Adam Peaty and Holly Ramsay will this weekend tie the knot in a lavish ceremony held at the magnificent Bath Abbey, having both trodden very different paths to get to where they are today
Swimmer Adam Peaty and Holly Ramsay will say ‘I do’ at Bath Abbey this weekend, as their two very different worlds collide.
The son of a Lidl caretaker and nursery manager, 30-year-old Adam endured financial strain growing up, with his family even giving up holidays so he could partake in national competitions. Such sacrifices ultimately paid off, with Adam having made a name for himself as an Olympic gold medallist and one of the most talented swimmers in sporting history.
For 25-year-old Holly, Adam’s childhood memories of hand-me-downs and neighbours clubbing together for petrol costs may be pretty hard to relate to. The daughter of world-famous chef Gordon Ramsay, who is worth an estimated £ 152 million, model and influencer Holly has grown up in a household where money was no object.
Sadly, in the build-up to this Christmastime wedding, the rift between these two very different families has become all the more apparent. Fans first had an inkling something was amiss when Adam’s mum, Caroline Peaty, 60, wasn’t invited to Holly’s swish hen do, with suggestions that she “might have stuck out a bit” amid the rich and glamorous guests.
It’s now understood that Caroline has been barred from the big day altogether, with Adam’s sister Caroline being the only Peaty family member in attendance. Here, the Mirror takes a look at Holly and Adam’s polar opposite backgrounds.
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The youngest of four siblings, Olympic swimmer Adam was born in the market town of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, to nursery manager Caroline and her former bricklayer husband Mark. In happier times, Adam had previously spoken with pride at length about his working-class background and the sacrifices his mum had made to help him realise his ambitions.
Despite holding down a full-time job, she would get up at 4 am every day to drive him to training sessions. The family sacrificed holidays due to their tight financial situation, reports the Mirror. Caroline’s maiden flight was to the Rio Olympics to support her son. “My mum worked on the other side of Stoke, and I trained in Derby. That is a big journey,” Adam previously told the Guardian.
“I would get up at 4 am, my mum would drive me to the pool for 4.40 am in Derby. She would wait for me for two hours, drive back, have some breakfast, then she would be in the house for 50 minutes, then work all day 8 am to 5 pm, God knows. Then come back to Derby, wait another two hours, and collect me. She wouldn’t get home until 8 pm or 10 pm.”
At one stage, Caroline became unwell. With finances stretched thin, they were forced to rely on the kindness of friends and relatives to help Adam continue pursuing his sport. “He almost gave up swimming because he’d had enough,” she once revealed to the Daily Mail. “I was quite poorly for a while, so it was really difficult getting him to the early morning sessions.
“When he started doing all his national competitions, the petrol costs were really high. Our street all clubbed together, and we used to hold barbecues or Christmas parties. Our neighbours, Angela and Keith, used to organise a raffle and everyone would donate prizes. All the money raised went towards Adam’s swimming. We didn’t have a holiday for four or five years, but everyone was brilliant.”
Despite their financial struggles, Adam’s family always showered him with love and proudly displayed his medals on the curtain pole until it could no longer bear them. His cherished grandma, Mavis – a former biscuit factory worker – was the only one he trusted to wash his GB kit because she ‘does very small loads and keeps the colours together’.
Adam stayed in the family home until adulthood, when he moved closer to his training base in Loughborough. It was there that he met his girlfriend Eirianedd Munro at university.
The couple welcomed their son George in 2020 but parted ways shortly after. Now rumoured to be worth between £ 1 million and £ 4 million, Adam has previously spoken about the challenges of coming from a less affluent background. “You do feel on the back foot if you don’t come from a rich family or a family who are already involved in sport… You’re starting off at a massive disadvantage against those kinds of people,” he once said.
“As an amateur, you’re up against people with money who can afford physio or therapists, and these kids turn up with all the kit. Not everyone is equal. But if anything, it made me more determined to make the most of what I did have and give 110 per cent in training.”
In a candid interview with the Guardian, he reflected on his working-class roots and how they fuelled his ambition. He said, “That relationship with suffering has driven me since I was a kid. I am working class, but millions of people in this country are also working class.
“They live paycheck to paycheck and can’t have luxury things. I was in a larger family with two brothers and one sister, so you had to fight for what you had, and because I was the youngest, I always had hand-me-downs. But that gives you an appreciation for the things you do have. I now really respect everything I have earned, such as my house. I’ve got a roof over my head, I can feed my family and enjoy the luxuries if I need them.
“Now, becoming a dad, I want to be the best role model possible to George to show him that if you want something, you get it by working hard. Don’t become lazy and ever think anything will be handed to you.
“That’s my upbringing in a nutshell. I don’t want to sound too harsh on my parents because they did so much for me, and gave me so much, but there were also so many kids that had so much more, and that’s spurred me on.”
Money troubles were hardly an issue in the Ramsay household, where Gordon and wife Tana brought up their brood of six surrounded by unimaginable wealth. The children rubbed shoulders with the Beckhams whilst dividing their time between a £6.9million Bel Air mansion, a £7million Victorian property in London, and a £7.5million seaside retreat in Cornwall’s most exclusive corner.
Their son Jack, 25, was gifted a £10,000 Rolex by his father for his 18th birthday, admitting to Channel 4’s Born Famous documentary that he’d be lost without his privileged lifestyle. He confessed, “I have grown up in a bubble. I’ve never had to fight or do anything for myself. I don’t know what I’m like without everything I’ve got.”
Holly was seen accompanying her father to Elton John’s exclusive Oscars viewing party in 2017 and is a frequent attendee at VIP Formula 1 events. They were raised with Gordon’s sister, Yvonne, acting as their nanny, who moved in when the eldest children were young, along with her then 10-year-old daughter, Sophie.
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