Nicholas Romero
Nicholas Wallis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Senator from Princeland | |
| Assumed office 3 April 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Jeffery Walters |
| Leader of the United Rhodesia Party | |
| Assumed office 12 January 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Member of the House of Assembly for Mount Pleasant | |
| In office 4 June 2009 – 3 April 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Patricia Marshall |
| Succeeded by | Jeremy Rommel |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Nicholas Alexander Romero June 11, 1978 Northwood, Orange |
| Political party | UDF (1996-2008) URP (2008–present) |
| Spouse | JR Wallis (m. 2013) |
| Children | Matthew (b. 2015) Mariah (b. 2017) |
| Alma mater | University of Aden (BS) Gibbs University |
Nicholas Alexander “Nicky” Wallis (née Romero; born June 11, 1978) is a politician and businessman with dual Rhodesian and Indorian citizenship. He currently is the leader of the United Rhodesia Party, and the junior Senator for Princeland, in office since XXX. He was MP for Mount Pleasant constituency, having won the seat at a by-election in XXX, to fill the vacancy created by the death of Patricia Marshall. Wallis stood down from reelection so he could run for the Senate. He won the seat vacated by retiring Senator Jeffery Walters in XXX. He defeated Phillip Glackland to win the 2017 United Rhodesia Party leadership election, succeeding long-time leader James M. Cameron II. Wallis is also the principal owner of the holding company, Big Flower Capital, based in the Salisbury.
Wallis is the first openly gay Senator in Rhodesian history. His win in the 2017 election for Senator made him the first openly gay person elected as a Senator (and indeed the first openly LGBTQ person elected as such). He is the only child of billionaire investor Winston Romero and his wife Kathleen. His family has assets in Rhodesia, Rhodeland, and Indora, making him one of the richest men in the world. He is married to Charles "JR" Wallis Jr., the son of the 9th Rhodeland President Anglea Wallis and First Spouse Charles Wallis.
Early life
Business career
Political career
House of Assembly
Senate
Wallis announced that he would stand down from the House to run for the Senate seat held by Jeffery Walters, who would retire at the end of his term. Wallis faced no challenger in the United Rhodesia Party primary.
During a televised debate on February 12, 2017, Wallis talked about his family’s past and how his grandfather and father worked to make sure that their family would have a better life then what they had. Wallis' main rival Joshua Little responded “Then why did you have to change your last name? If you are so proud of your family's work why did you change the name your father gave to you at birth?” The comment led to several big endorsement withdraws from Little and switching it to Wallis . Many commentators found Little’s comments to be "deeply offensive and homophobic.”
On XXX, Wallis soundly defeated Little 54 percent to 40 present to win Princeland’s Senate seat.
Personal life
In the mid-1990s, Wallis was engaged to supermodel Lyndsey Woodrow, before the couple broke. He dated Alexandrian-Prussian singer Rachel Barnes. Both of these relationships were a cover for his homosexuality. Wallis came out as gay in a 2000 interview with Freshmen magazine, after his break-up from Barnes.
During his time at Hampden University, Wallis was in a nearly four-year relationship with Trevor Kingston, an investment banker at Bank of Kingston, IEG Group, and Koopmans & Co. In 2010, Wallis briefly dated Rhodelander sprint track and field athlete Ryan Troutman before splitting up less than a year later in 2011.
In 2011, he started dating investment banker JR Wallis, whom he met through a mutual friend. The couple broke up in 2012 due to the objections from JR's mother but they got back together less than a month after they broke up. They were engaged in April 2012 and were married on 17 August 2013 when gay marriage became legal in Rhodesia. Nicky and JR were among the first gay couples in the Rhodesia to married. In honor of his marriage to JR, he legally changed his last name from Romero to Wallis. The couple have two children, Charles Wallis III, was born to a surrogate mother on 25 December 2015. On 1 January 2017, the couple's second child, Antoinette Rae Wallis, was born through the same surrogate mother.
In 2017, federal disclosures Wallis and his husband had assets worth at least R$3.5 billion. They also have an art collection estimated to be worth millions that were not mentioned in their financial disclosures.
Controversy
In 2016 it was announced that Nicky was being invested for bribery by Rhodeland officials. The scandal also hit Rhodeland's newly re-elected President Angela Wallis, who's Nicky's mother-in-law. The Livingstone Telegraph stated that Nicky told associates that he helped persuade the Financial Markets Authority to approve the sale of the Electric Vehicle Company to his company Big Flower Capital for RD$500 million. The opposition party scrutinized President Angela Wallis on the matter but was later informed that officials were not interested in her and had cleared her of any wrongdoing. Nicky has always denied the allegations. A lawsuit was filed against Nicky and Big Flower. As part of the settlement of a lawsuit, both Nicky and Big Flower had to each pay RD$150 million fine.