President Trump has picked a deep-pocketed luxury handbag designer who is a member of his exclusive Mar-a-Lago club to be the US ambassador to South Africa, the White House announced.
Lana Marks, 65, of Palm Beach, Florida, is the founder and CEO of an eponymous fashion brand that counts royalty and Hollywood celebrities among clients willing to shell out big bucks for her bags, Newsweek reported.
The South Africa native, who has no political experience, attended the University of the Witwatersrand and the Institute of Personnel Management in Johannesburg, according to the White House. She speaks both Afrikaans and the Xhosa language.
Marks’ handbags are noted for being crafted with exotic animal skins, such as ostrich and alligator, with one clutch creation costing a staggering a $400,000.
Her website features photos of stars such as Jennifer Aniston carrying her wares and says her accessories have become a favorite among “royalty and entertainment style makers.”
The Palm Beach Post has described her as “Like Trump, a relentless self-promoter.”
“The idea for a luxury exotic leather fashion brand came in 1984, when Lana Marks and her husband were invited to a birthday celebration for Queen Elizabeth II aboard the royal yacht Britannia,” according to the bio on her website.
“A fruitless search for a red alligator handbag to match her suit led Marks to conclude that a niche existed in the marketplace for luxury, exotic leather fashion handbags in fabulous colors.”
Marks “served on the Women’s Leadership Board at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Women’s International Forum for more than a decade,” the White House said.
In an interview with The Sun, she described her friendship with Princess Diana and revealed that the royal should have been on vacation with her when she was killed in Paris in 1997.
The vacation was canceled when Marks’ father had a heart attack, so Diana went to the French capital with her partner, Dodi Fayed, instead.
“For the next few years I was in shock. I still feel the pain of it all. I constantly think, ‘What if she’d been with me?’ All that might not have happened,” Marks told the UK newspaper.
“I feel terrible when I have that thought but can’t get rid of it. I’m thinking of her more than usual now due to the anniversary and it definitely still plays on my mind.”
Marks is the fourth member of Mar-a-Lago — which costs $200,000 to join — to be tapped by the president for an ambassadorial posting, according to Business Insider.
The others were Robin Bernstein, as ambassador to the Dominican Republic; Patrick Park, who declined the honor of being the ambassador to Austria; and Brian Burns, who cited health reasons for turning down an ambassadorship to Ireland.
The post in South Africa has been vacant since the departure of Patrick Gaspard in December 2016.