James Spencer Matthews (born 21 August 1975) is a British former professional racing driver,

hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...

manager, and

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

to the Scottish feudal title of Laird of Glen Affric. In 2017, he married Pippa Middleton, the younger sister of

Catherine, Princess of Wales Catherine, Princess of Wales (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982), is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne. Born in Reading, Catherine grew ...

and sister-in-law of

William, Prince of Wales William, Prince of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982), is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. William was born during the reign of his pat ...

Early life and education

Matthews is the eldest son of David Matthews, whose father Wallace Matthews worked in the coal industry and then a garage near

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

. David Matthews was a car dealer before moving into the luxury hotel business. James' father also owns the resort Eden Rock, St Barths, and is also

laird Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scotland, Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a Baronage of ...

of a 10,000-acre Scottish estate, Glen Affric. James' mother is Zimbabwean-born artist Jane Matthews (' Jane Spencer Parker). Jane Matthews was educated at London's

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

. James is the older brother of

Spencer Matthews Spencer George Matthews (born 6 August 1988) is a British television personality and entrepreneur, known for his appearances on ''Made in Chelsea''. He has also appeared on other television shows such as '' Celebrity MasterChef'' and '' The Ju ...

, a former cast member of the reality TV show ''

Made in Chelsea ''Made in Chelsea'' (abbreviated ''MIC'') is a British Scripted reality, structured-reality television series broadcast by E4 (TV channel), E4. ''Made in Chelsea'' chronicles the lives of affluent young people in the West London and South West a ...

''. The family own the "castle-like" hunting lodge on their Scottish estate. Matthews' brother, Michael, died in 1999 in a mountaineering accident on

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

, hours after becoming the youngest Briton to conquer the peak. Matthews boarded at

Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils 13–18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oakham School. ...

, in Rutland. He trained as a securities trader at Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, now part of

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

. In 1997 Matthews moved to a finance house called Nordic Options Ltd, which de-merged from Spear, where he became a senior equity options trader.

Career

Racing

James Matthews British F3 1995 Silverstone

As a racing driver he has competed in such series as the

British Formula 3 Championship The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single sea ...

. He won the

British Formula Renault Championship British Formula Renault Championship referred to one of two Formula Renault championships that were held in the United Kingdom. The main series was Renault Sport, Renault Sport UK's Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula Renault 2.0 UK championship which ...

title in 1994 for Manor Motorsport. He won the Eurocup Formula Renault in the same year.

City career

Matthews became a City of London trader in 1995 and in 2001 was co-founder of Eden Rock Capital Management (named after his father's Eden Rock hotel), of which he is now Chief Executive. By 2007 the firm was reported to be managing over £1 billion in assets, and in 2017 David Friedman estimated that Matthews was "a demi-billionaire or close to a billionaire on his own merits". It was reported in July 2016 that Matthews' Eden Rock Capital Management fund was a major investor in a collapsed Scottish company at the heart of a £90 million fraud investigation.

Glen Affric

According to documents lodged with

Companies House Companies House is the executive agency of the British Government that maintains the Company register, register of companies, employs the company registrars and is responsible for Incorporation (business), incorporating all forms of Company, co ...

, James Matthews has been, since 2007, the "solitary managing director of Beaufort Glen Affric Ltd". The Glen Affric Estate is in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...

. As eldest son, upon his father's death, Matthews will inherit the

courtesy title A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but is rather used by custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title). In some context ...

of Laird of Glen Affric. Until that time he is able to use, should he choose to do so, the

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

, James Matthews of Glen Affric the Younger. Matthews' brother-in-law, James Middleton, was reported in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' in 2018 as hosting

deer stalking Deer stalking, or simply stalking, is a British term for the stealthy pursuit of deer on foot to hunt for venison, for leisure, as trophies, or to control their numbers as part of wildlife management, just as with rabbiting and boar hunting. D ...

parties at Glen Affric Estate.

Personal life

In July 2016, it was reported that Matthews had become engaged to Pippa Middleton, sister of

. Matthews and Middleton were married on 20 May 2017. Their son was born in 2018 at

St Mary's Hospital, London St Mary's Hospital is a teaching hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust ...

. Their elder daughter was born in 2021. Their second daughter was born in 2022. Matthews is fond of endurance events having competed in the

Marathon des Sables ''Marathon des Sables'', or MdS, (French language, French for Marathon of the Sands) "Facing Africa NOMA : The Marathon des Sables", FacingAfrica.org, 2010, webpage: -->pages/mds/default.asp FA8. is a seven-day, about ultramarathon, whi ...

, the swim and run competition Ötillö, and the long-distance cross-country ski marathon Birkebeinerrennet.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, James 1975 births Living people British racing drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Karting World Championship drivers People educated at Uppingham School People from Newark and Sherwood (district) Sportspeople from Nottinghamshire Saint Barthélemy people James Manor Motorsport drivers OAK Racing drivers Super Nova Racing drivers Middleton family (British)