Soukya’s royal connection
WE LEARNED last month that the Queen Consort was so exhausted by events surrounding the death of the Queen that she apparently took herself off for 10 days to the Soukya health farm in Bangalore, where she is said to have been a frequent visitor over the years.
Now a freelance journalist, Caroline Phillips, has written a piece making Dr Issac Mathai, the founder of the facility, sound rather a money-minded person.
Her 2,200 word article for the Times, begins, “I went to Camilla’s wellness retreat in India... For royalty and A-list celebrities, the go-to sanctuary is Soukya in India.”
It ends with the following paragraph: “After leaving Soukya, I got an email from Mathai. He apparently checks guests’ tips to therapists, keen to ensure that their £80 a week salaries are supplemented. ‘While you were here, other guests tipped around £300 to £500 per person for only a 14-day stay,’ he informed me. ‘Your tip of £80 is too low.’”
Phillips also alleges that Mathai was indiscreet about Soukya’s royal visitors and connections. “Camilla ‘took the whole place over with friends in 2017’, he tells me, while sitting behind a desk the size of a subcontinent.”
As Prince of Wales, Charles visited Soukya for his 71st birthday though he has yet to stay “‘because the security isn’t good enough for him,’ Mathai informs me.”
Phillips added: “Charles, Mathai divulged, had ayurvedic and naturopathic rejuvenation therapies, including shirodhara – in which calming medicinal oil or milk is poured on to the forehead. He also did meditation and yoga in the thatched yoga sala [room].”
She also revealed: “At the time we speak in 2019, Mathai has hopes of opening another luxury Soukya ‘integrative’ medical centre alongside the complementary health centre at Dumfries House, in Ayrshire, Scotland, which is part of the Prince’s Foundation.
“‘I’ve visited and am in discussions,’ he emails later. ‘HRH likes the idea of it being free for the local community and international money paying for it.’
“Mathai also largely credits himself for Indian traditional remedies being introduced to an NHS facility at St Charles’s Hospital, London – a centre inaugurated in April 2018 by Charles and India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi.”
Phillips writes about her own experiences: “In the uplifting surroundings of the library, I reflect on that other spiritual subject: money. It underpins everything at Soukya.
“Mathai charges $400 [£339] a consultation. Some treatments cost up to $300 [£254] an hour. It’s $85 [£72] in the campus shop for the pyjamas that everyone wears on campus. There’s a charge for consulting the priest. Perhaps learning to be less attached to money helps your spiritual growth.”
She reports that “several months later and with no medications, my moods are still stable and lighter, and my skin clear. So, yes, I’ll have ayurveda again. But maybe not at Soukya.”
Will the king and Camilla drop Soukya? The royals are notoriously sensitive about any kind of private gossip.
This is not the first time Phillips has written about Soukya. She did a piece for the FT Weekend on April 29, 2018: “It is a serious place, lacking the five-star comforts and fripperies of many health spas, and yet has become the retreat of choice for some extremely wealthy and wellconnected guests. Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, has been five times...”
The Financial Times added a line at the end: “Caroline Phillips was a guest of Soukya (soukya.com), which offers a week’s stay and wellness programme from £2,800 per week.
“Emirates has several flights per day from Dubai to Bangalore.”
Next week: Dr Mathai hits back.