She was an enthusiast of the sporting life, an avid participant in the outdoor activities so favoured by the upper tier and titled members of society.

The wealth and status enjoyed by this rarified group allowed them the means and leisure to engage in hunting and sailing and to lead lives dedicated to pleasure and self-gratification.

[7] Adapting the traditional clothing worn for the British sporting life to her modern vision of dress, Chanel found in Lombardi and her social set an inspirational template for design.

It was in Monte Carlo in 1923 that Chanel was introduced by Lombardi to the vastly wealthy 2nd Duke of Westminster, Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, known to his intimates as "Bendor".

[7] Lombardi's English habits, her highborn affiliations and her frequent presence at social functions held at the British Embassy in Rome, made her a person of interest to the Fascist police and various intelligence agencies.

No evidence was ever uncovered that proved Lombardi was an espionage agent and her husband's military status and loyalty to the Fascism put any accusations against her into question.

[11] According to 1991's Hitler's Intelligence Chief: Walter Schellenberg, the Germans expected her to work as an agent for them, intending to bring her to Paris to rendezvous with Chanel.

[13] Lombardi unwittingly became embroiled in political intrigue involving Chanel and her lover Hans Günther Von Dincklage, and orchestrated by SS Nazi intelligence at the highest levels.

[15] In March 1944, Lombardi, still stranded in Madrid, wrote an appeal to her aristocratic contacts in England to intercede with Churchill, and have him use his influence to reunite her with her husband in Rome.

[20] In April or May 1945, she was reunited in Italy with her husband,[6] who, by World War II's end, had managed to rehabilitate his reputation and obscure his past loyalty to Mussolini and enthusiasm for fascism by aligning himself with the Allies.