This week, after turning up at the Marbella Club Hotel with a young lady in tow, staff asked Princess Diana’s former love to leave.

Although he insists on a smart dress code for customers at his own restaurant in Marbella, former Life Guards officer James Hewitt has let his own sartorial standards slip.


‘He looked like he had just come straight off the beach,’ says one paying guest, who was celebrating her 18th birthday at the swanky hotel’s bar.

‘He came in at about 8.30 pm on Monday with a young woman,’ she says.

‘He was wearing shorts, a very creased shirt and a hat. He looked hot and dishevelled. The woman was in a beach dress.

‘As soon as they went up to the bar, the maitre d’ came over and said something first in Spanish and then in English.

'I overheard him saying:  “You can’t come in here like that.'' '

According to the guest, Hewitt, whose Polo House restaurant does not allow diners in shorts, asked if he and his companion could sit by the pool, but was refused.

On a happier note, I hear James and his business partner Ram Nandkishore, are planning to open ventures in Rome, Geneva and London.