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Original poster

To wonder what it would be like to be married to a Russian Ogliarch

126 replies

Southerngal5 · 15/02/2022 12:34

Just sitting here wfh freezing in my dressing gown & wondering what life would be like being married to a handsome ogliarch.. I can imagine myself living in Kingingston, kids in the best private schools, posh restaurants, travelling the world whenever...! Lighthearted by the way, love my dh😍

OP posts:
Classica · 15/02/2022 13:42

It would be mega stressful. You’d be on high alert once you were slightly over the hill (35). You’d wonder if they were going to divorce you for the 21 year old supermodel, or just plop something unpleasant in your tea.

Classica · 15/02/2022 13:43

And heaven help you if your taste ran to the minimalist, you'd have to put that aside and have Versace everything from the bog roll to the upholstery on your private jet.

brightondreams · 15/02/2022 13:47

Ooo... on a rainy day like today I'd get deep tissue massage from personal masseuse, then get made up by my personal stylist, then meet friends for a very expensive dinner and drinks. Then have a cosy evening in my cinema room. When I inevitable fall asleep in the cinema I'll get someone to pick me up and put me into bed, they'll also take my make up for me and rub some expensive cream into my face 😆

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 15/02/2022 13:49

There is TV series on All 4, called Golddigers, it might answer all your questions and more, in colour. Grin

Great fun!

AntAndDecking · 15/02/2022 13:55

No, are they on YouTube?

No there was a BBC documentary about them. You can read a bit here
www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10032449/Countess-Alexandra-Tolstoy-ill-equipped-cope-oligarch-ex-fled-France.html

Luredbyapomegranate · 15/02/2022 13:59

@ButterMeTimbers

No, you'd never worry about the leccy bill.

You may, of course, worry about ending up sleeping with the fishes...

Yes this, the world of oligarchs is very murder-y.
LaBellina · 15/02/2022 13:59

@Classica

And heaven help you if your taste ran to the minimalist, you'd have to put that aside and have Versace everything from the bog roll to the upholstery on your private jet.
I literally can’t think of anything worse 😂
AffIt · 15/02/2022 14:00

I was hanging out in Harrods' soft furnishing department one day (not a stealth boast - wasn't buying or anything, it's just a place I like to visit every now and again, because it's so wonderfully batshit insane), and I noticed a group of women walking around with what I presume was a personal shopper / assistant.

I got a bit closer and realised they were speaking Russian (I studied it very briefly at university, so while I can't really understand, I can recognise the sound).

They were very, VERY expensively dressed, but what fascinated me was their faces - I would have estimated they were in their late 40s / early 50s, but clearly had had so much surgery done that they looked almost alien: one woman in particular had such extreme lip fillers that her mouth actually looked like a duck's bill.

I subtly followed them around for about half an hour or so, and I swear, they must have ordered close to a million pounds' worth of stuff in that time. It was a genuine 'how the other half live' experience.

None of them seemed very happy, though - they were quite shouty and there was a lot of scowling going on.

Now, I have no idea if they actually were Russian oligarchs' wives - I am making a lot of assumptions! - but I did come away that day thinking, 'well, if that's what it is to be super-wealthy, I think I'll pass'.

JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon · 15/02/2022 14:05

@destructogirl

I'm with you OP. In my head his name is Dimitri and he looks like an older version of Jon Snow, with the sexy Russian accent Grin

I read that and not being a GoT fan thought of John Snow..........

Not quite the same fantasy

Louisianagumbo · 15/02/2022 14:07

I'd be loving it...and salting away every penny I got for the inevitable divorce. And freedoooom!

AngelicaElizaAndPeggy · 15/02/2022 14:13

There was a really interesting documentary about just this topic, OP. A lady called aomething-or-other Tolstoy was married to a legit oligarch. They were flipping loaded in just the way you've described.

However, there was one slight problem- he had got himself on the wrong side of Vladimir Putin and the whole family lived in constant fear of being kidnapped for ransom or assasinated. It was fucking terrifying, frankly! Put me right off.

Katya213 · 15/02/2022 14:34

I clean for a family that you could put in that category. I feel sorry for them, they're in a little family bubble just the four of them and they just all seem a bit lonely. The children have everything and they are away on the most magnificent holidays. The son is very antisocial and the daughter who is eleven is still pushing dollies in her dolls pram. They as a family have very little interactions with the outside world, everything is done for them by the PAs, nannies etc. I'd never want their lives.

HollowTalk · 15/02/2022 14:41

My sister worked for a very wealthy Russian family in the SE. She used to watch the wife carefully (knowing she'd never meet anyone like her again) and came to the conclusion that she (the wife) didn't actually think the people working for her were human.

JaneJeffer · 15/02/2022 14:44

I watched Sally Lindsay's Posh Weekends the other night. She looks way happier than the rich people she was spending time with. They all looked jaded except for the teenage daughter who was lovely and seemed really appreciative of her lifestyle.

Curioushorse · 15/02/2022 14:57

I used to work in a posh boarding school. We had an unofficial agreement with several similar boarding schools to divide out the Russian oligarch kids. I'm actually not sure why that agreement was in place*, but the kids we got were horrific. Absolutely awful. We had to ask at least two to leave the school, because they were confrontational, aggressive, rude to staff and students, and also lazy. One child refused to travel on public transport. She said, 'I don't go by train. I'm not a peasant.' This had consequences for every school trip. At least twice she just got a taxi back to school from wherever we were. Without telling anybody either time. So staff were left looking for her desperately, and then at the other end school had to pay a £200+ taxi bill (parents paid ultimately- but only after the receptionists had had to run round looking for that amount of cash).

I think it's really hard. The kids were thrown into foreign boarding schools, had often had quite a tough upbringing, weren't always that bright, and were quite isolated from reality. We also got kids who were quite strong characters- which may have come from the parents. But it often felt like the kids were defensive right from Year 7- and they possibly just didn't want to be in a boarding school in a foreign country.

*may well have been so that 'Russian cliques' didn't start. The purpose of sending your child to boarding school in England is often so they learn English fluently/ so that they're sheltered from whatever's going on at home. This won't happen if they're in a clique together.

Maireas · 15/02/2022 14:59

pp above has referred to Alexandra Tolstoy. I saw the documentary about her life with an oligarch - not easy, especially after he got on the wrong side of Putin.
Anyway he's scarpered off to France, she lives with the three kids. Strange story.

Classica · 15/02/2022 15:07

I first came across Alexandra Tolstoy on a House & Garden Youtube video where she was giving a tour of her (rented) home. She's English herself but her g-g-grandparents were of the Tolstoy family. Of course I then had to get the low-down on her private life on wikipedia...

RishiRich · 15/02/2022 15:07

My carbon footprint would be enormous. I'd also be scared of being killed. Other than that, I'm sure I would manage.

Maireas · 15/02/2022 15:20

@Classica

I first came across Alexandra Tolstoy on a House & Garden Youtube video where she was giving a tour of her (rented) home. She's English herself but her g-g-grandparents were of the Tolstoy family. Of course I then had to get the low-down on her private life on wikipedia...
It all gets very complicated, and most strange. It was a fascinating programme. She's on instagram and makes a living doing those horseback tours of Kyrgyzstan etc. Her first husband was a penniless horseman from such an area.
Georgeskitchen · 15/02/2022 15:33

I imagine it's a lot of pressure, like the footballers "wags", one lettuce leaf a day, perma tanned, sculpted eyebrows, pouty lips, long flowing tresses, false eyelashes so thick.they can barely keep their eyes open. Sky scraper heels,
5 inch ornate talons on the end of their fingers (how do they wipe their arses?) The list is endless. All to keep hold of a multi millionaire football star, usually with a roving eye.
No thanks.....I'll keep my fleecy dressing gown and bed socks 🤣🤣

AKASammyScrounge · 15/02/2022 15:35

I saw Russian wealth on display at s marina in Spain. The harbour was full of yachts as tall as tenements. They would come down the gangplank to the street, the rich men and their wives with blonde hiLights and perfect tans, draped in gold jewellery, their children beside them forbidden to run ahead, 4 bodyguards gazing ahead, to the side, to the rear, to the other side, ahead again. The family wore casual summer wear but the bodyguards wore suits. Somehow they didn't look smart, only sinister. Maybe that was the fault of the sunglasses. After dark and they still wore them.

alfayruz · 15/02/2022 15:39

I do know a lady who is married to a Russian man described as an oligarch. She is also Russian. The children live in the basement with their nanny and her and her husband live in the main house. I thought the nanny was the mum for about a year as she’s the one who brings them to school and for play dates. Then I met the actual mum who is actually very nice. She has a lot on, I think.

PollyCreo · 15/02/2022 15:45

We regularly see Andrey Melnichenko's 'superyacht' rocking up here (Google it Shock) It's the ugliest and scariest vessel I've ever seen Confused

I can see the coast from my house and one day saw it emerging from the mist; everyone was agog. The next thing, it ran aground on the rocks - I didn't fancy the captain's chances of promotion after that Grin

hihellohihello · 15/02/2022 15:49

@Southerngal5

It's this documentary. Was aired on bbc a while back.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h3nt

You can get it on Britbox and Netflix, I think. There's a few things on YouTube about her and a few magazine articles.

pussycatunpickingcrossesagain · 15/02/2022 15:54
  1. you wouldn't have to wait in all day for a plumber that still hasn't arrived...
  2. you wouldn't have to wait for a phone call from the garage telling you your car was knackered.

Other than that, I'm living the fucking dream!