Entrepreneur and America’s Cup yachtsman Peter de Savary, whose property empire once included Land’s End and John o’Groats, has died aged 78.
Born in Essex to a French-born pig farmer, de Savary spent part of his early childhood in Venezuela with his mother and her second husband, a Shell Oil executive, before returning to England to enrol at Charterhouse.
Despite achieving great financial and professional success later in life (he made his first million by the time he was 30), De Savary displayed little interest in academia, according to The Times, and was reportedly expelled from school after being found in bed with his housemaster’s au pair.
The businessman, described as a ‘buccaneer’ and a ‘maverick’ in the wake of his death, initially made his fortune by setting up an import-export business selling goods to Africa, and later had interests in petrol and shipping, the Daily Mail reported.
However he was perhaps best known for his hospitality ventures. He was the founder of the St James's Club franchise; opening his first outpost in London in 1981. It was followed by establishments in New York, Antigua and Paris.
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The thrice-married businessman at one point owned Skibo Castle, the 1,200-acre estate in the Scottish Highlands that was once the summer home of industrialist Andrew Carnegie and famously hosted the 2000 wedding of Madonna and Guy Ritchie.
De Savary’s varied property portfolio also included Bovey Castle, on the edge of Dartmoor National Park; the 15-bedroom John O’Groats House Hotel and adjacent acreage; and 100 acres at Land’s End, although they were all later sold.
His private life was as colourful as his professional endeavours. De Savary was first married to Marcia, the mother of his two eldest daughters, who, following their divorce, became the third wife of Sir John ‘Jackie’ Astor. In 1985, De Savary had a fleeting second marriage to his secretary, Alice Simms. The couple separated within six weeks and the following year he married his third wife, Lana Paton, with whom he welcomed three more daughters.
In 1987, while travelling with his family in the Caribbean, De Savary was in a plane crash that killed the pilot. ‘At that point, my philosophy on life changed,’ he later reflected, according to The Daily Telegraph. ‘When you genuinely look death in the eye, you know it’s a pretty tenuous thing we’re hanging on to.’
De Savary, who suffered a suspected heart attack near his houseboat on the River Thames at Chelsea, is survived by his wife and five daughters.
Speaking to the Daily Mail this week, Lana said: ‘Peter was extraordinary, not just as a businessman but as a wonderful mentor, loving husband and father of five daughters. He was remarkable, an enormous gap will be left in our lives.’
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