Gabriela’s mansion is a world away from the two-bed apartment where she grew up with her parents in an industrial town near Prague in the Czech Republic. She is fiercely proud of her home country and it’s clear from the copious numbers of photographs on display that family means everything to her. Their daughter Maia proudly announces she can speak excellent Czech – ‘I make a point of sending her there every school holiday’ – they have a Czech au pair, and even the family cat hails from her homeland. ‘I had a very, very happy childhood. It was pretty basic, but there is something to say for growing up in a small city feeling super safe.’
The daughter of a construction company owner, Gabriela left the former communist country at the age of 15, after winning a modelling contract with Van Cleef & Arpels. She went on to travel the world, from Paris to Milan to South Africa, adorning magazine covers, until the work pulled her to Britain when she was 22. ‘The modelling world was more sophisticated in London and had much nicer people.’
A decade on and both Gabriela’s business and family life are blossoming. Her ultra-chic private clinic is housed in the basement of her wonderland of a home, and has been styled with the help of the couple’s great friend and interior designer Peter Mikic (who also worked on their summer home in the South of France). ‘He brings a modern quirk to the old, and I really like that,’ she says. A collection of grandfather clocks, inherited from David’s father, chime alongside an incredible selection of art, amassed over many years. ‘Most of the artwork was chosen by us. David loves art and his interest has rubbed off on me. But I don’t go for named artists, just pieces I like.’
In her clinic, Gabriela meets clients for an initial 45-minute consultation, to learn about their medical history, sleep patterns and lifestyle. Then she prescribes a bespoke eating plan, along with vitamins and supplements from her range, GP Nutrition, to help them reach their goals. It’s been said that her expertise is invaluable to the royal circles in which the Peacocks move (she regularly holidays with Princess Eugenie), but, ever loyal, Gabriela won’t confirm or deny the rumours ‘I don’t think it would be right to talk about that,’ she says. Never mind. There are plenty of clients who are happy to publicly endorse her – including Serena Hood and the Countess of Mornington’s sister, Jodie Kidd. Perhaps they have been won over by the glow she exudes. Gabriela is a walking advertisement for her own products – and good company, too: intelligent, funny and self-deprecating.