Prince Louis’ godfather and ‘court jester’ Guy Pelly once dubbed the key to William and Harry mending their rift spotted chatting with King Charles at garden party during US state visit
Prince Louis‘ godfather, once nicknamed ‘the court jester’, who also organised Prince William‘s stag do, was seen chatting with the King at a garden party in Washington DC yesterday.
The former nightclub owner, 44, was close with both of Charles’ sons when they were teenagers and was at one point seen as the only hope to solving their rift in the wake of ‘Megxit’.
And it seems he still has a warm relationship with the family, enjoying a conversation with the monarch while joining some 650 guests at the British Embassy for His Majesty’s and Queen Camilla‘s landmark state visit.
Guy was in attendance with his wife Elizabeth ‘Lizzy’ Wilson, an American-born heiress to the Holiday Inn empire. Her grandfather, Kemmons Wilson, founded the hotel business in 1951.
The couple married in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2014 and later settled into business, running a vineyard in Virginia, where tastings start from $60 per person, and couples hoping to tie the knot at the scenic venue can expect to spent an estimated $17,650.
Guy, wearing a grey suit, blue shirt and sage green tie, beamed at the party, standing next to Elizabeth, who was elegant in a dusky orange dress with a floral design.
The event brought together a cross-section of British and American figures – from politicians and officials to charity leaders and sporting stars – as the monarch seeks to reinforce strained transatlantic ties.
But Charles’s connection to Guy goes far beyond diplomacy. Former nightclub owner Guy has been close friends with Prince William since they were teenagers and was also present for some of Harry’s wilder nights.
As well as maintaining a close friendship with William, Guy – who has been jokingly referred to as the ‘royal jester’ in the past – has also remained in Prince Harry’s close circle, having reportedly visited the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in California in September 2020.
z
As well as maintaining a close friendship with William, Guy – who has been jokingly referred to as the ‘royal jester’ in the past – has also remained in Prince Harry’s close circle, having reportedly visited the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in California in September 2020.
Prince Louis’ godfather, once nicknamed ‘the court jester’, who also organised Prince William’s stag do, was seen chatting with the King at a garden party in Washington DC
William met Guy in 2001 when he was just 13 years old and joined Beaufort Hunt hunting club as a junior member.
While Prince William and Prince Harry attended Eaton College in Windsor, Guy was educated at Stowe school in Buckinghamshire – where parents currently pay £14,680 per term.
He reportedly achieved two Cs and a D in A-levels in history of art, geography and English.
Guy’s mother Vanda has made a name for herself as a sculptor and is also a member of the Tate & Lyle sugar dynasty.
After becoming fast friends with William, Guy also became mates with Harry and was by his side during his ‘party Prince’ days.
When William was on his gap year travels, Guy became close to Harry — who at 16 was plunging into the most reckless period of his life.
In 2001, Guy – who was a student at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester at the time – was accused of introducing Harry to cannabis and underage drinking.
Stories soon began to circulate about Harry getting involved with under-age drinking and illegal drug-taking at a pretty country pub near Highgrove where cannabis was smoked at the bar and cocaine was being sold at £30 a gram.
However, Harry’s entry into this seedy world was stopped before he could get in too deep. An anxious Prince Charles arranged for his younger son to visit a detox clinic in South London to see for himself the consequences of drug dependency.
When it later emerged that he’d had nothing to do with Harry’s adolescent experimenting with cannabis, Pelly was welcomed back into the royal fold almost as a third brother.
Following the scandal, he then quit the Cirencester college after a meeting with its principal, who had announced a strict ‘no drugs’ policy.
He then switched to Newcastle university where he did a course in land management.
Among the first thing he did after graduating was to resurrect his tearaway reputation. This was courtesy of the Prince’s Trust concert episode when, well-refreshed and minus most of his clothes, he clambered up the outside of a marquee.
Around this time he was also questioned by police for allegedly attempting to break into the girls’ school at Westonbirt, unaware that it was their school holidays.
Guy Pelly and his American wife Lizzy arriving at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace in July 2018 for Prince Louis’ christening
Guy Pelly (left) pictured with Prince Harry at a rugby game also attended by Carole and Michael Middleton in October 2015
Prince William pictured watching a rugby match with Guy Pelly in February 2002 – not long after they first met
These incidents sparked fresh demands for the princes to drop Pelly as a friend. But characteristically they refused
When, infamously, Harry was photographed wearing a Nazi uniform to a private fancy dress party in 2005, fun-loving Guy was at his side dressed as the Queen, whom he apparently mimicked to great effect.
As a result, Pelly had achieved the kind of notoriety adored by television programme-makers. He was invited to appear on Have I Got News For You, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and even Strictly Come Dancing.
But despite his reputation as a ‘court joker’, Guy turned down all offers and has never spoken about his friendship with the brothers.
In many of the pictures of Prince William in nightclubs over the years, Guy was often by his side.
The Newcastle graduate also organised the William’s stag do in 2011 – fittingly as he has previously owned many night clubs including Mahiki in Kensington as well as Public, Whisky Mist and Tonteria, all in west London.
His own wedding, to Holiday Inn heiress Elizabeth, was attended by both William and Harry, and said to be a ‘wild’ three-day affair in Memphis, Tennessee.
Kate didn’t attend, and the nuptials were also seen as the reason behind Harry’s split with Cressida Bonas, with the pair not seeing eye-to-eye over arrangements including plane fare and Harry’s ‘boys nights’.
Over the years, Prince William has also maintained a close relationship with Prince William too.
Prince William skipped the late Queen’s Christmas lunch in 2015 to support Guy at his father’s memorial service following his sudden death. In 2018, William asked his old friend to be Prince Louis’ godfather.
Guy Pelly pictured dancing with Prince William’s then girlfriend Kate Middleton at a pre-Wimbledon party in June 2006
Before he met Meghan, Prince Harry was said to love the atmosphere of Guy’s Mexican-themed club Tonteria, where every order for a bottle of tequila or champagne (a Methuselah of Louis Roederer — the size of eight standard bottles — costs £28,000) is greeted by the appearance of dancers with hand-held firecrackers showering the customer with sparkles.
In the 2020 royal biography Finding Freedom, it was claimed that Prince Harry fell out with his oldest friend Tom ‘Skippy’ Inskip – who allegedly expressed his ‘doubts’ over the Duke’s relationship with Meghan.
However, Guy has remained firmly in the royal fold – and reportedly went out to visit the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in California in September 2020.
According to the Daily Mail’s Diary Editor Richard Eden, Guy was joined on the visit by his wife and their daughter, Willow.
‘They were kindly invited by Harry and Meghan,’ a source tells me. ‘Despite what’s been said about Harry losing touch with his old friends, he was keen to see Guy.’
The visit is understood to have taken place while the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were staying at the £14million mansion owned by American entertainment tycoon Tyler Perry.
Pelly does have something more in common than most of Harry’s friends as his spouse is also a member of the ‘American wives’ club’.
Lizzy is from Tennessee and is an heiress to the Holiday Inn fortune. When she married Pelly in 2014, their wedding led to the end of Harry’s two-year romance with actress Cressida Bonas.
Harry was reportedly reluctant to pay for Cressie’s air fare to attend the three-day bash in Memphis. Cressida expected Harry to pay because she didn’t have the money herself and felt that as Guy was his friend, not hers, the request seemed reasonable enough. Harry refused, there was allegedly a spat and they split.
