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Wellness As A Forte Irene Forte breezes through the entrance of Brown’s Hotel in London, one of 11 properties belonging to her father Sir Rocco Forte’s Rocco Forte Hotels. She is chic but demure in presentation, with eyes that resemble the color of the Mediterranean Sea—as inherited from her Italian mother, Aliai Forte. Proceeding to a room that has hosted the likes of Queen Victoria and Sir Winston Churchill as well as Agatha Christie and Rudyard Kipling, she greets the great Madeleine Shaw: the chef/nutritionist debuting a “clean” menu with Brown’s Hotel, who is seated for tea. We are invited to order the “Superfood Energy Balls”—three delish bites of cinnamon, goji, and raisin; cashew, coconut, and date; and almond and chocolate—with our green tea.
Q76
/ SPRING 2016
ElizabEth Quinn brown
This collaboration is among the initiatives that Irene, who serves as brand manager, and her sister Lydia Forte, who serves as bar/restaurant development manager, are encouraging at Rocco Forte Hotels—well, when they aren’t entertaining their beaus Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthrope and Dimitri Chandris, respectively, in destinations such as Lyford Cay and Mustique. (Irene maintains that she prefers the vibe of pubs like the Harwood Arms in Fulham to restaurants like Sexy Fish in Mayfair—which could be why, recently, she was heralded as “the sweetest girl in London” by Tatler.) Of her role at Rocco Forte Hotels, Irene explains, “I turned around to my dad over a year and a half ago and said, ‘I would really like to get my teeth into the spas. I think we could
Co u r te sy o f Ro c co Fo r te H ot e ls
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