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Luis Basualdo, known as the ‘modern-day Casanova’, the good-looking Argentinian polo-playing playboy who had an eye for beautiful, wealthy women, has died aged 75. As Richard Kay revealed in the
Daily Mail, ‘for all his faults he was certainly a life enhancer.’ Indeed, he came to Britain from Argentina in 1968 as
The Times describes, ‘with two polo ponies, a dashing smile and bundles of charm’, soon becoming immersed in the polo scene that saw him causing scandal through society circles.
Nigel Dempster, the late gossip columnist, once named him ‘the Bounder’ because of his appetite for rich heiresses, with a friend once observing that ‘his eyes register dollar signs like a fruit machine,’ whenever he met a glamorous woman.
Of all his accomplishments on behalf of his adopted country, assisting a ‘wet behind the ears’ Prince Charles in the art of the romantic chase was among bed-hopping playboy Luis Basualdo’s proudest achievements.
The glamorous polo-playing Argentine who cut an amorous swathe through the ritzy resorts of Europe and America collecting heiresses and beautiful women as if they were match-books found himself uniquely positioned to help the then unmarried prince in his quest for intimate contact with the opposite sex.
Basualdo, who has died at the age of 75, had his own polo team, the Golden Eagles, for whom the prince played in the 1970s. He later recalled: ‘Charles had joined my team and we were together constantly. As we got to know each other he dropped hints, he was shy and would mumble nervously about how hard it was for him to meet girls. After all he couldn’t just go to a pub and pick someone up.’