Rich List 2017
70 • thesundaytimes.co.uk/richlistsoar (figures show a 12% rise in profits to £1.7m on sales
of £23.8m in 2016).
Astor may be not far off her eighth decade, but she
has the stamina and complexion of someone 20 years
younger. She’s dressed casually in an oversized shirt
and slim-fit jeans, and is warm and unassuming.
Despite her eminent heritage, she isn’t at home in the
spotlight. “I don’t feel very comfortable talking about
myself. I’m more interested in other people. I’m not
someone to dwell on the sadness of life. You just move
on and there’s going to be a better day tomorrow.”
Astor has certainly overcome her fair share of
obstacles. She was born three years after the end of the
Second World War, when her mother was just 17 and
her father 20, which forced the young family to rely
heavily on her paternal grandparents — Bagnold and
her husband, Roderick Jones, chairman of Reuters.
However, before the war, Jones had traded in his
Reuters shares for an annuity that wasn’t index-linked,
which meant that “by the time the 1950s came, there
was no money”. It was Bagnold who turned the family’s
fortunes around with her play The Chalk Garden.
“She earned a huge sum of money that kept us all going.
I’ve heard the figure £100,000 bandied around.”
Astor’s parents divorced when she was eight.
Although, in the past, she has described them as “the
most divine people”, they were young and their lives
too chaotic to foster any sense of stability for their
daughter. Astor launched her first company, the
jewellery shop Annabel Jones, in 1967, when she was
only 19. “The only jobs available to girls were PA roles or
answering the telephone. I knew I had to earn money
and I’d read up about gemstones as a teenager, so that
set my idea going.”
Two years later she married Reginald Sheffield and
had Samantha and Emily (who is now the deputy editor
of British Vogue). They divorced five years later. In 1976,
she married William Astor and went on to have three
more children.
Did these unsettling times strengthen her resolve to
be self-sufficient — both emotionally and financially?
“Work helped me through when my marriage broke up.
It was incredibly important ... I don’t think money
makes you any happier, but it does give you control over
how you want to live. What I love now is that if I want to
buy something really extravagant, I don’t have to ask
my husband. That’s a wonderful feeling.”
The guilt that is supposed to plague today’s working
mothers didn’t register for Astor. “It’s about making
sure you come home from work at the same time every
day. I always used to do bath time with them. If you
can’t, explain to the children beforehand that you won’t
be there. All my children say they are so pleased I went
to work. They have respect for me and feel like they can
talk to me about their careers.”
Earlier this year, Samantha launched Cefinn, a
fashion label specialising in chic, minimalist pieces forthe “busy, modern woman”. Was Astor involved? “I’ll
always give her advice if she asks for it. It’s usually on a
level of putting her in touch with people. We’ve always
discussed retail, it’s in our bones ... Samantha, Nancy
[Cameron’s eldest daughter] and I are all passionate
about sewing. Even now, I might see a dress in Zara that
is too short for me, so I buy a second one and resew the
entire thing to make another dress. Getting something
made is not so much fun.”
Astor, whose 15th grandchild will arrive in August,
won’t be drawn on how the family coped with her
son-in-law’s abrupt departure from Downing Street
after the EU referendum. She does speak more
generally, however, about how fond she is of her
daughters’ partners. “I notice with all of them that they
are very hands-on. They do the cooking, they stack the
dishwasher. They work very hard, but they all share the
responsibility for the children.”
Has Brexit had an impact on the day-to-day running
of Oka? “It has had an impact in lots of areas —
shipping, for example. But our sales are still going up,”
she responds concisely.
Astor is adamant that the wealthy have a
responsibility to give back to society, but she chooses to
steer clear of philanthropy. “I don’t do a lot of charitable
work because I don’t like the idea of sitting on a charity
as a name without doing the work. I feel that my job is
to put back by employing people. We employ over 200
people directly at Oka and then there are the
tradespeople and lorry workers who work for us on top
of that. All of that contributes to what is important in
British life, which is making sure there is growth.”
There was a time following the 2007-08 credit
crunch when Astor worried Oka might go bust. No
matter how many sofas they shift or stores they open
(the current tally is 14), the fear that it might all crumble
still lingers. “Subconsciously, I do worry about money.
It’s a feeling of vulnerability, of not being able to control
my life ... People’s shopping habits are changing. They
like to go into our shops, look at things and then go
home and measure up and order online. You need to
understand those dynamics.”
The retirement question looms large. “It’s a big
discussion between my husband and I,” she laughs.
“He still works. Last week, he was in Beijing and I was
in Shanghai visiting factories. We’ve got a lot of energy,
but I go through moments when I feel tired.”
How would she cope with so much free time?
“Oh, I’d be ghastly!” she exclaims.
She doesn’t seem the ghastly sort, but I can’t see
her putting her feet up on an upholstered Oka footstool
any time soon nAll my children are
pleased I went to work.
They have respect for me
and feel they can talk to
me about their careers”
“
FIRST FAMILY
Lady Astor with
David Cameron
and her daughter
Samantha at a
wedding in 2006.
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Astor in her
Belgravia homeGOFFINF.COM