She's described as one of 'the most spoilt girls in Britain' along with sister Tamara, 26 - but an unabashed Petra Ecclestone has defended her lavish lifestyle with a sneak peek inside her glossy life.
Petra, 22, is one of 80-year-old Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone's two daughters - and he recently revealed he’ll have to keep working for many years to fund their lavish lifestyles.
But Petra - who has just been bought a £56million house in Chelsea by her father, who divorced from her mother Slavica, 52, after 24 years in 2009 - remains unashamed of her opulent life.
Just casual: Petra Ecclestone said this walk-in closet at her £56m mansion was only day wear - her evening frocks were in another room
While giving a tour of a huge walk-in closet packed with designer clothes, Louboutin heels, jewellery and top-end underwear, she said breezily: 'Oh, this room’s just for my casual wardrobe. I actually keep my evening wear in the dressing room next door.’
However, Petra insists: 'Dad was joking when he said that (about working to fund his daughter's lifestyles) and it was taken out of context.
'Some people just don’t get his sense of humour. He doesn’t need to work – he can already afford to fund all this. He works because he loves it. He always says he’ll be working on the day he dies.'
On the tour of the six-floor, Grade II listed building, Grazia describes expensive Diptyque candles burning in every room and art including 8ft-high photos of female icons like Brigitte Bardot and Raquel Welch, as well works by Banksy and Tracy Emin.
The cars parked outside include the first right-hand drive Mercedes G Wagon ever made and a bright-red Ferrari.
Opulent: Petra in one of the rooms of the six storey house in Chelsea that her father Bernie Ecclestone bought her
Inside is her collection of Rolex watches (she’s got seven at an average cost of £20,000 each) and 10 Hermès Birkin bags at around £40,000 to £50,000 each.
However, when asked why she needed a £56million house, she explains it's for her five dogs.
She explained: 'I need a garden for them and there aren’t many properties in Chelsea or Belgravia with a private garden. Mum took me round to look at it and I fell in love.'
However, the house still isn't quite to her tastes, so it's being renovated so extensively she can't actually move in for another two years.
Apparently, she is having an underground car park and swimming pool with a spa.
Still, at least she'll have a house that will show the less well-off classmates who bullied her at her private West London school what for.
She told Grazia sadly: 'They’d refuse to let me play hopscotch because my shoes were from Milan, instead of Russell & Bromley.'
As for her career, after her attempt at a men's clothing line folded last year, she said: 'I’m trying to figure out what I want to do next.
'It’s important for me to make my own name because I want to make my mum and dad proud, not just live off the Ecclestone name.'
The full interview appears in this week’s Grazia magazine, on sale now.
Happy families: Petra, pictured with mother Slavica, father Bernie and sister Tamara in 2008
