UCL has some incredible alumni, and Lady Mayoress Florence King has got to be up there with one of the most interesting paths post university. She would go on to become GQ’s resident Sex Anthropologist and eventually the Lady Mayoress of the City of London, a path as unconventional as it is compelling. In her own words, she was “constantly looking for another route, an explorer maybe,” a mindset that shaped every twist in her path.
Starting out as a writer for Pi Media, King witnessed all that 2000s Pi had to offer. “I really wanted to write for The Cheese Grater but I didn’t think I was cool enough,” she reflects, commenting on the ultra-formalised culture of Pi, later opining that the society was “really horrible to everybody and really cliquey”.
Following her graduation and an adulthood dyslexia diagnosis, the desire to write became more prominent for King, and she turned to pursuing a career in journalism. King went on to write for the Evening Standard’s Londoner’s Diary, and then as GQ’s resident online Sex Anthropologist.
King’s path to publication however was not an easy one, only made possible by living under her parents roof while hopping from one poorly paid internship to another. The first of King’s articles ever published was in fact under her sister’s name, who had enlisted her help in reviewing a CSS band performance for The Independent.
When King’s sister eventually left the job, she revealed to the editors that it was in fact her younger sister who had written the piece, securing her an interview.
With her roots in Pi Media, it is no surprise that her journalism career delved into some controversial topics. During her time writing for the Londoner’s Diary, King describes interviewing the owner of the paper, Alexander Lebedev, an ex-Russian Oligarch.
“What is it like being the owner of the Evening Standard?” King asked Lebedev. “It’s like running a charity, the paper, it’s so expensive”, Lebedev allegedly replied. With that comment, the situation became more real, and she recognised the less appealing side of being close to such powerful figures.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she remembers thinking, “Omg, we’re about to go under, aren’t we?”. The Evening Standard proceeded to hemorrhage money over the coming years, experiencing a dramatic drop in popularity and the conclusion of its famous daily print.
Despite this striking moment, King continued with her writing career, ending up as the resident online Sex Anthropologist for GQ, using the anthropological methods learned at UCL to explore topics such as ‘Why you should have sex with older women’ and ‘How to host a successful orgy’.
King’s experience and love for writing served her well in her later career, writing speeches as part of her role as Lady Mayoress. The job, which she described as being the “mistress of vibes” entailed assisting the Lord Mayor and taking the leading role in event organising at Mansion House.
King describes the importance of this role for the diplomatic process: “when you’re trying to get people to come together and collaborate and to come up with new ideas of how to do things you want everyone to be relaxed”.
In her time, they have hosted a myriad of famous guests, including Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Defence Secretary John Healey.
Alongside the formalised obligations, the Lady Mayoress role allowed for personal projects.“Because I’m a reservist with the Royal Artillery, I made supporting the British Army my main thing,” King explained.
“My experiences with the army have given me so much”.
“I like to laugh at things I’m scared of and there are a lot of things you do with the army that are slightly frightening”. “Putting yourself into those unique positions that a standard civilian wouldn’t be in, gives you that opportunity to stretch and challenge yourself […] and at the end you go oh my God, I did that, I am tougher than I thought I was.”
The interview with King concluded with her life advice, a reflection on her unlikely path and words of guidance for those who, just as she did, find themselves leaving UCL with the daunting question of what next?
“If you are not falling, you are not pushing yourself” King suggests, whilst recalling her post graduation years of figuring things out, moving to the US, trying out jobs in the charity sector and finance and going through a divorce.
The conversation was a reminder that things usually work out and encouraged curiosity and exploration as guiding principles in life, an approach that can be difficult to engage with coming from the academic rigour of UCL. As a final thought, King told The Cheese Grater; “if you’re a graduate from UCL you can probably figure it out”.
