Petra Ecclestone sends her old designer shoes to a Croatian charity.

The heiress - daughter of billionaire Formula 1 mogul Bernie Ecclestone - admits a weakness for designer wear, in particular shoes, but gives many of them away to Croatia, where her mother, Slavica Radic, was born.

She said: "It's shoes that I've built up quite a collection of. Every three to four months I ship a whole load over to Croatia for charity."

When asked if this meant that at least one village in the country is populated by women in designer shoes, she replied: "Yes."

22-year-old Petra's parents divorced after 24 years together in 2009, which she describes as "one of the most difficult periods of my life," and she added that her mother has always taken her and sister Tamara back to the port of Rijeka, where she is from, to give them grounding in life.

She explained to the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "My grandmother worked on a fruit and vegetable market stall showing us where we came from was important to mum."

Petra recently married art dealer James Strut, and the pair have moved to Los Angeles, where they bought a 123-room mansion for £91 million.

Describing the property, she said: "I saw a lot of houses and so many were like museums. This one is quite cosy - it's a real family house."