eBusiness Weekly
Princess Diana’s 29–year old niece is marrying the 61-year old chairperson of Foschini — Michael Lewis.
The 29-year-old niece of Princess Diana, Lady Kitty Spencer, got engaged to 61-year-old Foschini chairperson Michael Lewis over the holiday season, the Mirror reported.
South African-born Lewis, who is 32-years older than Spencer and 5 years older than her father, started dating Spencer in May 2018.
He has an estimated net worth of £80 million, or roughly R1,4 billion, and has three children who are reportedly in their 30s.
According to the Daily Mail, Lewis proposed to Spencer in Cape Town before Christmas while they were on holiday with family.
Here’s what you
need to know about Lewis
Business Report reported that Lewis’ grandfather Meyer Lewis founded popular furniture retailer the Lewis Group in South Africa in the 1930s.
It was his dad Stanley who bought a controlling stake in Foschini in the 1980s when the group was experiencing financial difficulties.
Lewis, who would follow his father on the Foschini board, sold 16 percent of his stake in the group in 2016.
He has served as the Foschini Group’s chairperson since 2015.
According to the Wall Street Journal, he holds an undergraduate and graduate degree from the University of Cape Town where Spencer also studied.
Lewis moved to London in the 1980s, before the fall of apartheid in South Africa, where he founded the family’s investment vehicle Oceana Investment Corporation.
He is said to be a major financial backer of the conservative party in the United Kingdom, according to Business Report.
He previously served on the supervisory board of German publishing company Axel Springer AG, and as chairman of ProChon Biotech Ltd, the Israeli biotech company he founded.
He follows Judaism, and in 2011 his family donated £3 million, or roughly R56 million, to Oxford University to fund the appointment of a Professor of Israel Studies, the Daily Mail reported.
In contrast to his socialite fiancée, Lewis reportedly avoids the limelight. — businessinsider.co.za.
