She lives in and is part of the president’s inner social circle. Now, the ‘powerhouse’ former banker Suzanne Johnson is about to descend on London, with her husband, the US ambassador to the UK. By Daisy Prince

The president

The First Lady Friends in high places She lives in Trump Tower and is part of the president’s inner social circle. Now, the ‘powerhouse’ former banker Suzanne Johnson is about to descend on London, with her husband, the US ambassador to the UK. By Daisy Prince

The event Melania and Donald Trump attend Woody Johnson’s ‘Wig Out’ 60th birthday party, with Suzanne Ircha, 2007

The ambassador Millionaire and owner of the

His wife A former equities manager and actress Friends in high places eing named as ambassador to ambassadorship. And that appoint- UK, and on his return to Kentucky photographer, hair and make-up, the Court of St James’s is the ment was unofcially announced by earlier this year was awarded the photographer’s assistant and B highest social achievement Trump at a Washington luncheon in the Marshall Medal for his dedica- I had all driven out to the stadium, any American can obtain. It is a tro- January, at which he introduced tion to strengthening US and located in East Rutherford, New phy coveted by all political bigwigs, a guest as ‘sitting next to the ambas- British relations. Jersey, about 50 minutes outside not only for its diplomatic status sador going to St James’. Another The ambassador to the UK is the . Suzanne took her heli- during the posting, but because explanation is Woody’s emergence highest-ranking representative of copter to meet us. forever after, the US government as one of the Trump campaign’s the US abroad, but it has tradition- She and I had talked weeks bestows one of its few honorifcs – biggest fundraisers, even after orig- ally been the wives of the ambassa- earlier on the phone. She spoke in a The Honorable – on those who inally supporting . dors who have been the social face of low conspiratorial tone, a leftover served. The latest couple to have Trump and Woody have known the nation. Brooke Barzun was the from her days in equities sales when been awarded this diplomatic each other for over 30 years, and epitome of controlled glamour. She she worked cheek-by-jowl with cherry: Woody and Suzanne their wives are close friends – Brick was known to be a champion social other salesmen and didn’t want the Johnson, billionaire supporters of and Barron (Trump’s only child ‘mixologist’: a woman who was competition overhearing her deals. with Melania) are the same age – delighted to have Annie Lennox As it happens, all we were discuss- and the Johnsons lived at 1 Central ing was what she should wear. Park West, Trump Tower Interna- ‘Suzanne is a powerhouse. Suzanne Ircha was born the tional, for years before Trump even She has so much energy. daughter of a first-generation considered running for president. She is a very strong and Ukrainian immigrant father and a The Trumps have been frequent second-generation Ukrainian- visitors to Jets games, always passionate person’ American mother and grew up in attending in the Johnsons’ private Melania Trump Manhattan’s Little Ukraine in the owner’s box, and were guests at perform at Winfeld House and com- East Village. Her father was an elec- their wedding in 2009. Melania has fortable enough to serve the Prince trical engineer and builder, and her even modelled Jets T-shirts as of Wales fried chicken. Winfield mother was a housewife. Money a favour to Suzanne. House acquired a reputation for was tight but her father instilled Politically, the couples are very throwing the best parties in town. a ferce drive to succeed in Suzanne. well aligned. Woody has been a It will now be up to Suzanne to As she told Avenue’s Janet Allon, committed Republican fundraiser decide who will mix and mingle: ‘When I was about 17 or 18, my father for years, and was an enthusiastic her new position will give her sat me down and said, “You won’t supporter, once tell- access to a previously unimagina- have any trouble finding boy- ing the New York Observer that he ble sphere of infuence. friends, but just in case your Prince spent as much as 25 hours a week on Charming doesn’t show up, make the phone raising money for Rom- he New York Jets MetLife sure you have a back-up plan.”’ ney. Last year, Woody was the head Stadium, normally packed She took his words to heart and of Jeb Bush’s fnance committee – T with 77,000 chanting fans, applied herself diligently at school, but he changed his allegiance in was eerily silent on a late August eventually attending the prestig- May to team Trump and has been morning in 2012. I was the newly ious Cornell University, where she well rewarded for his eforts. appointed editor of Avenue Maga- frst read engineering, later switch- Woody had his hearing in front zine, a society publication covering ing to business. She graduated in of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Manhattan’s elites, and we were in 1985. ‘With that kind of back- Committee on 20 July. Pending a the midst of shooting our annual ground,’ she said, ‘you don’t expect vote, he will be duly sworn in as October ‘Power Cover’ with Suzanne to just get things handed to you.’ Power couple T h e J o h n s o n s ambassador to the Court of St Johnson. Earlier that morning, the During summer breaks she James’s by the State Department, President Trump. Robert ‘Woody’ and the couple will become the lat- Te a m w o rk With the Jets Johnson IV, 70, is the great-grand- est inhabitants of Winfeld House, son of the co-founder of the epony- the ambassador’s glorious resi- mous pharmaceutical company. dence in the middle of Regent’s According to government disclo- Park, once owned by the Wool- sure documents, he has a net worth worth heiress Barbara Hutton. of about $4.2 billion. Notable past US ambassadors Before this, Woody was best include: Averell Harriman (who known for having bought the later married Pamela Digby Church- American-football team the New ill), Joseph Kennedy, the father of York Jets in 2001, for $635 million. John F Kennedy, and the publisher His wife Suzanne is a former equi- and philanthropist Walter Annen- ties manager and actress. The cou- berg. Obama’s choice, Matthew ple have two young sons, ‘Brick’, 11, Barzun, was the Harvard-educated and Jack, 9, and the family divide descendant of a founder of the Mas- their time between their estate in sachusetts Bay Colony. His wife, East Hampton and their apartment Brooke, is heiress to the Brown-For- in New York’s Trump Tower. man distilling empire. Barzun was The Johnsons’ long-standing known for his outgoing personality friendship with the Trumps is and political adroitness. He set up a part of the reason for the new programme called Young Leaders worked at Bear Stearns bank, where ‘Brick’ (nicknamed after D’Brick- something of his wild spirit, once Fey. Designer Georgina Chapman her cold-calling skills were so ashaw Ferguson, a Jets player; his riding his Harley-Davidson cross and her husband, the producer impressive that after a couple of real name is Robert Wood Johnson country in the company of Jann Harvey Weinstein, are close friends. summers the bank ofered her a job V) was born, and, two years later, Wenner, the publisher of Rolling Georgina even created the limited- right out of university. She sold Jack. (Suzanne said of naming her Stone magazine, and Michael edition Jets T-shirt that Melania large- and small-cap stocks to insti- second son, ‘Woody felt that guys Douglas. But not withstanding the modelled. Of Suzanne, Melania tutional investors. Suzanne was an named Jack were never the last occasional motorcycle adventure, says, ‘Suzanne is a powerhouse. She asset to the firm with her instant ones picked for teams.’) The couple he has settled into a more grounded has so much energy. She is a very ability to make strong relationships were married in 2009. Suzanne life, even regularly attending the strong and passionate person.’ with clients over the phone before admits to being a ‘Tiger Mom’ and local Presbyterian church with It is no surprise that Suzanne is as she was unleashed on them in per- Johnson approves of her work Suzanne (a compromise between his passionate about her politics. ‘I’ve son. And what a person. Tall (5ft ethic. ‘As a second-generation Episcopalian/Anglican religion and always been a Republican. And I will 10in) and blonde-bombshell gor- immigrant, she embodies those her Catholicism). His faith might try and raise my children with the geous with a 1,000-watt smile she qualities that make our country have provided solace after his same values I was raised with. can deploy at will, Suzanne was the great,’ he said. ‘It comes out in eve- daughter Casey, a diabetic, died in I feel those who work hard should be employee who could stay out until rything she does, including the 2010, aged 30. He has two other rewarded and recognised. For exam- the early hours and still get in for way she handles the kids. She’s daughters – Jaime, 34, and Daisy, 30. ple, in sports, not every kid should her morning sales call at 7.30am. It raising them to work hard and Both are photographers. win a trophy. As adults, working was no surprise to anyone that she made her frst million by 26. From here… Tr u m p To w e r But Suzanne’s real dream was to be in showbiz. At 26, after making that million, she managed to per- suade her frm to give her a year of in order to become a talk-show host and actress in LA. The dream never panned out, though she got parts in a couple of B-list movies – Pontiac Moon (1994) and Return to Two Moon Junction (1996). She came back to New York when her old boss and mentor, Herman Sandler, persuaded her to join his frm, Sandler O’Neill, … to here W i n fi e l d H o u s e whose offices were located on the 104th foor at 2 World Trade Center. ‘In working hard to achieve uzanne is all about her Woody. hard to achieve your goals can often On the morning of 11 September Observing them together at lead to higher compensation. I like your goals, money 2001, Suzanne was heading to work S the stadium and in their hos- that – money is a good motivator. late, after staying out late entertain- is a good motivator. pitality box there, they seemed to I’m a big fan of capitalism.’ ing clients. She was on the phone I’m a big fan of capitalism’ get on extremely well. She was bub- Even though Suzanne likes to

IS with her boss at 8.30am when she bly and outgoing, danced with their extol the virtues of the American RB

O heard the explosion. The last thing achieve, and not to think every- friends and chatted happily to visit- dream, it’s clear that she and Woody , C she remembers Sandler saying was, thing will be handed to them.’ ing celebrities. He was shyer and are Anglophiles. In 2015, they AMY

L ‘Goddamn terrorists,’ before the Up until now, the children have more reserved but clearly enjoyed brought the entire Jets football A line went dead. Neither he nor been educated privately on Man- watching his wife work the room. team over to the UK for a visiting GE,

IMA 65 other people in the firm sur- hattan’s Upper East Side and She looked to him for approbation game at Wembley Stadium and

RE vived. Suzanne helped to restruc- Suzanne is a typical Upper East Side and assurance. Theirs is an old- beamed the Jets logo, Batman-style, WI Z,

I ture the company. ‘I just worked mother. According to an article in fashioned relationship. Upon frst on to the Tower of London.

RU through it all,’ she said. Something NY Family Magazine, Suzanne says, appearance she seems to be the one With the confrmation hearings OS had changed, though, and Wall ‘I am a total 1960s housewife. As running the show, but Woody’s qui- behind them, it won’t be long before RL A Street lost its appeal. It was time for glamorous as it all seems on the out- etly in charge behind the scenes. Suzanne can get started in her new

GE: C a diferent role. side, I am a wife and mother, and They are regular attendees on post, but she may fnd her path in A P But it wasn’t until 2004 that life that’s frst and foremost... I put on Manhattan’s benefit circuit, but the UK thornier than expected. The THIS

. put her in touch with Woody. There the black leggings and the black their social hub is the owner’s box Johnsons are riding into power on S

GE are various accounts of their frst turtleneck and coat, and take my of the Jets. Suzanne and Woody the coat-tails of the most unpopular IMA encounter. One says they met in kids to school. It’s not all fabulous.’ entertain around 80 guests at a US president abroad in recent his-

TTY Beverly Hills at a conference given Woody takes the children off her time, an array of friends, family, tory. As political novices, neither

/GE by Michael Milken. Another says hands once a week so she can organ- business contacts and celebrities. of whom have lived outside the AN she met him at a Jets game – intro- ise everyone’s lives. ‘Our relation- As Suzanne says, ‘I try to create US, theirs will be a steep learn- ULL

M duced by a mutual friend. Regard- ship just works,’ she says. ‘We are interesting mixes.’ On any given ing curve. C M less, their second date was an very compatible, and I am married day, you might run into Suzanne’s For now, though, Suzanne can CK I

R unqualified success. Suzanne to the greatest guy in the world.’ best friends, socialites Somers Far- relax on her estate in East Hampton, AT showed him how to use his new Woody divorced his first wife, kas and Joanne de Guardiola, writer enjoying some of the tomatoes she GE: P

A BlackBerry and he fell for her. Nancy Sale Frey, in 2001. Known as a Jay McInerney and his wife Anne likes to grow herself, and thinking P S

U (‘He calls me his “red hot chilli,”’ party animal and frat boy at the Uni- Hearst, veteran American football of the moment when she will

IO she said.) versity of Arizona, he cleaned up his star Joe Namath, Ben Stiller, Kris- become the latest châtelaine of

PREV A year later their first son, act after college but still retained ten Wiig, Jimmy Fallon and Tina Winfeld House.