Who is Harry Aubrey-Fletcher? Meet Prince William's close confidant, who just bagged the Bantham Estate
From Eton prefects to wedding ushers, Prince William and Harry Aubrey-Fletcher go way back: but who is the son of Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 8th baronet?
Harry Aubrey-Fletcher, pictured here with Thomas van Straubenzee, Guy Pelly and Tom Inskip at the wedding of William van Cutsem and Rosie Ruck Keene in 2013, is one of Prince William's closest friends
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Could Prince William be making a visit to the bucolic Bantham Estate soon? The 760-acre Devon idyll has plenty of amenities fit for a Prince of Wales, from vineyards and golf courses to a storybook village and a stunning stretch of South Devon coastline. But Bantham might be on the map for Prince William for a far more personal reason: his close childhood friend, Harry Aubrey-Fletcher, has just bought it up from Nicholas Johnston.
There was much consternation when Johnston snapped up the estate in 2014, with 93 per cent of locals rejecting the former Soho House proprietor’s plans to turn Bantham into a ‘millionaire’s playground’. Now, says Richard Eden, he’s sold it to a Buckinghamshire firm owned by fellow Old Etonian Harry Aubrey-Fletcher, son of son of Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 8th baronet – the former lord-lieutenant of Buckinghamshire.
The Prince of Wales celebrates an Aston Villa victory with Harry Aubrey-Fletcher in October 2024
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The new Man About Bantham comes with the royal seal of approval, however. Such faith does Prince William have in Harry Aubrey-Fletcher that he appointed him advisor to the Duchy of Cornwall – all £1.3 billion of it.
After all, the pair go way back. First meeting as prep school students during their days at Ludgrove, William and Harry (not that one) practically grew up together. At Eton, they were both elite prefects, posing together in an oh-so-preppy portrait no doubt still adoring the college walls. In the years since, Harry has been a key member of William's inner circle, which includes the likes of the van Straubenzees and the van Cutsems.
From surfing weekends in Cornwall and playfighting at the Cheltenham races to ski trips in Klosters with Kate Middleton, the pair have been by each other’s sides for major life milestones.
Harry Aubrey-Fletcher has known Prince William since their prep school days back atLudgrove
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Harry is one of the few men in the country who could call upon the future king to serve as usher at his wedding. He did exactly that when he married Louise Stourton, the daughter of the 24th Lord Stourton, at Guards Chapel in London. That places Aubrey-Fletcher among such rarefied company as Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster.
The bond is mutual. Harry was on the list of ushers for William’s wedding to Kate Middleton in 2011, and he was chosen as godfather to Prince Louis following the youngest Wales boy’s birth in 2018 – alongside Nicholas van Cutsem and Guy Pelly.
The Aubrey-Fletcher family certainly have credentials when it comes to running the most lavish of establishments. Chilton House the red-brick mansion that has been under their stewardship since the 17th century has been an upmarket nursing home for over three decades.
The new Man about Bantham: Harry's family business has bought up the idyllic Devonshire estate
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Harry Aubrey-Fletcher attends the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018
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This stonking red-brick mansion has belonged to the Aubrey-Fletcher family since the 17th century. Too big for one family, it made sense as an upmarket nursing home, which it became in 1987 under the current
The emphasis there is on country-house living, as Tatler once reported. Sherry before lunch, a full afternoon tea, pre-dinner drinks in the hall and coffee and brandy after dinner are the name of the game.
There's a Steinway in the drawing room and mah-jong, bridge and Scrabble are played with fierce intensity. Animals are encouraged: there are two cats, a budgie and a visiting dog for those without their own.
Could William’s best bud bring a similar air of sophistication to the Bantham Estate? His family business, Chilton Home Farms, which he co-directs alongside his parents, heralded the locale as 'a truly unique gem, celebrated for its stunning beauty and estuary ecosystem’. Having bought it up for a rumoured £30 million, no doubt the Aubrey-Fletchers are hoping Bantham truly is a dazzler.