Sir Benjamin Slade gained national attention for his unusual approach to finding a wife, expressing a preference for a ‘good breeder’ significantly younger than himself, with a rather controversial analogy likening it to preferring a ‘new car’ over an ‘old banger.’

However, at the age of 79, Sir Benjamin Slade has come to terms with the fact that he will not have a son to inherit his baronetcy, which dates back to 1831 when it was first established for his ancestor. This means his estate, Maunsel House in Somerset, with its 1,300 acres, will not pass down to a direct descendant.

Accordingly, he’s now thrashing out a deal which will see Maunsel leased for the next 40 years.

The incomer won’t be a private individual but a corporate entity. ‘I’ve got a deal with a hotel group.

Sir Benjamin reassures me that there are high-end interests in the property, as he is working on an agreement to use Maunsel a few times each year, even though he’d incur costs for doing so.

Though he doesn’t reveal the hotel group in question, it’s likely a British firm, given his previous comments negatively characterizing Russians, Chinese, and Arabs, and his reluctance to engage with countries sporting green in their flags.

This does present an opportunity for an American suitor, a country with which Sir Benjamin, residing on the estate at a farmhouse, has several ties.

 

In 2005, these connections came to light when he attempted to launch a reality TV show that aimed to exhumate and examine DNA from his ancestor William Atte Slade, dating back to the 12th century, to match with potential Slade heirs globally.

By then, Sir Benjy’s 14-year childless marriage to Pauline Myburgh was long over. So, too, was a six-year romance with Fiona Aitken – now Countess of Carnarvon.

Sir Ben’s most recent love affair was with an American, Sahara Sunday Spain. In 2020, she bore him a child – who, alas for her prospects as Sir Benjamin’s heir, was a girl, Violet.

Perhaps one day she’ll check into the hotel alongside him?

 Soprano’s secret romance

Danielle De Niese’s life has been almost as dramatic as some of the operas she stars in, ever since she won a talent contest aged nine in Melbourne, Australia, before moving to Los Angeles, where she won an Emmy award while still only 19.

The soprano, 46, has, though, revealed that she didn’t want to tempt fate after falling in love with Gus Christie, 61, executive chairman of Glyndebourne opera house in East Sussex.

They followed in the footsteps of Gus’s grandfather John Christie, the founder of Glyndebourne, who had married the soprano Audrey Mildmay 70 years earlier.

‘We became a couple, and we were very quiet about it because there’s a very storied, fabled origin story about Glyndebourne about John marrying this soprano,’ the singer says.

‘So when Gus and I were in our early courtship days, we didn’t tell anybody because I didn’t want to get over-excited.’

Cinderella star’s slippery moment

A glass slipper is pivotal to the fairy tale Cinderella, yet it proved more of a sore point for Lily James, who played the leading role in Disney’s 2015 film version.

The Downton Abbey and Mamma Mia 2 star, 36, reveals that she tried to make the wishes of a friend’s niece come true by video-calling her while wearing a Cinderella costume and the Jimmy Choo diamond-encrusted stilettos made specifically for the film.

‘This little girl lit up,’ Lily recalls. ‘Then I said, ‘Look, I’m going to put it on’.’

To her horror, the Surrey-born star found it a tight squeeze. She reveals: ‘I’d been dancing all night at [London club] Koko, and my feet were swollen. I couldn’t get the shoe on…’

Forget sun tans – Lila chills in an electric face mask 

Spare a thought for the model Lila Moss, who feels the need to use cumbersome beauty treatments even while on holiday.

The 22-year-old daughter of Kate Moss and magazine editor Jefferson Hack used a black LED face mask while reading on Formentera, the Spanish island. 

The anti-ageing light therapy device is said to help improve skin tone. Lila is on a break with her friend Lady Lola Bute, 26, daughter of the late 7th Marquess of Bute, aka racing driver Johnny Dumfries.

Lila, who is a type 1 diabetic, could also be seen wearing a glucose monitor in the snap. Earlier this year, she fronted the campaign for Mattel’s first diabetic Barbie.

Things are looking up for Victoria Cipriani. Amid her acrimonious divorce from former England rugby star Danny Cipriani, she has announced she’s now a certified neuroscience practitioner. 

‘I didn’t get here through manifesting,’ declares Victoria, 43. ‘I got here through pain, practice, and a relentless need to understand myself.’ 

Veteran actress Anne Reid, who recently played Queen Elizabeth in the play By Royal Appointment, recalls the disastrous time she performed in front of the late monarch and forgot her lines. 

The 90-year-old says: ‘On one occasion at Buckingham Palace, I was performing a scene from Romeo and Juliet.

I was playing the nurse and was terrified and ‘dried’ in the middle of my speech, so I ended up waffling and making rather a lot up.

‘Afterwards, the Queen said to me, ‘You had a lot to say, didn’t you?’ I replied, ‘Yes, too much’.

No flies on Her late Majesty!