How Wayne & Coleen Rooney have far more in common with Charles and Camilla than you think
IT is names the country’s biggest movers and shakers – and this year’s Tatler league might surprise.
First in the society bible’s annual Social Power Index are Prince Charles and Camilla.
But just below the future monarch and his missues are former England footballer Wayne Rooney and his wife Coleen.
Prince William and Kate, meanwhile, do not even make the magazine’s top ten.
Tatler says social power is: “That certain something that transcends mere beauty, brains, rank and wealth. True social power packs a fiercer punch: Nowness, cleverness, controversy and cachet.”
The Rooneys are certainly not strangers to controversy.
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Just look at the their recent appearance in court over their libel battle with Rebekah Vardy.
That came after Coleen accused Rebekah — the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy — of leaking stories about her to the Press
Bizarrely, the so-called Wagatha Christie case seems to have only elevated the Rooneys’ status. In justifying its ranking, Tatler gushed of the Rooneys: “Nothing has matched their dashing display in the riveting Wagatha Christie case.”
It went on: “When the Rooneys are not sitting pretty in court, find them at their mansion in Cheshire.
Wayne & Coleen
Wayne Rooney b 1985, Croxteth, Liverpool
Father: Thomas, former boxer
Mother: Jeanette, dinner lady
Coleen Mary McLoughlin, b 1986, Croxteth, Liverpool
Father: Tony, bricklayer
Mother: Colette, nursery nurse
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“Dubbed a ‘mini Versailles,’ it features a cigar and whisky room and its own football pitch.”
While the Rooneys and the royals might seem like polar opposites at first glance, they turn out to have more in common than you might think.
Here we make a tongue-in-cheek comparison . . .
Charles & Camilla
Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, b 1948, Buckingham Palace
Father: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Mother: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Camilla Rosemary Shand, Duchess of Cornwall, b 1947, King’s College Hospital, London
Father: Maj Bruce Shand, war hero, wine merchant
Mother: Rosalind Cubitt, baron’s daughter and charity worker
Homes
UNLIKE Charles, who was born in a palace, Wayne and Coleen grew up on a council estate.
They now live in a £20million property in Cheshire some have dubbed “Morrisons Mansion” as it supposedly resembles a branch of the supermarket.
They own a £5million holiday getaway in Barbados and a Florida apartment they are thought to rent out.
After a 2016 attempted burglary on their home, Wayne was reportedly planning to build an underground “panic bunker” featuring its own kitchen, CCTV monitoring room and loo.
THE Rooneys might have a “mini Versailles” but the Cornwalls preside over some of the country’s most historic properties, including Highgrove House, Gloucs and Clarence House in the capital.
They also have the run of three beautiful properties in Scotland – one of them on the Queen’s Balmoral estate – as well as an estate in Carmarthenshire and a place on the Isles of Scilly, off the Cornish coast.
According to royal biographer Brian Hoey, Highgrove has a panic room stocked with long-life food and also has a chemical lavatory.
Titles
NO sign of a knighthood for Wayne yet but he must be chuffed to be getting the Freedom of Derby.
Councillors there voted unanimously for him to get the honour in recognition of his efforts as manager to save cash-strapped Derby County from relegation.
He is also the record goalscorer for England and Manchester United.
Coleen is an ambassador for Alder Hey hospital’s Children’s Charity.
And she was nominated for Celebrity Mum of the Year in 2010 . . . but missed out to telly presenter Holly Willoughby.
IT is lucky Charles has lackeys to fill out official documents, as his list of titles is enough to make your hand cramp.
His investiture as Prince of Wales came in 1969 and he can also call himself Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.
Having founded youth charity The Prince’s Trust, Charles and Camilla are patrons of hundreds of charities.
The future Queen Consort was recently made a Royal Lady of the Order of the Garter.
Glamour
COLEEN is likely to be spotted with her rollers in or heading to the gym in sportswear.
She also loves designer gear, mini dresses and bouncy blow-dries. During her High Court appearances she even managed to make a chunky air boot – worn to protect a broken bone – look trendy.
While Victoria Beckham has graced Vogue covers and dresses A-list celebs, Coleen was the face of Asda’s clothing range, has released collections with Littlewoods and wrote a column in Closer mag.
Her Insta has pics of the kids.
SOPHISTICATED and chic.
We can’t imagine ever seeing Camilla anything less than immaculately groomed.
Rollers in public? Good gracious, no.
Nor can we imagine seeing her in workout leggings . . . or even trousers, for that matter.
She is mostly seen in designer frocks, flamboyant hats and tiaras.
For her appearance on the cover of Country Life magazine to mark her upcoming 75th birthday, she wore a simple floral dress and cardi.
The couple’s Instagram is filled with community events and posts to raise awareness of good causes.
Interests
FOOTBALL, football, fashion and football.
Wayne has dipped his hand into horticulture: He worked unpaid at a garden centre as part of his 100-hour community service order for drink-driving in 2017.
The couple appreciate art, as Wayne recently revealed when he posted a picture to mark his son Cass’s fourth birthday and accidentally showcased some erotic pictures on the wall.
They both enjoy watching the horses too.
Wayne has owned racehorses and Coleen is often the star attraction at Aintree and Chester.
CHARLES might not seem like your typical footie fan but it turns out he once held a VIP season ticket for Burnley FC, now of the Championship after several seasons in the Premier League.
The club presented him with the freebie after Charles told an audience at Windsor Castle in 2012 he was a supporter of the Clarets.
Green-fingered Charles loves talking to his plants and is a dab hand at watercolour landscapes.
He and Camilla love a day out at Ascot races where they are ferried about in royal carriages.
Drama
THE pair have been through more ups and downs than a television soap opera.
Wayne has caused plenty of headaches for long-suffering Coleen, having admitted to visiting prostitutes and having a threesome with two other women.
As recently as last year, he was pictured dozing in a girl’s hotel room after a boozy night out.
But this year loyal Coleen said she had forgiven him for his past infidelities.
In 2018 Wayne was left staring at a £6million tax bill after a scheme he was thought to have ploughed millions into folded.
WE hardly need reminding of the pair’s affair while Charles was married to Princess Diana.
He admitted to it in a TV interview in 1994 while Diana famously said there were “three of us in this marriage” in a 1995 telly tell-all.
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They split in 1992 and were divorced in 1996.
Charles has courted controversy for meddling in politics and most recently came under fire over reports he accepted £2.5million in cash for his charity, delivered in a suitcase and carrier bags, from former Qatari PM Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim between 2011 and 2015.
That toff 10 in full
FROM aristocrats to a billionaire heiress turned DJ, Tatler’s list is an eclectic bunch.
Here are the top ten:
- Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
- Wayne and Coleen Rooney
- Natasha Poonawalla – Indian business- woman executive director of the Serum Institute of India, one of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers, pals with A-listers including Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio, US singer Nick Jonas and his actress wife Priyanka Chopra. The 40-year-old made an impact at this year’s glamorous Met Gala in New York wearing a gold metallic corset and halo.
- The Eighth Marquess and Marchioness of Bath – Ceawlin Thynn and his wife Emma are known as owners of the Longleat safari park in Wiltshire . . . and for Emma’s stint on Strictly in 2019. Emma is friends with Lady Kitty Spencer and Jade Dunkerton, who appears at No10 in this list.
- Celia Kritharioti and Nikolas Tsakos – Greek fashion designer who has supermodel Naomi Campbell on speed-dial. Her partner is a Greek shipping magnate.
- The Marchioness of Bute and Lady Lola Bute – Mother-daughter power couple who host “mega-parties” on their Scottish island. A fundraising ball Lola threw with her mum in May was attended by models Kate Moss and Poppy Delevingne, make-up boss Charlotte Tilbury and fashion designer Stella McCartney.
- Erdem Moralioglu and Philip Joseph – Fashion designer behind Erdem label who counts the Duchess of Cambridge as one of his fans. His partner Philip is an architect who runs a London studio with twin brother Peter.
- Lady Annabel Goldsmith – Eighty-eight-year-old socialite who in 1963 was the inspiration behind private-members’ club Annabel’s in London’s swanky Mayfair. Hung out with the likes of Frank Sinatra and US political royalty Ted Kennedy. Decades later, she is still hosting the toast of society parties.
- Florence and Temi Otedola – Glamorous daughters of Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola. Temi is a budding actress while Florence DJs under the name Cuppy.
- Julian Dunkerton and Jade Holland Cooper – Married pair of Cotswolds entrepreneurs. He co-founded clothes brand Superdry, while Jade runs her own fashion label, Holland Cooper, of which Kate Middleton is a fan.
