The Kooky kiss that’s destroyed a £400m romance
WITH a fortune of £329 million, she is richer than the Queen, so when heiress India Rose James began a serious relationship with the Earl of Yarborough’s son Will Pelham – heir to a £70 million pot – many predicted that a grand and lucrative high society union was on the cards.
But now it’s all over between them after India, 23, was caught passionately kissing guitarist Hugh Harris of rock band The Kooks at Annabel’s nightclub last week.
I spotted the pair locked in a passionate embrace in a dark corner of the members-only haunt on Thursday night.
I certainly didn’t expect their obvious affection to spill out on to the street but photographers later caught them in the act – and the sheepish look on their faces when they realised they’d been snapped spoke volumes.
A source said: ‘It’s come as a surprise to say the least. India has definitely left Will.
‘Kissing people in public has rather sealed the fate of their relationship.’
It must have been awkward for India when she got to work on Friday morning – as she and Will run the Soho Revue Gallery on Greek Street together.
India and Eton-educated Will, 24, had been dating for two years. They first met at her Hot And Cold-themed 18th birthday party.
The view was that the relationship would soon result in a fruitful marriage and the prospect was encouraged by their respective families, including Will’s father Charles Pelham, 8th Earl of Yarborough.
Brit School-educated Hugh, 28, is famously flamboyant and has a penchant for all-night parties. He has been in and out of the band in recent years, but was definitely a Kook when the group’s album Konk reached No1 in 2008. India became the youngest person on the Sunday Times Rich List in 2013 when she and her half-sister Fawn, 28, inherited 80 per cent of their grandfather Paul Raymond’s £650 million estate following his death in 2008 at the age of 82.
Porn baron Raymond made his name as the self-proclaimed ‘King of Soho’, building up his fortune after launching the country’s first topless dancing club and introducing top-shelf magazines to the UK.
He went on to buy the freeholds of almost two-thirds of Soho’s properties.
The sisters now own 60 acres of prime London property making them richer than the Queen, who is said to be worth about £320million.