Rebel 'porn heiress' India Rose James, whose £329million fortune aged 21 made her richer than the Queen, gets engaged to indie musician in celeb-loved New York tattoo parlour

Daily Mail​

21-05-2025

'Rebel porn heiress' India Rose James, one of the richest young women in Britain, has announced her engagement to American indie musician and artist Daniel Vildosala.
The 33-year-old London art gallery owner announced the news on Tuesday night, posting a photo on Instagram of her engagement ring - a vintage-style sapphire surrounded by diamonds - with her hand resting on Daniel's forearm.
Inked across his skin were the words: 'Will you marry me?'
'Friends, don't make other plans in 2026!' she captioned her post from New York.
It's perhaps a surprising move from former rebel India, the 'Princess of Soho' who had a baby with a rockstar, and was once known for her pink hair, partying ways and edgy fashion sense.
Aged 21, India's £329million fortune made her richer than the Queen, and she was the youngest person to ever appear on The Sunday Times rich list.
But now her party-hard days, which even saw her be kicked out of £15,145-a-term St George's School in Ascot, seem to be behind her - having celebrated seven years of sobriety in March.
As part of her engagement announcement, India shared a photo of their visit to New York City's Fun City Tattoo studio, where Daniel got his proposal inked.
The shop, founded in the 1970s, is the oldest in New York and includes former famous clients such as Johnny Depp, Kate Moss, Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus.
Another photo shows India receiving a gift box of bespoke cookies shaped like champagne bottles, a heart bearing their names, and an open ring box.
Daniel - a musician and visual artist known for his experimental compositions and mixed-media visual work - reposted India's post on his Instagram stories with the caption: 'Fiance [sic] secured.'
India is the granddaughter of the late property magnate and porn publisher Paul Raymond, known as the 'King of Soho', and who was once Britain's richest man.
His wealth was largely invested in property in London's Soho, so when he passed away in 2008, India and her half-sister, Fawn, 39, inherited a large chunk of an estimated £600 million.
In the new Sunday Times Rich List published last week, their combined wealth was listed at £718million.
They also made it to sixth place in the '40 richest people under 40 in the UK', putting them just a few ranks below the young Duke of Westminster, who boasts a near-£10 billion fortune.
India, who runs the Soho Revue Gallery, has been dating Daniel for several years after meeting through mutual friends on the London art scene.
She joked to her friends that they shouldn't make any other plans for 2026
They live together in central London with India's seven-year-old daughter, Sapphire - aka Saffi - whose father is the Kooks guitarist Hugh Harris.
The sapphire engagement ring is thought to be a nod to her daughter's name.
India received a flood of comments online from friends in response to her news, including socialite Camille Charriere, who wrote: 'Sorry I don't use these words lightly but I fear this is iconic.'
Model Daisy Lowe added, 'Massive congratulations loves!!' while Portia Freeman, wife of The Kooks bassist Pete Denton, added, 'Huge huge congratulations, this is truly gorgeous xxxxx.'
India has not yet shared further details on the engagement, but friends close to the couple say they are likely to host celebrations on both sides of the Atlantic, with London and New York both holding special significance for them.
Daniel, originally from Mexico, has exhibited work in both cities and frequently collaborates with independent music collectives.
In 2008, her grandfather passed away, meaning India and her half-sister, Fawn were left a share of his estate, including freeholds of The Box, Soho House and the former Foyles site.
Paul Raymond, India's beloved grandfather 'Papa', opened the famously raunchy Raymond Revuebar in 1958 before branching out and founding his own adult magazine empire in 1964.
Over the following years ploughed his profits into property to the extent that it was said he bought a freehold a week in 1977. The nickname 'the King of Soho' followed.
When Paul died in 2008, the majority of his portfolio was left to India and her half-sister Fawn (whose biological father is Duncan Mackay from the rock band 10cc, but was adopted by India's father John James as a child) then aged 16 and 22, respectively. A hefty chunk was also left to Paul's son Howard.
India and Fawn's mother Debbie Raymond, Paul's daughter, died of a drug overdose at the age of 36, leaving behind ten-month-old India and six-year-old Fawn.
Despite her wealthy background and Soho upbringing, India has spoken openly about wanting to live a more grounded life.
She has insisted that she's not a nepo baby, and while the money gave her a leg up, she works hard and her credit card has a 'limit'.
Writing in The Times in 2023, she recalls how 'At a party recently someone was complaining about 'nepo babies' and a few faces turned to me.
'What can I say? I was left money, which undoubtedly gave me a leg up. But I set up the gallery on my own; I pay a higher percentage to the artists than most galleries because I want to invest in the creative community.
'If I inherit some money, does that make me a nepo baby? I don't think so.'
She said growing up she was told she would 'never have to work', thanks to the vast fortune she would one day inherit.
In another interview with The Times in 2020, she said she'd taught herself the value of money, and said her relationship with it at times hadn't been 'positive', as it was 'always there'.
When she was 18, she used her first instalment from her grandfather's legacy to move into a flat above a casino in Leicester Square.
She told the Mail's YOU Magazine: 'I was brought up not knowing about the money, apart from when my dad would say, 'You're going to get this,' and I'd think, 'Oh, I don't need a job.''
India has also been vocal about her sobriety, marking herself seven years' clean in March this year.
'I don't judge people who are [partying], but I don't want that,' she told Tatler in 2020.
'I also don't want my daughter, if she looks me up online - which I'm sure she will at some point - to find that there are loads of articles about me out drunk.
'That's not right. I want her to be reading articles about my achievements.'
In March, India celebrated being seven years sober on her Instagram account, but added she's 'still a chainsmoker', posing with a cigarette.
She said: '7 years sober today! (2555 days), Thanks to all my loved ones who have supported me over the years.
'According to Google lots of great things come in 7's.'
But her early 20s, India was a girl about town. A photo from that time shows a £10 note being burned with the comment 'just saw £10 go up in flames... I could have used that to go home'.
Another tweet stated: 'On Alex's roof in Soho, looking down on the little people.'
India, who was kicked out of private school St George's, Ascot over her 'uncontrollable attitude' before attending Bearwood College in Wokingham, Berkshire for sixth form became a firm fixture on the London social scene, frequenting fashion launches and art openings.
It was on a night out at celebrity haunt Brown's Hotel, in Mayfair, that she met her former fiancé Hugh Harris, lead guitarist of The Kooks. Their first kiss was at Reading Festival in 2015 and three months later India was pregnant.
Hugh proposed with an enormous emerald on the roof of the Hotel Café Royal in Piccadilly Circus in 2016.
Soon afterwards their daughter Sapphire, known as Saffi, was born at The Portland Hospital in Central London, where the likes of Victoria Beckham and the Duchess of York have also chosen to give birth.
The couple never married and later separated.
On Instagram, India and Daniel have shared their adventures together, travelling to Sicily and the US, attending Glastonbury music festival, and dressing up for Alice Manners' birthday party in April.
India is also known for her extravagance.
In 2021, she threw a lavish Harry Potter-themed 30th birthday party.
Along with India's magical, custom-made LED dress taking centre stage, the sumptious bash included a bookshelf with a hidden bar behind it, a boa constrictor, a tattoo bar and an army of performers performing a martial arts inspired dance during a sit-down meal.
Invites came in the form of wizardly gold coins, while posters echoing those of Sirius Black's face were plastered across the wall, bearing the faces of India's friends including model Tigerlily Taylor and actor Matt Smith.
Meanwhile India's custom dress was designed by India's pal and London-based designer Sonny Tassell, featuring clever LED lights which lit up in the dark.
In an interview with the Mail's YOU magazine in 2017, India opened up about her grandfather's pursuits.
'He saw a gap in the market and he went for it. It paid off,' she says. 'I have no issue at all with how he made his fortune. I have nothing against porn.'
However, she admitted that her wealth has changed other people's behaviour towards her, revealing one of her exes was clearly only with her for her money.
She said: 'One ex was with me for my money. I could tell that he was using me. He would ask me to get him cabs as he didn't want to take the Tube. I gave him a fiver once and he threw it in my face – so I had to get rid of him.'
Her wealth hadn't stopped her from fighting for what she believes in and in 2022, the Mail's Richard Eden revealed she was taking on the local council in order to bring a historic Soho drinking club back to life.
That year, India acquired the old St James & Soho club, a listed building which had remained unloved and empty for more than seven years.
The club, which opened in 1864, was where the working men of Soho went to drink, until it fell into disrepair and was purchased by James's business Soho Estates.
At the time, Philip Thompson, a director of Soho Estates, said: 'We would love it to be brought back as a members' club [but] the council rules are very restrictive.
'Council planners won't let us use it for anything that isn't an educational use, or a gallery, but we would love to bring it back as a members' club if we could get the planners to agree.'