Billionaire to fly 180 pals to India for birthday
Their extravagant parties are already legendary, but Tory donor and JCB tycoon Lord Bamford, who is worth £3.1 billion, and his wife Lady Bamford have excelled themselves when it comes to their joint 70th birthday.
For i can reveal the couple are chartering two private 737 jets and flying out the entire Chipping Norton set for an extremely luxurious passage to india.
eco-queen Carole Bamford, founder of Daylesford Organic farm, has said she ‘can’t be green all the time’ and it seems this is one of those occasions.
Among the 180 expected guests at the four-day jolly in Jaipur next month are ex-Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson, Alex James, the Blur bassist, News UK chief rebekah Brooks and her racehorse trainer husband Charlie, supermodel sisters Cara and Poppy Delevingne, Viscount and Viscountess Linley, actor Christopher Biggins and the property tycoon Tony Gallagher.
No expense is being spared at the colonial-themed celebrations to mark former air hostess Carole’s anniversary on April 29, and Anthony’s last October. The itinerary includes elephant rides and trips to the rambagh Palace, the former residence of the Maharaja of Jaipur, where there will be a pop-up indian bazaar.
The dress code is mostly ‘elegantly informal’, though the Bamfords are inviting guests to ‘spice up their outfit’ on the second night by delving into a ‘traditional dressing-up box’. On the final evening of dinner and dancing, the dress code is ‘raj White Night’.
however, the timing of the bash has not gone down well with JCB workers in Britain. Some 700 were laid off a few months ago owing to ‘ tough trading conditions’. in 2014, JCB opened two £63 million factories in Jaipur shortly after laying off another 150 British workers. To make matters worse, the itinerary for the birthday bash includes a tour of a JCB factory in Jaipur.
No wonder the Bamfords have banned the Chipping Norton crowd from posting party snaps on social media.
Guests have also been told there’s no need to tip the porters along the way, as the hotel and airport wallahs will have been ‘looked after’.
i do hope there won’t be a mutiny.