Richard Kay is a gossip columnist for the Daily Mail. He turns up this unlikely art collector:
Until now, she has been known for disrobing as a lingerie model and being the ex-girlfriend of Formula 1 champion Jenson Button. But behind her stunning looks, Florence Brudenell-Bruce has been hiding a more high-minded pursuit.
For since graduating from Bristol University in history of art three years ago she has been busily building her own art collection. Now the 23-year-old, who is known as Flee, is ready to display her pieces of modern British art in a salon she is holding next week at the Old Bond Street gallery of Robin Katz – son of millionaire art dealer Daniel Katz.
Stowe-educated Flee, daughter of Old Etonian wine merchant Andrew Brudenell-Bruce, tells me: ‘Modelling and acting are what I do, but they can be such a rollercoaster, whereas art is lovely to have in my life as a constant. ‘I am obsessed with it. Whenever I finish a shoot, I come home with another piece under my arm.
‘My dad is a collector, so I followed him. I get more pleasure out of collecting art than buying clothes – that’s how I justify it.’
Aristocracy bid farewell Baroness Bondi