Amal Clooney, Prince Harry, and Victoria Beckham have been named as three of London’s most influential people. The London Evening Standard published their list ahead of Thursday’s annual event, and it saw Amal come in at number four, making her the highest placed women on the list.
The human rights lawyer, who is currently working with the Greek and British governments to secure the return of the Elgin Marbles to Athens, married Hollywood heart-throb George Clooney in a lavish Venetian ceremony in September. The Lebanese lawyer won a scholarship to Oxford before studying law in New York and becoming a UN advisor. Prince Harry came in at number seven, and was the only British royal on the list. The Army captain recently spent the summer organising the first ever Invictus Games, an international event which saw wounded soldiers competing in Olympic-style events.
Fashion designer Victoria Beckham was one of three women who made the top ten, including Amal and Home Secretary Theresa May. The 40-year-old opened her first flagship store in London this September and the event caused a stir across the capital as hordes of fans and paparazzi eagerly waited for the doors to open, allowing fashionistas to rush in and shop Victoria's Autumn/Winter 2014 collection. Also on the list are recent Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, Andre Balazs, the restaurateur and hotelier who founded Chiltern Firehouse, and Benedict Cumberbatch.
The 38-year-old actor has found international fame over the last few years thanks to his role as the super-sleuth Sherlock, in the BBC series of the same name. In the last 12 months he has also starred in some of the world’s biggest box office hits including 12 Years A Slave and Star Trek: Into Darknes. Benedict is hotly tipped to garner an Oscar nomination for his work in the upcoming pic, The Imitation Game, which he premiered at the London Film Festival, and follows World War II code-breaker Alan Turing.