In 2011, when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge needed a high-profile event to mark their first official engagement as a married couple, it was almost beyond question the royals would do so at Ark, the charity ball founded by flamboyant hedge fund manager Arpad Busson.
By that point, the French financier’s annual philanthropic dinners had become the stuff of legend. In 2007, Busson, known as Arki to his friends, raised an eye-watering £27m in one night for children’s charity Absolute Return for Kids, or Ark.
