Bell Pottinger power couple wedding off

WITH a guest list that included royalty, rock stars, tycoons, models and politicians, their wedding should have been the society event of the year.

But, with the collapse in fortunes of public relations firm Bell Pottinger amid allegations that it tried to incite race hatred in South Africa, James Henderson, its former boss, and Heather Kerzner, his fiancee and wealthy socialite, have called off the ceremony. The couple were due to marry in November. The “postponement” is particularly embarrassing after Kerzner, ex-wife of South African billionaire Sol Kerzner, invested a sizeable part of her fortune to buy 15% of Bell Pottinger.

The modern-day dowry and Henderson’s stake that gave them 40% of the company, is virtually worthless today. The firm is widely expected to close. A source close to the couple insisted the relationship was not in jeopardy by the loss of their investment or by the company’s possible demise. “The wedding will go ahead next year.” The demise of the firm that once advised Margaret Thatcher, and the question mark hanging over this power couple’s relationship, are as unfortunate as they are absurd.

Set up in 1998 by Lord Bell, Thatcher’s former media adviser, Bell Pottinger was unafraid to represent controversial clients, including former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and Oscar Pistorius.

In 2010, Henderson merged his City PR company with Bell Pottinger. With offices around the world and multimillion-pound contracts advising the rich and powerful, the future looked promising.

Five years later, Henderson was introduced by the Duchess of York, one of his clients, to Kerzner at a charity fundraising party.

The glamorous 48-year-old New Yorker hobnobs with the rich and famous, including the Earl and Countess of Wessex. Henderson would have been aware of her taste for the finer things in life. Her first husband, whom she married at 24, was a successful American banker. In 2000, she married Sol Kerzner, a hotel tycoon 34 years her senior.

Before their divorce in 2011, she had enjoyed the 82-year-old’s private jet and yacht, travelled to his luxury resorts in Mexico, Dubai, Mauritius and the Maldives, and lived in the Bahamas, on a Buckinghamshire country estate and in west London. Henderson proposed on Valentine’s Day this year. Before his resignation last year, Lord Bell had won a contract to represent Oakbay Investments, a company owned by the wealthy Gupta family.

The deal, rumoured to be worth £100 000 (R1.7-million) a month, was to promote “economic emancipation”.

But, allegations of dirty tricks forced Henderson to commission an independent report. It made damning reading and the fallout was spectacular.

Henderson and Kerzner have not been available for comment.