Why is Cara’s clan so keen to keep Xmas bash under wraps?
WHILE millions were forced to cancel longplanned celebrations with family elsewhere in the country, Cara Delevingne enjoyed a Christmas fit for an aristocrat.
I hear the top model and actress’s father, Charles, hired a Palladian mansion in Oxfordshire for a lavish party for four generations of their family, complete with staff to deal with the more mundane tasks of seasonal cooking and cleaning.
‘Charles spent a fortune and went to some lengths to keep it all private,’ I’m told, ‘but the number of cars — plus the comings and goings of the staff — meant it was never likely to stay secret for long.’
The jamboree was held at Aynhoe Park, a 17th- century country pile where rocker Noel Gallagher threw a raucous 50th birthday party and Jade Jagger celebrated her wedding.
The Grade I-listed property has 28 bedrooms and is packed with quirky treasures including giant glitterballs, a stuffed zebra rocking horse and a polar bear guarding ancient artefacts. Its gardens were designed by Capability Brown.
The house, which was visited by Charles I and Sir Winston Churchill, is owned by Charles Delevingne’s fellow property developer James Perkins, who made his fortune from raves. Perkins is a close friend of Cara’s sister Chloe.
Boris Johnson effectively cancelled Christmas for much of the country when he announced a new ‘stay at home’ order on December 19 that covered London and much of the south and east of England. Charles and his wife Pandora, who have homes in Tier 4 London and Sussex, hosted the party, which is understood to have been attended by Chloe, her sister Poppy and their families, as well as Los Angeles-based Cara and her grandmother, Jane Stevens.
The Delevingne sisters are prolific on social media and usually share photographs of their partying with millions of followers.
However, the only picture posted online by Cara was taken at Poppy’s West London home weeks before Christmas. Cara said she was celebrating ‘with the fam’.
When I ask Charles about his hiring of Aynhoe, he remarks, nonchalantly: ‘And your point is?’
He insists it’s ‘wrong’ to suggest they breached restrictions, but declines to give further details.
In November, Cara reportedly attended Rita Ora’s secret 30th birthday party, which the pop singer later apologised for hosting and offered to pay a fine.
The party came less than a week after Cara attended an awards ceremony in LA, despite the 14-day quarantine order for travellers landing in the UK.