Heiress reveals her wedding – in Schroders annual report!

As an excuse to miss a meeting, it’s not a bad one.

Buried in fund manager Schroders’ annual report is the unusual line that a female director missed a board meeting “due to her honeymoon”.

The director in question is heiress Leonie Schroder, who was once called “arguably Britain’s most eligible woman” and has an estimated net worth of £3.9 billion.

Her engagement to Old Etonian management consultant Guy Blakeney was announced in July 2022, but there has been no news of their nuptials so far.

He inherited a stake in Schroders along with a board seat after his father Bruno died in 2019.

Together with Claire Fitzalan Howard, she represents the interests of the Schroder family in the boardroom. Both women are descendants of John Henry Schroder, who co-founded the wealth management firm in 1804.

Schroders has grown to become the UK’s largest asset manager and now manages more than £750bn of funds. Its chief executive, Peter Harrison, plans to retire next year after eight years in the role.

He earned £6.2m in 2023, almost a third more than the previous year but not enough to place him in the top 20 highest-paid FTSE 100 bosses.

A replacement for Harrison is being sought.

It’s been an eventful time for Leonie Schroder. As well as getting married for the second time in a ceremony believed to have been low-key, she also turned 50 earlier this year.

Her ex-husband, Nicholas Fane, tragically died shortly after their divorce about a decade ago.

He has held a number of management positions since graduating from the University of St Andrews, including his father’s 18,500-acre Dunlossit estate on the Scottish island of Islay, and his own 1,200-acre Hurstbourne Park estate in Hampshire.

Schroders declined to comment.