The recent marriage of baronet Sir William Jaffray to Gowri Siva, conducted in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital while Sir William was seated on his bed, has become the subject of intense controversy. A family member has leveled accusations of a "predatory marriage" against the new Lady Jaffray, describing her actions as a "calculated heist of a defenceless man."
According to the relative, Lady Jaffray isolated Sir William, 74, from his family by barring them from his hospital room. The accuser further alleges that Lady Jaffray "smuggled" an external registrar into the hospital to conduct the ceremony and withheld news of the marriage for a week to prevent any legal intervention. The suggestion of a honeymoon on the Orient Express was dismissed as a "cruel distortion" given Sir William's prolonged incapacitation.
Sir William, who previously fought Lloyd's in the 1990s on behalf of investors who suffered significant losses, has four children from his first marriage.
Lady Jaffray, identified as a lawyer-turned-art specialist, has denied these claims. She stated that Sir William wrote to the hospital and the registrar expressing his "irrevocable wish to marry" her and that it was his decision not to inform his family.
Lady Jaffray also asserted that Sir William's eldest son, Nicholas, is supportive and believes her feelings for his father are genuine. She countered the "smuggled registrar" claim by stating it is not possible to "smuggle in a registrar" and that the marriage proceeded with Sir William's explicit consent and wishes.