Lady Victoria Frederica Isabella Hervey (born 6 October 1976) is an English socialite, aristocrat and "It girl".
Lady Victoria is the elder daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol and his third wife Yvonne Marie Sutton - his former secretary. She is the older sister of the 8th Marquess of Bristol and of Lady Isabella Hervey. Her older half-brothers were the 7th Marquess of Bristol and Lord Nicholas Hervey, both deceased.
For the first two years of her life she lived at Ickworth House, the family seat in Suffolk, before her parents went into tax exile in Monaco. Educated at Benenden School, she spent a gap year in Florence and working at advertising agencies in London. After turning down a place to read French and the History of Art at Bristol University, her mother stopped her allowances - Hervey resultantly became Michael Winner’s receptionist. She became a part-time catwalk model in a career move she hoped would take her into television presenting, but with her statuesque appearance she took to the career full time, ultimately modelling for Christian Dior. In April 2000, she and friend Jane Blight to opened Knightsbridge fashion boutique, Akademi, in April 2000. Frequented by Victoria Beckham, Meg Mathews and Martine McCutcheon, it closed in 2001 with debts estimated at £350,000.
It was during the launch phase of Akademi that Lady Victoria wore a risque dress to a party, which garnered high tabloid press attention. With no It girl to fill the gossip columns left empty by the cocaine led downfall of Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Lady Victoria became the new press It girl. With party invitations and resultantly well selling photographs, her personal profile rose quickly thanks to her social life, which has made her a staple of the British photo-tabloids and cover girl for men's magazines to the present. Lady Victoria added to her own media publicity by penning the Party Animal diarist column in The Sunday Times.
In December 2003 Lady Victoria relocated to Los Angeles in the hope of making it as an actress, secured a small part in the 2004 film RX opposite Colin Hanks (son of Tom Hanks) as a waitress in a diner.
She returned to the UK, and took up various celebrity television appearance offers, which are still the staple of her career. In October 2004, she appeared on The Farm, a Five version of the RTÉ show Celebrity Farm. In July 2006 she appeared in the ITV show Love Island. On 18th September 2007 she appeared on ITV's 'Don't call me stupid' program, where she was asked to learn about the Labour Party Movement with George Galloway.
Currently single, Hervey has had relationships with several celebrities, most notably Danish restaurateur Mel Bloom (Grandpa), internet impresario Seb Bishop, and actor Larry Drake. Other relationships include F1 race car driver, David Coulthard; former Boyzone member, Shane Lynch and Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
