From Sloane blonde to glamorous billionaire's wife: How Lady Kitty Spencer has transformed herself from shy aristocrat into a jet-setting fashion fixture

Dressed in a cream cocktail dress, offset with a navy netted hat and matching blazer,  Lady Kitty Spencer looks like a quintessential Sloane blonde at a country party.

But this photograph was taken in 2011, when the niece of the late Princess Diana was just 20. Bashful and seemingly a little unsure of herself, she was a world away from the glamorous, jet-setting woman she has since become.

Fast-forward 15 years and the transformation is striking. Now married to billionaire South African businessman Michael Lewis, 67, who is 32 years her senior, Earl Spencer’s eldest daughter has carved out a life far removed from the traditional aristocratic world in which she was raised.

With a three-year-old daughter, Athena, and a social calendar filled with international fashion events, glittering guest lists and lavish holidays in the Hamptons, Lady Kitty, 35, has become a fixture on the global luxury circuit.

Of course, she was born into privilege. The Spencers are one of Britain’s most distinguished aristocratic dynasties, but Kitty and her siblings, twin sisters Eliza and Amelia and brother Louis, spent much of their childhood in Cape Town, in the upmarket suburb of Constantia, where the family moved to escape media scrutiny.

Following their parents’ divorce, the children divided their time between their mother Victoria Aitken’s gated home in Cape Town and the grandeur of their father’s ancestral seat, Althorp, where their aunt Princess Diana also spent her childhood.

Growing up between the world of the British aristocracy and a rather different life in South Africa may have helped shape the international outlook she has since embraced.

But Lady Kitty has done more than simply trade the English country-house crowd for the international jet-set: she has turned her aristocratic pedigree into a fashion career, cultivating an image that places her as comfortably among the world’s wealthy elite as it does on the catwalk.

Before attending university in Cape Town in 2009, she received the ultimate high-society seal of approval when she was presented at Le Bal des Débutantes in Paris. That same year, she appeared on the cover of Tatler, the bible of Britain’s upper classes. 

Yet an interview the following year revealed a young woman who seemed refreshingly unconcerned with the conventions of her privileged upbringing. Lady Kitty admitted that she hated exercise and enjoyed calorific treats such as macaroni cheese, chips and flapjacks.

In another interview with Harper's Bazaar, she spoke candidly about her mother’s eating disorder and the highly publicised battle with bulimia endured by her aunt Diana, explaining how those experiences had made her acutely aware of the importance of mindfulness and wellbeing.

Even then, she came across as unusually relatable for someone born into such lofty surroundings: candid, self-aware and refreshingly unbuttoned in a world often governed by appearances.

There was perhaps something prescient in those early comments, too. Beneath the polished exterior was a woman who appeared determined to live life on her own terms, rather than simply follow the rules laid down by the society into which she was born.

Her style has undergone an equally striking evolution. The demure country-house uniform of neat blazers and sensible hats has been replaced by a high-voltage glamour.

After signing with Storm Model Management in 2017, Lady Kitty established herself as a model for Dolce & Gabbana, embracing dramatic gowns, statement jewellery and the sort of head-turning looks designed to command attention.

As an ambassador for the Italian fashion house, whose aesthetic is synonymous with unapologetic European glamour, she has embraced a look that has echoes of the so-called mob-wife trend: luxurious, extravagant and deliberately attention-grabbing.

In recent years, she has also appeared looking increasingly toned and athletic at fashion events. In interviews, she has spoken about enjoying spin and barre classes, while her sculpted arms and defined physique have become part of her polished public image.

It is a look that sits comfortably within the world of international fashion, where immaculate grooming, carefully considered styling and a camera-ready appearance are a passport to entry.

Little is known about her marriage to Lewis, chairman of retail giant The Foschini Group, which owns fashion brands including Whistles and Jigsaw. The couple appear to enjoy a glittering lifestyle, with sun-drenched holidays on the Riviera and in New York's Hamptons, offering occasional glimpses of their private world without revealing too much.

Their wedding in 2021 was an extravagant affair at Villa Aldobrandini, a 16th-century villa overlooking Rome. Lady Kitty looked spectacular in a custom-made lace gown by Dolce & Gabbana, complete with a high neckline and fitted, corseted bodice that showcased her figure.

Photographs of the newlyweds captured the occasion’s romance, but the wedding also seemed to mark another milestone in her transformation: from aristocratic blonde on the fringes of high society to a woman whose life now revolves around fashion, global travel and extraordinary wealth.

Her social circle has evolved, too. Rather than confining herself to the titled country set, Lady Kitty has cultivated an eclectic network of friends drawn from fashion, entertainment and high society.

She is close to Emma Thynn, Marchioness of Bath, 40, Britain’s first Black marchioness, who is married to the Marquess of Bath, and the pair are regularly seen together at fashionable events. Her circle also includes pop star Pixie Lott, 35, and her husband Oliver Cheshire, actor Idris Elba, 54, and his wife Sabrina, and fashion designer Jade Holland Cooper, 39.

It is a decidedly modern mix of companions, many of whom have established their own careers and public profiles rather than relying on inherited titles. Their world offers a sharp contrast to the more traditional aristocratic circles in which Kitty grew up and suggests she has little interest in allowing her pedigree to dictate the company she keeps.

As Earl Spencer’s eldest child, Kitty might once have been expected to play a more conventional role in the family dynasty. But under current rules her younger brother Louis is in line to inherit Althorp and is now pursuing a career as an actor.

Kitty, meanwhile, appears to have built a life entirely on her own terms. With a home in Marylebone, a wealthy husband, a young daughter, a modelling career and a glittering international social network, she has little need to rely on the allure of an ancestral estate or the promise of a title.

The young woman in the cream dress and navy hat has since reinvented herself as a confident fashion fixture whose world extends far beyond the English country house.

Lady Kitty Spencer may have been born into one of Britain’s grandest aristocratic families, but her transformation suggests that the most valuable inheritance of all is the freedom to create a life of her own.

And if that life happens to involve designer gowns, billionaire wealth and holidays in the Hamptons, then so far, so good.