Nadja Swarovski recalls her father, Helmut, coming home from work with pocketfuls of crystals for her to play with. At the age of six or seven, Swarovski says, the rocks would keep her playing happily for hours. "But there were no other handouts," she laughs. "I was never spoilt as a child and education was the most important thing."

The glamorous 39-year old heiress to the Swarovski crystals empire spent her childhood in Wattens, the small market town in Austria's Tyrol state that is home to the family business established by her grandfather Daniel Swarovski.