This is not a bad excuse if you want to miss a meeting.

The annual report of the fund manager Schroders contains the unusual remark that a director did not attend a board meeting “due to her honeymoon”.

The director is heiress Leonie Schröder, who was once considered “probably the most sought-after woman in Britain” and whose fortune is estimated at £3.9 billion.

Her engagement to former Eton management consultant Guy Blakeney was announced in July 2022, but there has been no news of the wedding so far.

Leonie Schröder was once considered “the most sought-after woman in Britain”

Following the death of her father Bruno in 2019, she inherited a share in Schroders and a seat on the board.

Together with Claire Fitzalan Howard, she represents the interests of the Schröder family on the board of directors. Both women are descendants of John Henry Schröder, who co-founded the asset manager in 1804.

Schroders has grown into the UK’s largest asset manager, managing more than £750 billion. Its chief executive, Peter Harrison, plans to retire next year after eight years at the helm.

In 2023, he earned £6.2m, almost a third more than the previous year, but not enough to make it into the top 20 highest-paid FTSE 100 bosses.

The search for a successor to Harrison is ongoing.

It was an eventful time for Leonie Schröder. She married for the second time, the ceremony was apparently held in a small circle, and at the beginning of the year she also turned 50.

Her ex-husband Nicholas Fane died tragically shortly after their divorce about a decade ago.

Since graduating from St Andrews University, she has held various directorships, including her father’s 18,500-acre Dunlossit Estate on the Scottish island of Islay and her own 1,200-acre Hurstbourne Park estate in Hampshire.

Schroders declined to comment.

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