Fortunate: Lady Colin Campbell says she has a ‘modest upper-class existence’
Author Lady Colin Campbell treats herself to caviar whenever she feels like it. Despite her love for the delicacy and living in a castle, the 73-year-old tells Donna Ferguson that she is not rich.
On May 6, she will hold a Coronation ball at her home, Castle Goring in West Sussex, in support of charity Care for Veterans. Tickets are available from castlegoring.com/upcoming-events.
What did your parents teach you about money?
That it doesn’t grow on trees and you need to spend it wisely. I grew up in Jamaica. My father and his family owned department stores, factories and racehorses. His family was one of the richest on the island.
My mother was a lady, and ladies in those days did not work. She never had a job and did nothing but socialise.
Our home was flanked by the residences of ambassadors, half the size of ours. It was an exceptionally desirable address with a famous orchid garden that people would come from all over the world to see.
We had two gardeners and four indoor servants, as well as a butler and a chauffeur – until Mummy fell out with him.
Did your parents explain how privileged you were?
No. My parents weren’t that vulgar, but I realised I was more fortunate than most islanders. My family were treated like demi-gods. At the same time, we were brought up to ensure we treated everybody decently and properly – we weren’t full of ourselves.
How did your father teach you money doesn’t grow on trees?
He made sure each of his children worked in the family department stores during our school holidays.
I hated it, but me and my siblings all agree – with the benefit of hindsight – that it was the right thing to do. We weren’t brought up to be spoilt brats.
Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?
There was a time, after I divorced my husband Colin Campbell, when I had little money.
I was supposed to marry suitably, but I married unsuitably. I had the opportunity to wed businessman David Koch [part-owner of US chemicals giant Koch industries] when I was 24, but refused – and chose Colin instead.
So, instead of marrying one of the richest men on earth – even at the time I was going out with him – I opted to marry a ‘penniless bum’ as my father described him. Back in 1974, I wanted love. Our marriage lasted 14 months. After I left Colin, I had to be careful with money. I was pretty much on my own financially from the age of 25.
I led an upper-class life. I dressed well – in couture clothes – owned jewellery and lived in London’s Belgravia. But I didn’t have a great deal of spare money.
How did you make ends meet?
Until I wrote my book – Diana In Private: The Princess Nobody Knows – when I was 41, it was hand-to-mouth. I got work selling cosmetics at Harrods in London. Then I got a job as the Libyan ambassador’s secretary and eventually went to work for my brother’s law firm. I’m not saying I was financially deprived. What I had was adequate to fund a modest upper-class existence. People think I’m rich, but I’m certainly not.
Have you ever been paid silly money?
I suppose some people would regard the sum I was paid in 2015 to do I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! as a desirable sum.
It was certainly not as much as I would have liked. I spent 17 days in the jungle and loathed it. I didn’t mind the physical hardship, but really did not enjoy being stuck there with a nasty pack of human rats.
What was the best year of your life financially?
It was 1993, the year after my Diana book came out. It became a worldwide bestseller and flew off the shelves. My agent set up deals with magazines and newspapers – and the money flooded in.
What is the most expensive thing you have bought for fun?
It was a Studio of Rembrandt painting of an Old Testament scene, with some work by the master himself. I bought it because I love art. I couldn’t afford it, but couldn’t afford not to have it. It was a once-in-a-lifetime purchase.
What is your biggest money mistake?
Selling a property in London’s Pimlico in the late-1990s and on the advice of a trusted friend investing the proceeds in the stock market. It was a mistake as today that house may be worth £5 million.
The best money decision you have made?
Buying a four-bedroom house in Belgravia for a middling six-figure sum – and selling it for a handsome seven-figure sum five years later.
Do you save into a pension or invest in the stock market?
No. I don’t believe in pensions. I prefer assets I can manage and have control over – property and chattels such as paintings. As for the stock market, I think we are heading for rocky times. I’ve lived through enough recessions to know it’s better to get out of the market when you see trouble than wait until the ship hits the rocks.
Do you own any property?
Yes, I own Castle Goring in West Sussex. It is a Grade I-listed property, built in the 1790s by Sir Bysshe Shelley, grandfather of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.
I bought it in 2014 when it was on the ‘at risk’ register at English Heritage, in danger of collapsing. I put on a new roof, propped up walls and installed new electrics. It cost a seven-figure sum to restore, but it has proved a good financial decision.
On May 6, I am hosting a Coronation ball at Castle Goring which is open to the public. It is to celebrate the Coronation of the King and Queen – and to raise money for Care for Veterans.
What is the one luxury you treat yourself to?
I supposeit would be caviar. I buy it whenever I feel like it. The price is immaterial.
If I get a good deal on it, which I do from time to time, I buy quite a lot and indulge myself with caviar sandwiches for lunch.
I then won’t bother until I feel like it again, maybe six months or a year later.
If you were Chancellor, what is the first thing you would do?
I would revamp the National Health Service. It is a money guzzler, not fit for purpose. It has developed the status of a sacred cow that is unwarranted. It is a total disaster unless you are badly ill. Whenever I have been ill, I have had to go private. Doctors and nurses should be paid properly. It is a disgrace that administrators are paid ten times more than medical staff.
I would also make sure that those who are cluttering up accident and emergency departments because of drink and drugs are transferred to halfway houses between police cells and medical facilities.
The following day, once they are sober, they would be obliged to clean up their own sick. Finally, I would make sure that people who are in hospital, but should no longer be there, are released. We need to end bed blocking.
None of this is difficult to accomplish, but it would be unpopular and create a hue and cry.
Do you donate money to charity?
Yes. I’m a patron of a wonderful charity, SOS Silence on Suicide, which aims to prevent youngsters from killing themselves.
What is your number one financial priority?
Survival. I think it’s important to have good values and be as good a person as you can. That doesn’t always mean you’re happy.
Life is not about pleasure, it’s about goodness.
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This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk
