EMILY PRESCOTT: Rose Hanbury’s ‘erotic, exotic and eccentric’ teenage years are detailed in a new book
She always looks stiff and demure when spotted at royal events with her friends and former neighbors, the Prince and Princess of Wales – but it seems Rose Hanbury has a wild side.
The Marchioness of Cholmondeley certainly doesn’t seem averse to a touch of hedonism in celebrity Violet Naylor-Leyland’s new book, Rare Birds True Style, in which Rose and her sister Marina share some ‘moody’ shots at their grand childhood mansion, Wembury, making house in Devon.
The book describes the “erotic, exotic, and eccentric” parties there, describes rooms adorned with garters that double as curtain trimmings, and features a bizarre image of a stuffed sea turtle in the downstairs loo.
Rose recalls how her parents transformed the mansion for parties during her teenage years: “Mum turned the basement into a nightclub for us, painted the whole place herself and hung Moroccan lanterns and suzanis on the walls. It felt a bit like an opium den.’ At a dinner party indoors, Rose – whose grandmother was a bridesmaid at the late Queen’s wedding to the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947 – opted for a catch of the day outfit with a fishnet and an octopus on her head.
She always looks stiff and demure when spotted at royal events with her friends and former neighbors, the Prince and Princess of Wales – but it seems Rose Hanbury has a wild side
Violet Naylor-Leyland in her latex deep sea diver bindy dress, tailored by eco-design innovators Vin + Omi. binding
Another do, themed as “dangerous,” featured a game in which a loo roll doused in gasoline and set on fire was used as a hockey ball.
This was banned after someone’s hair caught fire.
Violet, who explores the homes of other celebrities like Lady Martha Sitwell and jewelry designer Sabine Getty in the book, had her own risqué moments. She turned up for a Christmas drink at Hatchards, London’s oldest bookshop, in a latex “deep sea diver” dress, which she tells me was designed by her friends’ brand, Vin + Omi. The company has previously made clothing using nettles from King Charles’ garden.