ANTHEA TURNER Bags of fun for the presenter while wedding plans are on hold
LIFE IS BLOOMING AS SHE LOOKS FORWARD TO MARRIAGE WITH MARK
Her
original plans for a wedding in Italy are still postponed from September last year, so eternally optimistic broadcaster Anthea Turner is making the most of her lengthier engagement to businessman Mark Armstrong, whom she describes as “the absolute love of my life”.
“Mark and I are living together in London and I’m slowly putting my stamp on his place. It’s being ‘ de- bloked’ as we speak, but he hasn’t realised yet,” she tells us. “I actually think he is secretly enjoying it. At our age we are merging two lives and lifestyles and tastes, so we are having fun navigating all that.”
As for setting the date, she says: “Italy is still being considered but it has become complicated with all the travel issues, so we will have to wait and see what next year brings. As you get older you don’t worry about these things in the same way. It will all fall into place when the time is right.”
While wedding plans are in the slow lane, their romance moved at whirlwind speed: just two months after their first date, Mark proposed in 2019 in Rome, where they had travelled for her half- Italian partner’s birthday on 1 September.
There have also been other memorable dates recently, including celebrating her 61st in Brighton when restrictions lifted – “We were so grateful to get away for a few nights and wake up and look at the sea, which is my idea of heaven” – and being reunited with her 90-yearold mum and 88-year-old dad in Stoke-on-Trent. “We had been in constant phone contact, but it was gorgeous to see them at last.”
PASSION PROJECT
She has also been having bags of fun, turning her talents to working with Sarah Haran on her own handbag collection.
Known for her clever and stylish signature creations that can be worn in different ways, Sarah is launching Anthea’s Chrysanthea range – a cross-body or shoulder bag that has a distinctive detachable smaller pouch bag on the front – this week.
Posing for these exclusive photos at Eastwell Manor in Kent with her French bulldog, Soho, Anthea tells how it’s been a personal passion project. “Your handbag is an extension of you, isn’t it? It’s your little piece of home when you are not there, so it’s a vital piece of kit.
“I feel i t needs to be an investment piece that can’t just look good, it has to be functional, wear after wear, year after year.”
Known as the original Queen of Clean, Anthea – who came up with
the sweet name for the bag with Sarah, combining her own with that of the garden flower – is unlikely to include the usual clutter we all tend to carry around in our handbags – though she laughs as she says: “Like a squirrel, I always keep some nuts on hand, to keep away any hunger pangs.”
And she always carries a notebook and pen. “I know you can make lists on your phone, but you can’t beat the written word – and it stops me forgetting anything important!”
The Chr ysanthea is available in aubergine, caramel, blue pearl and black. For more info, visit sarahharan.com.
‘Mark and I are living together in London and I’m slowly putting my stamp on his place’