest daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol and his third wife Yvonne Marie Sutton, half-sister of the 7th Marquess of Bristol, and Lord Nicholas Hervey, both deceased, and sister of the 8th Marquess...
. Her older half-brothers were the 7th Marquess of Bristol
John Hervey, 7th Marquess of Bristol
Frederick William John Augustus Hervey, 7th Marquess of Bristol , also known as John Jermyn and John Hervey, was a British aristocrat and businessman, notable for his wealth, drug addiction, imprisonment on drugs charges, homosexuality and flamboyant lifestyle.-Family:John was born five years into...
and Lord Nicholas Hervey
Lord Nicholas Hervey
Lord Frederick William Charles Nicholas Wentworth Hervey was the only child born to the 6th Marquess of Bristol by his second wife Lord Frederick William Charles Nicholas Wentworth Hervey (26 November 1961–26 January 1998) was the only child born to the 6th Marquess of Bristol by his second...
, both deceased.
For the first two years of her life she lived at Ickworth House
Ickworth House
Ickworth House is a country house outside Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England. It is a neoclassical structure topped by a giant rotunda in a park extending to 1800 acres. It is in the care of the National Trust, and, as part of the Ickworth House, Park & Garden property, is open to the...
, the family seat in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, before her parents went into tax exile
Tax exile
A tax exile is one who chooses to leave a country with a high tax burden and instead to reside in a foreign nation or jurisdiction which takes a lower portion of earnings. Going into tax exile is a means of tax mitigation or avoidance.-Legal status:...
in Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
. Educated at Benenden School
Benenden School
Benenden School is an independent boarding school for girls in Kent, England. It is located in Benenden in the Kentish countryside, between Cranbrook and Tenterden....
, she spent a gap year
Gap year
An expression or phrase that is associated with taking time out to travel in between life stages. It is also known as sabbatical, time off and time out that refers to a period of time in which students disengage from curricular education and undertake non curricular activities, such as travel or...
in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
and worked at advertising agencies in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. After turning down a place to read French and History of Art at Bristol University, her mother stopped her allowances and Hervey reluctantly became Michael Winner
Michael Winner
Michael Robert Winner is a British film director and producer, active in both Europe and the United States, also known as a food critic for the Sunday Times.-Early life and early career :...
’s receptionist. She became a part-time catwalk model in a career move she hoped would take her into television presenting, but with her statuesque 6-foot height she took to the career full time, ultimately modelling for Christian Dior
Christian Dior
Christian Dior , was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, also called Christian Dior.-Life:...
. In April 2000, she and friend Jane Blight opened Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a road which gives its name to an exclusive district lying to the west of central London. The road runs along the south side of Hyde Park, west from Hyde Park Corner, spanning the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
fashion boutique
Boutique
A boutique is a small shopping outlet, especially one that specializes in elite and fashionable items such as clothing and jewelry. The word is French for "shop", via Latin from Greek ἀποθήκη , "storehouse"....
Akademi. Frequented by Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British pop music magazine Top of the Pops...
, Meg Mathews and Martine McCutcheon
Martine McCutcheon
Martine McCutcheon is an English singer, television personality and Laurence Olivier Award-winning actress. McCutcheon had minor success as one third of the pop group Milan in the early 1990s; however, it was her role as Tiffany Mitchell in BBC's EastEnders that made her a household name in the UK...
, it closed in 2001 with debts estimated at £350,000. Hervey was reportedly only £20 out of pocket
Out-of-pocket expenses
Out-of-pocket expenses are direct outlays of cash which may or may not be later reimbursed.In operating a vehicle, gasoline, parking fees and tolls are considered out-of-pocket expenses for the trip...
by the business failure but in the year following the closure, Hervey owed a series of personal debts.
It was during the launch phase of Akademi that Lady Victoria wore a risque dress to a party, which garnered high tabloid press attention. With no It girl to fill the gossip columns left empty by the cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
-led downfall of Tara Palmer-Tomkinson
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson also known as T P-T, is an English socialite, "it girl", television presenter, columnist and model...
, Lady Victoria became the new press It girl. The party invitations and resulting photographs made her a staple of the British photo-tabloids and cover girl for men's magazines. Lady Victoria added to her own media publicity by penning the Party Animal diarist column in The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
.
In December 2003, Lady Victoria relocated to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and secured a small part in the 2004 film RX opposite Colin Hanks
Colin Hanks
Colin Lewes Hanks is an American actor who is best known for his work as Shaun Brumder in the film Orange County and as Alex Whitman in Roswell. He also portrayed the role of Henry Jones in Band of Brothers and is currently on the sixth season of the Showtime crime drama Dexter...
(son of Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
) as a waitress in a diner.
She returned to the UK, and took up various celebrity television appearance offers. In October 2004, she appeared on The Farm
The Farm (UK TV series)
The Farm is Five's version of the international TV format The Farm, produced by Strix. It had a number of celebrities appearing on it.-Series one:Series one aired in 2004 and was presented and narrated by Ed Hall...
, a Five version of the RTÉ
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...
show Celebrity Farm
Celebrity Farm
Celebrity Farm was a 2003 Radio Telefís Éireann reality television show, based on the international TV format The Farm, produced by Strix. Held along similar lines as I'm a Celebrity.....
. In July 2006, she appeared in the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
show Love Island
Love Island
Love Island was a daily British reality television programme. In the show, twelve single celebrities spent five weeks on an island in Fiji. Viewers would vote for the couple they would like to see in the "love shack" where the two would get to know one another better...
. On 18 September 2007, she appeared on ITV's Don't Call Me Stupid program, where she was asked to learn about the Labour Party Movement with George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
. Regarding the homeless, The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
quoted Lady Victoria as saying, "It's so bad being homeless in winter. They should go somewhere warm like the Caribbean where they can eat fresh fish all day." She is due to appear in upcoming Living TV show Party Wars.
Personal life
Currently single, Hervey has had relationships with several celebrities, most notably Danish restaurateur Mogens Tholstrup, F1 race car driver David CoulthardDavid Coulthard
David Marshall Coulthard, MBE, , sometimes known as DC, is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland.Coulthard, who was born in Dumfries and raised nearby in Twynholm, made his Formula One debut in 1994 and won 13 Grands Prix in a career spanning 15 seasons...
and Boyzone member Shane Lynch
Shane Lynch
Shane Lynch is an Irish singer-songwriter, actor and professional drift driver, best known for his distinctive body art, outlandish sense of style, and as a member of Boyzone...
.