Peter de Savary during Cowes Week festival in 1987 (Picture: Rex)
Yachtsman and tycoon Peter de Savary, who built a property empire after being expelled from public school for allegedly bedding the headmaster’s au pair, has died at the age of 78.
The maverick entrepreneur amassed hotels, golf resorts and castles – and at one time owned both Land’s End and John O’Groats.
He also found the time to lead the British sailing team in two failed attempts to win the America’s Cup.
De Savary died on Sunday in Chelsea, south-west London.
His third wife Lana told MailOnline: ‘Peter was extraordinary, not just as a businessman but as a wonderful mentor, loving husband and father of five daughters. An enormous gap will be left in our lives.’
Lana, third wife, with Peter de Savary in 2008 (Picture: Rex)
The son of a French-born Essex farmer, de Savary was kicked out of Charterhouse School aged 16, allegedly after been caught in bed with the au pair. By the time he was 30, he had made his first million selling goods to Nigeria.
Amid a wide range of pursuits, de Savary became known for his hospitality career. He founded the St James’s Club in London in 1979, opening venues in Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Antigua, and started the Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle – the Highlands backdrop for Madonna’s wedding to Guy Ritchie in 2000.
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While travelling with his family from the Caribbean in 1987, their plane crashed, killing the pilot.
‘My philosophy on life changed,’ said de Savary, whose young daughter had to be revived on he beach. ‘When you look death in the eye, you know it’s a pretty tenuous thing we’re hanging on to.’
De Savary said none of his £100million fortune would be left to his children, explaining: ‘They will not be given the awesome task of trying to preserve or augment or carry on any of my efforts.’
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De Savary was kicked out of Charterhouse School, allegedly after been caught in bed with the au pair.
