Meet conservationist and human rights advocate, Ruth Powys who has also turned out to be the -late brother of the Duchess of Cornwall -Mark Shand’s secret lover.
Major news outlets have reported the couple were actually unofficially engaged, they reportedly had been dating for many years as she stayed close to him since his divorce in 2009. The night of his freak death to a fall hitting the pavement they were pictured together just hours before the accident occurred.
Even thought Shand was 27-years her senior, she reportedly said
“I had my hand on his heart.”
The 36-year-old was at the 62-year-old’s hospital bedside in New York as he passed away.
Ruth Powys is CEO of Elephant Family USA. She along with her twin sister, Mary – who is Head of Communications at Elephant Family were brought up by missionaries. Her childhood was submerged in an atmosphere of passion and conviction.
Ruth developed into an outspoken advocate for human rights among her peers and became particularly sensitive to issues affecting women. This lead to her arrest in 1997 for organizing a campaign against Virgin Cola’s sexually exploitative advertising.
She went on to read Early Modern History at the University of Essex where subjects such as slavery, genocide and gender history motivated her to pursue a career in the not-for-profit sector. After graduating, Ruth studied with the Institute of Public Relations. This equipped her with the vision to develop highly creative public art campaigns, which have raised over £10 million for numerous causes in the past 5 years.
In 2004 Ruth joined forces with the travel writer and adventurer, Mark Shand, to establish the conservation NGO, Elephant Family. The organisation funds over 20 conservation projects across Asia in a bid to save this iconic animal from extinction in the wild. The projects are largely funded by Ruth’s large scale art campaigns, which consistently feature life size endangered wildlife in a myriad of forms – from topiary to paint and high fashion.
Like Shand, the stunning blonde also enjoyed traveling, she is a world class act. According to her LinkedIn Ruth lives in New York where she is rolling out The Faberge Big Egg Hunt. Her most high profile campaign, Elephant Parade London (www.elephantparadelondon.org), remains London’s largest outdoor art exhibition on record. It raised over £5million and reached an international audience of 25 million.
As both representatives of Shand’s foundation “Elephant Family” they were pictured and spotted together at many events. On her website, it says: ‘Between Mark’s black book and Ruth’s creative ideas and energy she developed the charity from a team of one to what it is today; Elephant Family has now worked with over 800 artists, fashion houses, architects and designers and is an award winning NGO counting ‘Best Integrated Fundraising & Awareness Organization’, ‘Most Innovative Fundraising Team’ and ‘Best Cultural Attraction’ among its credits.
Powys is also the recipient of many honors and awards, you can see a full list of her achievements here. And find her on Facebook here.
