Count Spiro Flamburiari was born in Corfu. During his private education he was taught five languages. Subsequently he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Athens. Instead of joining the Foreign Office he was appointed as a commercial link between Greece, Poland and East Germany. This lead to the creation of the 3rd biggest advertising and public relations company in Athens. All this did not last too long, as his goal was always to establish himself in London. A number of years ago he became a British subject and married Lady Mildred-Mary, niece of Lord Beaverbrook. Milly, as she is known, is a brilliant colourist whose paintings belong to that tradition of English illustrators, such as Edmond Dulac and Kay Nielsen. In London, Spiro befriended Sir Simon Orr-Ewing, and the two of them set up a business group to develop tourist units. One of them was “Helios”, a 600-bed hotel development in Corfu. Eventually it was acquired by Club Méditerranée and became its flagship worldwide.

However, Corfu and the British-Hellenic relationship have always been his main priority. He is well-known for his book “Corfu: The Garden Isle” (John Murray, 1994), the installation of the equivalent of the English Blue Plaques, the creation of the Edward Lear Society (London, 2014) with his friend Derek Johns, the creation of the Corfu Heritage Foundation (London, 2000) and his involvement in a number of events aiming to boost British-Hellenic friendship in Corfu. His latest project is organising the Corfu Festival 2018 to celebrate, with a number of events, the bicentenary of the Order of St Michael and St George. He is an art collector and a lover of opera, ballet and classical music. He has often been interviewed by BBC4, the Evening Standard and the Corfu TV channels.