London - Eyebrows were raised among Lady Kitty Spencer’s social set when she started going out with Michael Lewis, a fashion tycoon nearly 32 years her senior.
But Princess Diana’s niece has proved their relationship is anything but a passing fancy. For I hear the 29-year-old society model has agreed to become the South Africa-born businessman’s second wife.
"Michael proposed to Kitty before Christmas," one of her friends tells me. "She’s been in Cape Town for the holidays and told her mother and the rest of the family. Michael is loved by all of them. Despite his wealth, he’s very humble and low key."
Lewis, who has an estimated fortune of £80-million, turns 61 this month and is five years older than Lady Kitty’s father, Earl Spencer.
Lewis has three adult children with his first wife, Leola, 59, whom he is understood to have married in an Orthodox Jewish ceremony in 1985. Leola signed a prenuptial agreement, but it’s not known if Lady Kitty will be asked to do likewise.
She has been seen attending synagogue with Lewis in London and could convert to Judaism before their wedding. Her cousin Prince William is, of course, future Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
Lewis is a generous philanthropist whose family foundation pledged £3-million to Oxford University in 2011 to fund the appointment of a Professor of Israel Studies.
The couple are understood to have met through their mutual friend Dr Liam Fox, the former Defence Secretary. Lady Kitty is patron of a charity he founded, Give Us Time, which donates holidays for soldiers in need of R&R. Lewis donated thousands of pounds to Fox’s defunct Atlantic Bridge organisation.
When not at Lewis’s £19-million mansion in Central London, the couple have been enjoying a series of holidays in romantic locations including Capri in Italy and that playground of the rich, The Hamptons, in New York state.
Although their age difference might put off some women, Lady Kitty does like older men. Her last boyfriend was Italian property magnate Niccolo Barattieri di San Pietro. He’s 48, so a mere slip of a lad.