She recently stated that she was single and has only had "a couple" of real boyfriends in the past, but it seems that Lady Kitty Spencer has an Italian love in the form of Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro. The 25-year-old niece of Diana, Princess of Wales has confirmed her romance on social media, by posting several loved-up pictures with her beau.
The Instagram snaps are the first tell-tale signs of Kitty and Niccolò's relationship, but as a throwback photo from 2014 shows, the couple have actually been together for years.
Calling Niccolò her "love", Kitty shared a flashback photo from a lavish event the couple attended in Rome.
Lady Kitty Spencer's boyfriend Niccolò is the CEO of luxury developer Northacre
Last week she posted a selfie of the lovebirds donning hard hats at a construction site in Dublin, and captioned it: "Take-your-girlfriend-to-work Day".
Kitty, the eldest daughter of Earl Spencer and his first wife Victoria, was referring to her boyfriend's profession. At almost twice her age, Niccolò is the CEO of luxury developer Northacre.
According to his profile and a blog on the company's website, Niccolò has over 18 years experience in finance and real estate and used to work as a trader.
The couple have dated since 2014, although Kitty has only recently gone public with the romance
"I grew up in Rome, but came to boarding school in England at the age of 15, because I loved to play football," he wrote on the site's Brummell Blog. "That was my first taste of the country, and I knew I'd be back. I then moved to France to study at the American University of Paris, and while there, got into sailing."
Niccolò went on to explain that he manned a 12-metre catamaran and eventually sailed halfway around the world on it, ending in Hawaii where he lived for a few years.
The age difference isn't an issue for Kitty, as she joked about it in another photo on Instagram uploaded on Valentine's Day. During a romantic getaway to Bath, the couple posed at the Roman Baths and Kitty quipped: "Romans started development of Aquae Sulis in AD 43 – so @niccolobarattieri must've been around to help with construction."
Kitty quipped about her boyfriend's age, joking that Niccolò was around to build the Roman Baths
Niccolò, who lives in the affluent South Kensington neighbourhood in London, is divorced and shares three children with his ex-wife Sofia. The handsome businessman shared an Instagram photo of his daughters last year, writing "Sunday with my girls".
Like Niccolò, Kitty has had a cosmopolitan upbringing. The pretty blonde moved to South Africa when she was five and grew up in Cape Town, where she studied psychology, politics and English literature at the University of Cape Town. Kitty also has an MA in Luxury Brand Management from Regent's University London.
At the start of their relationship in 2014, Kitty and Niccolò rang in the New Year in South Africa, with Kitty, who previously dated England cricketer Nick Compton, sharing one of the first photos of her boyfriend online.
