Socialite Lizzie Buttrose finds love with farmer while in isolation
After swapping Sydney for Far North Queensland, socialite Lizzie Buttrose is engaged again, this time to a farmer she became romantically involved with just weeks ago, Annette Sharp reveals.
Opinion
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With so much self-isolation going on, it was inevitable some Sydney socialites, with time on their hands following the cancellation of their exhaustive and intensive regular beauty maintenance programs, were going to look up from their smart phones and find love.
First among them — predictably — is Buttrose family wild child Lizzie, niece of the accomplished Ita.
Having quit Sydney for Port Douglas in 2018 and separated from her seventh fiance, cage-fighter Zoran Stopar, in August, Lizzie is engaged again, this time to North Queensland farmer Lee Dilkes, a man she became romantically involved with just weeks ago.
Last week, party girl Lizzie posted of her sweet new farm life to social media, making it sound rather a lot like the old Sydney party lifestyle that she was known for: “Eighth day of self-isolation and it’s like Vegas at my house. We’re losing money by the minute, cocktails are acceptable at any hour, and nobody knows what time it is,” she wrote.
With the coronavirus outbreak closing colleges and universities in Far North Queensland where Lizzie, 49, is reinventing herself studying law and economics, the mother-of-two has had more time to while away the hours on Dilkes’ 2.4ha lychee farm where she has taken to the fields on a dirt bike and frequently at the wheel of his tractor.
It’s a whole new adventure for the eastern suburbs socialite who grew up in the lap of luxury in Vaucluse with a brother who would one day make his name as a society drug dealer.
Confirming the engagement on March 7, Dilkes, who surfs and plays guitar, updated his Facebook status to “Engaged to Lizzie Buttrose”.
Proving she might yet have a nose for a business opportunity in what for some are increasingly desperate times, Buttrose last week bought a bottle shop in Port Douglas.
She posted a photo of herself — arms thrust wide displaying a shelf stocked with rum, whisky, vodka, gin, bourbon and wine —– on Instagram.
“Bought a bottle-o. Being a trust fund kiddy sometimes works out. Thanks Dad,” she said.
She added the shop was a gift for her two adult sons.
“I bought this for my two sons. It’s in their Trust Vault … Love Mummy.”
The purchase may be an excellent investment at a time when people are hoarding booze.
For Lizzie, there were jokes from amused friends: “Now don’t drink the profits,” posted one to Lizzie’s wineglass motif laden Insta account.
The post was published the day before Buttrose’s siblings, Richard and Evie, were due to be mentioned in court in a civil court matter relating to a bitter dispute over the proposed sale of their still-living mother’s estate.
Family matriarch Elizabeth suffered a major stroke a year ago.
Richard, who served nine years of a 12-year sentence after police caught him with two six-kilogram bags of cocaine and more than $1.3 million in cash, has been living in the home among the art and treasures accumulated by his parents over a well-lived lifetime and is said to be protective of his mother’s things.
He is also regarded as his mother’s primary carer and, say close sources, more conservative with money than both sisters.
Meanwhile Lizzie, who despite having failed to find her feet professionally during many career reinventions, continues to enjoy the proceeds of her trust fund – as evidenced by a ski trip to Aspen in January and the acquisition of the new bottle shop.