My multi million pound flat? It’s like a budget Downton set, says Rudd’s daughter
She’s mocked for magazine musings
FOR most millennials, their biggest interior decor concern is the shoddy furniture provided by their landlord.
But Flora Gill has rather more luxurious worries – as she has moved into her grandparents’ multi-million pound West London apartment. The 27-year-old – who is the daughter of former Home Secretary Amber Rudd and late journalist AA Gill – has described the plush Kensington property as ‘the budget set of a Downton Abbey remake’. ‘Everything has a tassel, a trim, a pattern. It all aggressively matches or aggressively clashes,’ she said. ‘Imagine if the family had lost the estate but crammed all the fancy fixtures into an apartment in London.’ Writing in society bible Tatler, the Oxford graduate revealed it was her mother who suggested she move into her deceased grandparents’ flat – reportedly worth £3mil- lion – with her boyfriend in September 2017. She added: ‘Today, when millennials must choose between rent and avocados, surely the positives of a free, large apartment in a prime Kensington location outweigh the negatives. While most of my friends have boomeranged back home or sleep in converted closets, I have a library, a garden square and a wine cellar.’ However she admitted there are downsides – particularly the dated interiors. The decor is difficult to ‘ come to terms with. Carpeted bathrooms, for example. How did anyone ever think they were a good idea? ‘I suppose they were once the equivalent of under-floor heating, but it’s safe to say they do not age well. There’s no central heating, there’s a persistent charity-bin smell, and the fridge freezes its contents (chickpea ice cream is not as tasty as hummus).’ She described what it was like having to go through her grandparents’ old possessions and discovering things about them that she was unaware of. She said: The most shocking ‘ find is an unexplained copy of Fifty Shades Of Grey. I block this from my mind... I’m mollified until I find the sequel concealed in a drawer – on audiotape.’ Some social media users mocked Miss Gill for apparently being out of touch with others of her generation. However the philosophy graduate is not unused to a more decadent lifestyle. Her mother was born in London to a successful stockbroker father and a mother who ran the Kensington Society – a civic group for the wealthy West London neighbourhood. Miss Rudd grew up a large townhouse in the area and a mansion in Wiltshire, and was educated at Cheltenham Ladies’ College. She married Mr Gill in 1990 and they had two children together – Alasdair and Flora. The couple separated five years later. Mr Gill passed away in December 2016 at the age of 62 after a battle with cancer. His former wife, Miss Rudd, 54, served as Home Secretary from 2016 until this year when she was forced to resign over the Windrush scandal. The makers of the 1994 film Four Weddings And A Funeral couldn’t afford to hire extras, so they called Miss Rudd to rally people to fill out the wedding scenes, a job she has mentioned in previous interviews. Miss Rudd, a descendent of Charles II, was asked to be the ‘aristocracy co-ordinator’, which entailed gathering people together to save money on hiring extras in a more conventional manner.
‘The decor is difficult to come to terms with’