As I get older, I genuinely think it’s cool when people schedule their weddings for unconventional moments. Like, I wouldn’t think that “a few days after Christmas” would be an ideal wedding date, but it actually makes sense and it’s nice to see a winter wedding for a change. So it was for Adam Peaty and Holly Ramsay. Holly is one of Gordon Ramsay’s six children, and Peaty is an Olympic swimmer who has won three Olympic gold medals and three silver medals. He’s honestly one of the best and most awarded swimmers in British history.
Adam and Holly were married in Bath Abbey on December 27th. Holly wore a lace gown, but she covered her gown in a somewhat glamorous cloak for the walk into and out of the abbey. Gordon walked his daughter down the aisle and enthusiastically welcomed Adam into the family. On the other side, Adam banned most of his family from the wedding. The British tabloids are treating this like the biggest scandal ever. Adam even addressed the “family feud” on his social media several weeks ago, basically saying that there are two sides to every story but not explaining much beyond that. The fact that his family rather gleefully gave tons of interviews on his wedding day speaks volumes about their priorities though.
Holly Ramsay swept into her wedding in Bath Abbey yesterday on the arm of her celebrity chef father, but keeping her lace gown concealed beneath a billowing hooded ivory cloak. If Gordon Ramsay’s daughter appeared nervous as she made her way through a chaotic crowd of onlookers before she headed down the aisle to exchange vows with Olympic swimmer Adam Peaty, she had good reason. For behind the couple’s lavish nuptials lay an ugly family drama which resulted in the groom’s mother – and nearly every member of his family – excluded from the dazzling ceremony amid claims of snobbery and classism.
Sitting at home more than 130 miles away in Staffordshire, Adam’s broken–hearted mother Caroline was said to be ‘beside herself’ with grief at missing what should have been one of the happiest days of her life. Speaking from the council house where Adam grew up, the 59–year–old told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I’m not going to be hurt like this again’.
She had told yesterday’s Daily Mail that she felt as if Holly and Adam ‘have cut my heart out’. This newspaper can also reveal that, moments before he walked into the abbey clutching the hand of his five–year–old son George, Adam Peaty was sent a devastating text message by his aunt Louise, who was also not invited to the wedding. In it, she wrote: ‘I hope you never suffer the depth of pain you have put your mother through and despite it all she loves you still. Shame on you both. Shame. Remember on this, your happiest day, and on each anniversary of your happiest day, that you hurt your mum so deeply her soul screams.’
The roots of this terrible family conflict go back to September 2024, when Adam and Holly snubbed wider members of the Peaty family by not inviting them to their engagement party. Caroline, who spent years ferrying her son to early–morning training sessions, was also not invited to Holly’s glamorous hen do at Soho Farmhouse in the Cotswolds last month, even though the bride’s mother, Tana Ramsay, and friends including Victoria Beckham, were at the extravagant bash. Despite everything Caroline sent a card and gift to her newlywed son for his 31st birthday today.
Meanwhile, Adam’s 73–year–old great–aunt Janet, who was also left out of yesterday’s wedding, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I just feel so sorry for Caroline. I can’t believe he’s done this to his mother who’s done so much for him from an early age. To be treated like this is not kind.’
Despite being shunned, devastated Caroline had threatened to turn up at the wedding anyway – and, if barred from entering the abbey, stand outside and watch from the street. She said yesterday that she changed her mind after her husband Mark convinced her it would be ‘too upsetting’ to go along. Had she defied her son’s ban, she would have found herself face–to–face with five security guards, placed in front of the abbey’s ancient and elaborately carved wooden doors, which were framed by decorative columns of white roses and hydrangeas.
I feel so sorry for any person going through this kind of bullsh-t on and around their weddings. It feels like a national pastime in the UK – parents and extended family members trying to ruin weddings or issuing public threats about the weddings. It genuinely seems like Adam was horrified that his family ran straight to the Daily Mail and the talk shows to complain about Holly and his engagement. Incidentally, Adam has already changed his name too – he’s now Adam Ramsay Peaty. I would assume Holly changed her surname as well.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
