Britain’s most eligible rolled up to the Windmill club last night – that historic bastion of Soho, bathed in velvety red light. The rain lashed down outside, but behind the doors it was all hedonism: champagne, dancing and (honourable) canoodling, interspersed with burlesque performances.
You heard it here first. Being single has never been so much fun. Lady Gina Hope was stationed on the front door with an iPad, ushering guests into the opulent party, but not before Emilia Boateng ensured she had captured the shot outside the club. Effervescent in a huge fluffy coat from Michael Kors, she later raved about her Tatler cover, on sale now, holding court from a velvet booth. Jesse Grylls took to the dance floor almost immediately, in a bravely relaxed t-shirt and blazer – he’s the son of Bear Grylls after all, and it’s all about Survival Academy chic.
A raft of socialites couldn’t help but ask Gemma Owen where her velvet dress was from. She was after a rosé, but settled for champagne Laurent Perrier and got chatting about her glamorous Tatler shoot and how it had got the whole Owen family excited. Her relationship with Luca, she said, has undergone a change in pace since leaving the villa: ‘It’s been crazy! I’m a home bird at heart, but we’ve been managing to make it work.’
Flora Lindsay partied with her siblings Molly and Patrick, in her ‘granny’s’ beautiful velvet blazer, and danced with her army-boy date, Xander Lland. The dapper Marquess of Lorne threw an arm around model the Hon. Delphi Primrose and admired her slicked back hairstyle as they bumped into each other on the stairs on the way into the party. She later chatted on the sofa with newly single Samuel Aitkin, handsome in a low-cut V-neck jumper. Lady Amelia Spencer twirled around the dance floor next to him with fiancé Greg Mallet and sister Lady Eliza Spencer.
Casamigos margaritas were ravenously popular at the bar, where Angus Lineker remarked on how beautiful all the girls were. Meanwhile, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story star India Ria Amarteifio dazzled on the dance floor, where the Flag twins cheered on the performers with champagne bottles. Parisian It girl of the moment, Zita d’Hautville, held court in the smoking area; her beguiling French accent cutting through the rain as she drafted witty Instagram captions and begged fellow socialites not to steal her ideas. Rina Lipa was quite the fan of the MOTH canned cocktails – the new It drink in town. Charles Aithrie, meanwhile, could be seen enjoying Estrella Damm.
