As excuses go for missing a meeting, it’s not a bad one.

Buried in the annual report of fund manager Schroders is the unusual line that a director failed to attend a board meeting ‘due to her honeymoon’.

The director in question is heiress Leonie Schroder, who was once called ‘arguably the most eligible woman in Britain’ and is worth an estimated £3.9billion.

Her engagement to Old Etonian management consultant Guy Blakeney was announced in July 2022 but there’s been no news of their nuptials until now. 

She inherited a stake in Schroders along with a seat on the board after her father Bruno died in 2019.

Along with Claire Fitzalan Howard, she represents the Schroder family’s interests in the boardroom. Both women are descendants of John Henry Schroder, who co-founded the wealth manager in 1804.

Schroders has grown to become the UK’s largest asset manager and now looks after more than £750billion of funds. Its chief executive Peter Harrison plans to retire next year after eight years in the top job.

He earned £6.2million in 2023, up by almost a third on the previous year, but not enough for him to make it into top 20 of highest paid FTSE 100 bosses.

A search for Harrison’s replacement is under way.

It’s been an eventful time for Leonie Schroder. Apart from getting married for the second time in what is understood to have been a low-key ceremony, she also turned 50 earlier this year.

Her ex-husband, Nicholas Fane, tragically died shortly after their divorce around a decade ago.

She has held various directorships since graduating from St Andrews University, including her father’s 18,500-acre Dunlossit Estate on the Scottish island of Islay, and her own 1,200-acre Hurstbourne Park estate in Hampshire.

Schroders declined to comment.