A billionaire matchmaker has revealed how her £40,000-a-year dating agency has been boosted by the lack of socalising during lockdown.
Speaking to society bible Tatler, Olivia Rigg, who runs London dating agency Hamilton Rigg, are more in demand because the events where high net worth clients would usually meet face to face, like the Grand Prix or St Moritz ski trips, have been put on hold.
Spending so much time at home has also given people more time to think about the state of their love lives.
‘Covid has made people at every level think much more about their relationships than ever before, whether that’s about finding a great relationship, bringing the spark back in or making it sexy. In normal life, everyone is too busy,’ she said in an interview with Tatler.
So the super rich turn to Olivia and her team for help finding ‘the one’. At the moment she only accepts men as clients – many of them royalty, aristocrats or from the world of entertainment – and charges £20,000 for a six month membership.
Olivia Rigg, pictured, who runs London dating agency Hamilton Rigg, are more in demand because the events where high net worth clients would usually meet face to face, like the Grand Prix or St Moritz ski trips, have been put on hold
The website for Hamilton Rigg gives little away (pictured) and clients have to be personally screened before they are accepted. Olivia takes a maximum of 20 clients at a time
While the fee may seem eye-watering to some, Olivia is so successful that it’s not uncommon for her to be offered a million-pound success fee if a client ends up married, according to the Sunday Times.
After screening any potential clients over video call, Olivia sets about finding them a perfect match from the network of 500 women she has on her books.
All of them have met Olivia or a member of her team at least once.
Speaking of her clients, Olivia told Tatler: ‘Some are royalty, some are from big dynastic families, right through to people who are super self-made. The commonality is that they’re all very driven, results-orientated, successful and at the top of their game’.
Her youngest client is 29 and her oldest is 73, and that she works with around 15 to 20 clients at a time.
Spending so much time at home has also given people more time to think about the state of their love lives, says Olivia (pictured)
‘It’s important to me that I’m super involved in every aspect of it so it’s never going to be a massive number,’ she added.
As well as being able to afford the five-figure fee. Those joining the agency are carefully vetted by Olivia’s team.
They do a ‘detailed search’ and look at their background, social media presence and achievements.
It can get a bit hairy down the line, and it’s emotional, and there’s lots going on – it works best if I have a really good, open, committed relationship with them. That’s crucial
‘It’s really important to me that they respect women, that they really want a great relationship – there are people out there who might think they want a great relationship but aren’t able to or don’t inherently respect women,’ she told Tatler.
Those who make the cut have a video call with a team member before going on to chat to Olivia herself.
‘The big thing is the mentality. There are lots of people that could afford our fees [but] it’s less about the money; it’s more about the value that they place on having really quality relationships, and what that means for them,’ she added to GQ.
‘It’s first and foremost understanding that. All of my clients tend to be forward-thinking, results-orientated people. It can get a bit hairy down the line, and it’s emotional, and there’s lots going on – it works best if I have a really good, open, committed relationship with them. That’s crucial.’
Olivia, who worked in the charity sector as well as in PR for Marks & Spencer before setting up the agency added to Tatler that she decided to focused ‘on very specific types of people’ that ‘she is familiar with’ where that be from her own personal life or someone who she’s socialised around.
The matchmaker added that those that seek her services ‘know what they want’ and aren’t online dating types, as they want to prioritise relationships.
‘We help filter out the dating noise, even before Covid, for these people it’s not about bumping into someone randomly in a members’ club,’ she added.