Zara quits high-tech firm after a Chinese takeover
THE QuEEn was memorably caught on camera calling Chinese officials ‘ very rude’ during President Xi Jinping’s state visit.
now it seems Her Majesty’s horsey granddaughter, Zara Phillips (pictured), isn’t keen on developing close economic ties with the Communist nation either. Olympic silver medallist Zara, 35, has resigned as a director of the Mayfair technology company Xinex Corporation, just over a year after she accepted a well-paid directorship advising the internet venture on ‘equestrian-related interests’.
Zara’s exit from the board follows major investment by three Chinese backers, one of whom is a member of the Communist party’s Political Consultative Conference in the corrupt Guangdong Province. Her fellow directors included Geoff Morrow, a former songwriter for Elvis Presley, who has reinvented himself as an entrepreneur.
Morrow is also the CEO of theatre group Gate Ventures, and is hoping for a hit after investing in former ITV boss Michael Grade’s new West End production of 42nd Street.
However, several of the previous London-based companies Morrow has worked for have been suspended from trading and delisted from the stock market.
Morrow brought in Chinese investment to Xinex through his business partner Johnny Hon, who chairs Gate Ventures. Xinex Corporation, which changed its name to G Entertainment Limited last month, has yet to file accounts, so it is unclear how much Zara was paid for her ‘wealth of experience’.
The career-minded royal is able to secure lucrative directorships because Princess Anne turned down titles for her children. Zara is thought to earn around £1 million a year from deals with Rolex and Land Rover, and her range of horsey jewellery.
‘They [the Royals] don’t give us any money,’ Zara’s husband, former England rugby captain Mike Tindall, said last year. ‘ We look after ourselves . . . we run our own life.’
A spokesman for Zara insists her departure from Xinex Corporation was planned. ‘Zara was assisting the company in a number of exciting potential equestrian projects,’ she says. ‘With these projects reaching their conclusion Zara has stepped down from the board.’