Any awkward conversations, Malia?
Ex-president’s daughter has fallen for ‘failed lad’ related to former Queen’s courtier and judge
IN A self-deprecating letter to his younger self, Rory Farquharson once bemoaned how he was a “lanky over-confident public school boy” whose “floppy mop” was embarrassingly unattractive to girls.
The former head boy at Rugby School even berated himself for being desperate to prove to his friends what “a lad” he was, but admitted that he had “failed miserably”.
So, it may come as a surprise to his younger self that he has been romantically linked to one of the most eligible women of the Western world after he was filmed kissing Malia Obama, eldest daughter of the former US president. The video, which has gone viral after being taken during a football match in the US, sparked speculation that the two Harvard students are officially an “item”.
That letter, published a few years ago in the Rugby School magazine, the
Meteor, was addressed to his 16-yearold self, and may now prove somewhat embarrassing. He even explains how his determination to appear “cool” meant he stole the sunglasses belonging to his father, Charles Farquharson, a 57-year-old investment banker from Suffolk, and lied to his mother, Catherine, 58, about his whereabouts.
Referring to a photograph of him in the magazine, Rory Farquharson wrote: “You’ve slipped on a pair of your dad’s Ray Bans (he’s not best pleased when he finds out) and smugly informed your mum that you’re going to Ollie’s house – in fact you’ve sneaked off to London with some mates. And for goodness’ sake, get a haircut. Despite what you think, your floppy mop isn’t attracting the girls.”
Last night, residents in the quintessentially English village of Martlesham in Suffolk, where he spent much of his adolescence at the family’s £1.6million home were hoping that he would bring his new girlfriend, also 19, to visit.
“I say good luck to him, and good on him,” one neighbour, who did not want to be named, joked, giving a thumbs-up. The barmaid at the nearby Red Lion said: “Everyone is given a warm welcome here – it’d be lovely if the Obamas came to visit.” However, no one answered the door at the Farquharsons’ London or Suffolk homes and the student’s Facebook and Twitter pages had been removed from public view. Last night, Barack Obama tweeted a picture of his wife, and two daughters, Malia and Natasha, and wished his followers a “Happy Thanksgiving”. While it was not known whether Rory was spending the day with them, the former president may find some comfort in how the new boyfriend of his eldest daughter, who grew up in the White House, has links to the Queen, Prince Charles and the highest echelons of the judiciary. Rory’s second cousin, Andrew Farquharson, can boast of having once lived in Buckingham Palace as a career courtier. He was the Queen’s assistant master of the household, responsible for handling a budget of thousands of pounds for food and drink at events ranging from state banquets to summer picnics in Balmoral.
During his near 10 years of service, he was instrumental in sacking a kitchen porter who was said to have claimed she could have laced the Queen’s food with cyanide without anyone noticing.
When writing to dismiss Monica Traub, then 46, he explained in his letter that such comments were “an act of gross misconduct”. Ms Traub, originally from Germany, was promptly escorted from the Sandringham estate. She later told journalists that “people had been deliberately nasty” to her over a throwaway comment.
Mr Farquharson’s influence within the Royal household even allowed him to persuade the Queen to opt for Tesco Christmas puddings to offer as Yuletide gifts, rather than the more costly Harrods and Fortnum & Mason’s delicacies she normally chose.
The Queen was so impressed with his service that she later made him a member of her own order of chivalry, the Royal Victorian Order.
In 2006, he was poached by Prince Charles to serve as his deputy master of the household at Clarence House. However, in 2009, Mr Farquharson’s six-figure salary role was axed, a move said to have angered the courtier so much that he refused the prince’s offer to work out his six months’ notice.
He is now the head of household at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland.
If that were not enough, Rory’s great uncle was Sir Donald Farquharson, a respected judge and barrister.
He was the presiding judge who jailed Lester Piggott for three years after the champion jockey admitted a £3 million tax fraud.
As a barrister he prosecuted the Streatham madam Cynthia Payne, whose south London brothel he described as “well run” and popular with vicars, MPS and aristocrats alike.
‘Get a haircut. Despite what you think, your floppy mop isn’t attracting the girls’