What has become of the “love rat” James Hewitt?
In the first of a new series, we seek to find out what has become of well-known individuals who have faded into obscurity or moved on into others arenas.
Our first subject, James Hewitt, will forever be remembered for two things: One will be his affair with Princess Diana. The second will be his “caddish” attempts to sell stories and information relating to this.
After the death of “The People’s Princess”, Hewitt appeared on various reality television shows and attempted to sell 64 personal letters he’d received from Diana for £10 million in 2003. Uproar followed and though no purchase followed, his copybook was well and truly blotted.
In a March 2009 interview with the now wife of Piers Morgan, Celia Walden, for The Telegraph, Hewitt commented:
“London became like living in a goldfish bowl… I’ve let go of England but I do wish it all the best. And honestly, it’s paradise [in Spain]: I feel so lucky… And I don’t deserve that luck… I’m no longer wanted in England. I could never walk down Oxford Street again. I couldn’t live with the rejection that may happen.”
Walden’s feature was timed to coincide with the opening of a bar and restaurant named Polo House that Hewitt has run with Ram Nandkishore since then. The bar, which the recently arrested “celebrity PR” Max Clifford has promoted, became the haunt of the likes of Pat Cash, Martina Hingis and Lauren Goodger, Cara Kilbey and Frankie Essex of The Only Way is Essex.
Today, though, it was announced by The Telegraph’s “Mandrake” that the Polo House has closed. A spokesman for Hewitt and Nandkishore told the paper:
“After four relatively happy years, and one bad year, James and his business partner, Ram Nandkishore, decided to call it a day… The split was amicable and James will be staying in Spain and pursuing other interests. He’d had enough in the end. Polo House was a victim of the Spanish recession, but it was fun while it lasted”.
Whilst Polo House will now morph into a modern Indian tapas restaurant named Chowka, what, we may ask, will James Hewitt do next?