Marriage joy for the lover of Camilla’s late brother
WHEN the Duchess of Cornwall’s adored brother Mark Shand died, the adventurer’s young lover Ruth Powys held his hand, with her other hand on his heart as it stopped beating.
‘He was the greatest love of my life, and now we’ve got to do without him,’ she said sorrowfully.
Three years later, however, the 39-year-old charity worker has begun a new stage in her life — by marrying a former Goldman Sachs partner. She and Ramani Ganesh, 47, tied the knot last weekend in a joyful ceremony attended by Shand’s 21-year-old daughter, Ayesha.
‘We are all delighted for Ruth,’ says one of the friends who attended the ceremony on Saturday at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, which was decorated with wooden statues of elephants. ‘It was a lovely day.’ Ruth met charismatic conservationist Shand (both left) — who was 62 when he died in New York — through her work for his charity, the Elephant Family. ‘I didn’t know him before we met, but we clicked straight away,’ she said. ‘We had the same spirit, even though I was a meat-and-potato girl from the North.’ The pair became lovers after he divorced his wife of ten years, former model Clio Goldsmith — niece of the late tycoon Sir James. ‘There was an age gap and I worried
Sir Paul McCartney once declared that all you need is love, but at the grand old age of 75 he’s singing a different tune. The former Beatle, who is on tour in the U.S., now asks: ‘What more do you need than friends, relatives and a bag?’ Not quite as catchy.
about how it would look — an older man with a younger woman,’ Ruth said.
‘I didn’t want to hurt his ex–wife, I didn’t ever want to go public. We were very happy, very grateful to each other.’
Ruth met Mark’s sister, Camilla, on several occasions, including at a charity event: ‘She gave me a hug, she knew we were close.’
Shand died after suffering a serious head injury in a fall and since then Ruth has continued her work as the Elephant Family’s chief executive.
She met Ganesh through his support for the charity. ‘Ganesh’ is the Hindu elephant god.
‘I will be Mrs Ganesh, which is hilarious given the Asian elephants,’ Ruth said after he proposed last autumn.
‘I can’t help but think that Mark has pulled a string and that it’s some kind of joke.’