Tatler UK - 08.2019

Tatler August 2019 tatler.com

Champagne, custom-made

gowns and caviar are a

given, but influence is all.

Who tops the most socially

significant list in 2019?

the social

power index

PHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY IMAGES; DAFYDD JONES; SHUTTERSTOCK

Power is the great aphrodisiac, social power the greatest of all.

Assemble the right mix of glamour, money, politics and intrigue,

and you have all the elements of a night to remember.

Because it’s the guests that count. Guests who have power

and influence. Guests who speak to the times we live in, from

footballers like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to Brexiteers like Lord

Bamford and dazzling intellectuals like Laura Kuenssberg – the

only person who understands exactly what’s going on, politically.

Which is why Tatler’s Social Power Index is so important.

Those on it have brains, beauty and éclat. With them at the

ball, it’s not just a fun-filled frolic – it’s the only place to be,

the place where the real deal is going on. The place where you

can persuade cabinet ministers to save Covent Garden from the

wrecking ball. The place where alliances are forged, headlines

made and pleasure had. As they were at the parties thrown

by Chips Channon, the 1930s socialite MP, who’d have field

marshals, crowned heads of state and literary luminaries to his

glittering drawing room. Though today’s hubs of influence

lack one Channon-esque ingredient: the amphetamine-laced

cocktails that, he said, ‘always make a party go’. (^) ]
ALEX OXLADE-
CHAMBERLAIN &
PERRIE EDWARDS
The ultra-handsome Liverpool
midfielder has spent most of this
season with an injury – giving
him lots of time to hit the best
parties with Little Mix singer
Perrie. Embodying modern
glamour and success, they’re the
new social power couple
everyone wants a piece of.
THE HON WILL
& LOHRALEE
ASTOR
They met on the dance
floor at Raffles, and while
those heady days are behind
them, this power couple
still have serious social
cachet – invitations to Villa
Astor in St Tropez are
highly sought after.
THE MARQUESS &
MARCHIONESS
OF CHOLMONDELEY
David and Rose don’t stray from
Norfolk much, and while certain
neighbours don’t swing by anymore,
Houghton still remains a hot ticket

• be it for summer suppers on the
  lawn or shooting weekends.

5

10

9

THE

TOP TEN

THE

SOCIAL

POWER

INDEX

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