He was a hair’s breadth away from death when, aged 26, the helicopter he was traveling in lost control and crashed in an Oxfordshire field.
Since then, Marks & Spencer heiress Rebecca Sieff’s life has been defined by extravagant swings of fortune, with moments of triumph such as marrying Simon Howard at his family home, the unrivaled Castle Howard (backdrop of Brideshead Revisited and Bridgerton) alternating with setbacks, none more somber than Simon’s death at a time when he was in no position to contest the serious charges against him in court.
I can now reveal that, two years after Simon succumbed to an insulin overdose while in hospital, Rebecca looks ready for a new romantic chapter.
A sultry beauty blessed with what her admirers call the “wow” factor, she has had an electrifying effect on men for decades, as Simon discovered towards the end of his childless 16-year marriage to Anette, known as “Scruff”.
Marks & Spencer heiress Rebecca Sieff has been defined by extravagant reversals of fortune
I can now reveal that, two years after Simon succumbed to an insulin overdose while in hospital, Rebecca looks ready for a new romantic chapter.
Simon Howard and his wife Rebecca at their stately Castle Howard home
And, at 57 years old, his powers are still intact. I’m told he enjoys the company of Patrick Waterfield, 65, a businessman whom an acquaintance jokingly describes as “a bit of an old rake.”
The friends are intrigued. “He’s a quintessential old-school English guy,” a friend tells me.
‘Red pants, Gucci loafers and I probably used to spend a lot of time at Brinkley’s (Chelsea’s bar). He’s the kind of Englishman who thinks it’s okay to wear clothes with holes in them.
Waterfield, who has three adult daughters thanks to his marriage to the baronet’s daughter, Nadia Stewart-Clark, cannot claim anything like Castle Howard or the 10,000 acres that surround it, or even anything on the more modest scale of Welham Hall, the manor house. which Simon and Rebecca moved into when Simon was evicted as custodian of Castle Howard by his older brother Nick in 2014.
It was a blow that Rebecca, great-great-granddaughter of M&S founder Michael Marks, possibly felt even more acutely than Simon, with whom she had had twins, Merlin and Octavia.
Simon Howard and his wife Rebecca pictured outside their former stately home Castle Howard in North Yorkshire, which they left in 2015.
Castle Howard as it appeared in Brideshead Revisited
An aerial drone view of the Castle Howard estate in 2020
“Now every time I pass Castle Howard, a chill runs through me, like someone is walking over my grave,” said Rebecca, three years later.
She had been bitterly hurt by a magazine article that appeared a year after her marriage to Simon in 2001. It was titled: “The Woman Who Set Out to Marry a House.”
But her love for Simon was evident in her final, turbulent years. He suffered a brain hemorrhage after falling down the stairs and was too ill to attend court, where he was found guilty, “on the facts,” of sexually assaulting a girl in 1984.
Rebecca said that if he had been able to defend himself, she had “no doubt” the outcome would have been different.
Waterfield tells me: “It’s still early, but we’re very happy.”