Jewish SA-born magnate to marry Princess Diana’s niece

NICOLA MILTZ

So, Cape Town high society and British royal circles were agog this festive season with the surprising news that Princess Diana’s niece said “yes” to Jewish South African-born, British fashion giant Michael Lewis.

Lewis, 61, is the chairperson of The Foschini Group (TFG), and is 32 years older than his 29-year-old elegant fiancée, Lady Kitty Spencer, the first cousin of Princes William and Harry.

The couple have not made a formal announcement, but the engagement has been widely reported in the British press.

Lewis proposed in Cape Town before Christmas, according to speculation.

While the world watched the “Megxit” drama (Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s exit from their royal duties) over the past few weeks, Lewis and his soon-to-be-bride enjoyed a romantic holiday in Cape Town, where Lewis owns a luxurious apartment. The pair have individually both lived in Cape Town, and they retain strong links to South Africa.

The couple wined and dined at Cape Town’s finest eateries, and enjoyed sumptuous dinner parties with family and close friends along the Atlantic Seaboard.

Lady Kitty is the eldest daughter of Earl Charles Spencer, the younger brother of the late Princess Diana, who she has often been compared to. Comparisons have also been drawn between Lady Kitty and Prince William’s daughter, Charlotte, when the model shared a photograph of herself on her first day of school on Instagram.

She is a model and socialite who posts regular photographs of herself on Instagram and Facebook, while her distinguished looking, silver-haired fiancée avoids the limelight, and appears to be media shy.

Lady Kitty, who has modelled for Dolce&Gabbana and has more than 500 000 followers on Instagram, posted holiday snapshots including a Cape Town sunset with the caption, “First sunset of the new year.”

However, since news of their forthcoming nuptials rippled through elite British circles, Lady Kitty has gone quiet on social media and sources close to the couple say they have chosen to lie low.

The couple began dating sometime in 2018 according to media reports, and it’s understood they spent Christmas and New Year in the Mother City.

The Spencers relocated to South Africa in 1995, and when Kitty’s parents, Charles Spencer and former model Victoria Aitken, divorced two years later, her father moved back to the United Kingdom while Kitty and her siblings stayed in South Africa with their mother.

Lady Kitty grew up out of the limelight in Cape Town, and attended Redham House. She lived with her mother and siblings in a gated estate in Constantia, and studied at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She reportedly spent holidays with her father at Althorp, the family’s ancestral home, where her aunt, Lady Diana, is buried.

Lewis is also a graduate of UCT. His late grandfather, Meyer Lewis, founded the Lewis furniture retailer, the Lewis Group, in the 1930s, and his late father, Stanley, acquired a controlling share in Foschini years later when Foschini was experiencing financial difficulties, turning the business completely around.

Michael Lewis followed in his entrepreneurial father’s steps on the Foschini board and according to Business Insider, sold 16% of his stake in the group in 2016. He has served as TFG chairperson since 2015.

Some of the brands under TFG include Foschini, @home, @home livingspace, American Swiss, Fabiani, G-Star Raw, Sportscene, Totalsports, and Markham including several others.

According to media reports, Lewis, who moved to London from Cape Town in the 1980s, has an estimated net worth of about R1.4 billion. He is divorced from Leola Lewis, and they have three adult children. Lewis founded the family’s investment company, Oceana Investment Corporation, and Israeli biotechnology company Prochon.

The late Stanley Lewis was described by many as a businessman extraordinaire, and a generous benefactor. He passed away in London in 2009, and is survived by his wife Zea and four children Renee, Michael, Wendy, and Cheryl. The family set up the Stanley and Zea Lewis Family Foundation which is a grant-making foundation with a particular focus on Jewish causes as well as other charities. Together with Telfed (the South African Zionist Federation in Israel), the foundation has provided hundreds of scholarships for Southern African students in Israel.

It has awarded grants to a number of organisations including several synagogues, the Community Security Trust, charity DALAID, the Holocaust Educational Trust, Chai Cancer Centre, Jewish Care, and Women’s International Zionist Organisation, to name a few.

In 2011, the foundation gave £3 million (R56.2 million) to Oxford University to fund the appointment of a professor in Modern Israel studies. The foundation donated £193 239 (R3.6 million) to the United Jewish Israel Appeal between April 2009 and March 2011.

It isn’t known when the couple will officially tie the knot, and whether they will choose the fairest Cape as the place to say, “I do.”