Rothschild’s family is reported to be ''worried sick’’ about her new relationship. ''Her mother and all her family are very concerned that Kate is going off the rails,’’ another source said. ''Kate and Alice are talking, but most of the family are not on speaking terms with her at the moment. The whole situation is very sad.’’
So just how did this union descend into a debacle worthy of the Jeremy Kyle show?
Rothschild, who began her relationship with Goldsmith when she was 17, has been enjoying rather different interests of late to the family’s usual society pursuits. Her fledgling music career with Roundtable Records led to an ''increasingly nocturnal’’ lifestyle. Her husband’s fears were realised when, a friend says, he “found texts and email messages” between Rothschild and Jay Electronica, who is one of her clients. Worse still, “they were very intense messages planning sexual liaisons”. The “passionate” affair had reportedly been going on for a year. In the confrontation that followed, 31-year-old Goldsmith was arrested at the couple’s £20 million home in Kensington, on suspicion of actual bodily harm. He was said to have slapped his wife and kicked a toy at her, at which point she called the police. He was released without charge after accepting a caution, before taking their three children on holiday with his mother, Lady Annabel.
That, aside from the lawyers’ fees, could have been that, but for the couple taking to Twitter – an extraordinary act for a family that values privacy as much as the Goldsmiths do. Rothschild, 29, claimed she had been cheated on ''several times’’ and even posted a picture of the children, Iris, eight, Frankie, seven, and Isaac, four, being returned to her on a private jet, alongside a series of bitter and increasingly hysterical posts.
Goldsmith branded her behaviour ''appalling’’ and lapped up commiserating messages from the Twitterati. After reports that she had hired a PR firm to manage the crisis, he posted: ''A bit late surely? How about focusing on her devastated children?’’
Ten years ago, Goldsmith was named Britain’s most eligible bachelor by Tatler. Known as Ben-Ben by his family and born when his mother was 46, Goldsmith provided solace for Lady Annabel when her first-born son, Rupert [by first husband Mark Birley], disappeared off the coast of West Africa while swimming in 1986.
Kate comes from an equally illustrious line, her father from the Rothschild banking clan, and her mother from the reputedly cursed Guinness brewing heirs. She grew up at the family pile, Rushbrooke Hall, Bury St Edmunds and went to school at Bryanston, Dorset, where she had a reputation as a “party animal”.
It would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to deem whether Goldsmith or Rothschild is richer. Goldsmith’s money is tied up in family trusts, which are so convoluted that his father boasted they could never be unravelled. When Sir James died, he left assets worth about £1.2 billion and each of his children was estimated to have received £10 million in spending money. The founder of a green investment business, Goldsmith is said to be now worth £300 million. He has invested in the concierge business quintessentially.com, set up by Ben Elliot, nephew of the Duchess of Cornwall. He also backed Marco Pierre White’s private dining club, Drones.
For her part, Rothschild shared an £18 million inheritance when her father, Amschel, killed himself in a Paris hotel room in 1996 at the age of 41. He had joined the family firm only nine years before, taking his place in what has been described as ''the closest thing to a Jewish Royal Family in exile’’. The half brother of Lord (Jacob) Rothschild, he was being groomed to take over the family bank, NM Rothschild, from his second cousin Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. He was found hanged after a business meeting, and his death, when Kate was 14, remains unexplained.
Rothschild is expected to gain custody of the couple’s children, unless her husband can prove that she is an unfit mother. The pair will divide the proceeds of the family home, bought for £5 million in June 2002, through a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.
Two days ago, Rothschild posted emotional late-night tweets: ''To all the vultures harassing and taunting me, the people calling me a whore and a bad mother, the threatening emailers and callers: I have been with my husband since I was 17, my whole life from then until now has been dedicated to him and our children. Ben in a rational mood would be the first to say that my devotion to my children is unshakeable. I am with them now, as I always am.
''Our marriage went bad a few years ago and none of you have any idea what I went through along with my husband. Then we separated for a while… anger and bitterness following that time led to a very one-sided story being released in order to shame and hurt me.
''I am not here to tell tales, I am not here for sympathy, or even to put my side across – this is a personal matter and none of your business. I am simply here to say that there is of course another side that would stop you all in your tracks, as with every break-up.’’
She added: ''I love my husband. He he is a brilliant and incredible man. We grew up together and I miss him painfully, but relationships go wrong.
''As for Jay Electronica... he saved my life in many ways and I am eternally grateful to him and hope that I can repay him by helping him, as his manager and friend.’’
In response to a flurry of criticism on the internet, she posted: ''This is the darkest time of my life; a weaker woman would be broken by your cruel, ignorant condemnations.’’
Jay Electronica, born Timothy Elpadaro Thedford and known for his sexually explicit lyrics, weighed in to post ''#LoveIsOnTheWay’’ as he returned to Britain from America, where he had been at his grandmother’s funeral.
Yesterday, in a belated attempt at dignity, Goldsmith and Rothschild issued a joint statement: “We are both deeply saddened that our marriage has ended after nine years. It is a matter of regret to us that, at a time when our emotions and those of our friends have run high, things have been said in public which should have been kept private. We accept our full share of responsibility for this. Contrary to what has been publicly stated, neither of us anticipates any major issues of contention to arise in the divorce, in which the interests of our children will come first. There will be no further comment, directly or indirectly, from us on any aspect of our family’s private life.”
Goldsmith and Rothschild have deleted many of their Twitter messages and both families appear to be battening down the hatches. Contacted yesterday, Lady Annabel said: ''I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t want to make any comment whatsoever.”
Jemima Khan responded via her BlackBerry: ''Sorry – I can’t discuss this. Hope you understand.’’
But with such public airing of dirty linen, the damage has already been done.
Additional Reporting: Martin Beckford
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Ben and Kate Goldsmith call Twitter truce after online divorce spat - Daily Telegraph
But earlier this week on Twitter he branded his estranged wife’s decision to call the police to the family home “appalling” as he prepared for a lengthy divorce battle with the Rothschild heiress.
Today they issued a joint statement admitting that they should have kept their private life to themselves.
"We are both deeply saddened that our marriage has ended after nine years," the statement said.
“It is a matter of regret to us that, at a time when our emotions and those of our friends have run high, things have been said in public which should have been kept private. We accept our full share of responsibility for this.
“Contrary to what has been publicly stated, neither of us anticipates any major issues of contention to arise in the divorce, in which the interests of our children will come first.
“There will be no further comment, either directly or indirectly, from us on any aspect of our family’s private life.”
Mr Goldsmith will file for divorce on the grounds of adultery, reportedly believing there is “no way back” following what he claims was a “serious” affair as opposed to a brief fling.
He is currently on holiday in Sicily with his mother Lady Annabel. The couple’s £20 million home in Kensington, West London, has been put up for sale.
The acrimonious split has been played out on the social networking site Twitter, with Mr Goldsmith unable to contain his fury over the alleged betrayal.
Yesterday, when a supporter expressed incredulity that Mrs Goldsmith, 29, had called the police, he replied: “agree, appalling.”
As scions of two of Britain's most illustrious families, the Goldsmiths are both wealthy in their own right.
Mr Goldsmith inherited an estimated £300 million after the death of his father, who built up a £1.2 billion fortune as a food magnate and then investor. His wife inherited an £18 million fortune after the suicide of her banker father Amschel Rothschild.
A divorce will almost certainly cause further frictions within the family however, not least because Mrs Goldsmith’s sister Alice is in a relationship with her husband’s brother, Zac Goldsmith, the Tory MP.
The brothers’ sister Jemima Khan is also believed to be close to Mrs Goldsmith.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Sussex farm with Elizabethan heritage - FarmersWeekly
A residential farm in Sussex comes to the market with pasture and a listed farmhouse.
Swains Farm, close to Partridge Green, is 110ha (273 acres) and is on the market for £3m.
The former dairy farm has been converted into a beef unit, but would be well-suited to equestrian use, said selling agent Strutt & Parker.
All the fields are laid to grass and well-fenced with four-rail fencing.
With views of the South Downs and only a few miles from direct rail links to London, the farm is expected to attract both lifestyle buyers and farmers.
Swains Farmhouse has Elizabethan origins and is grade II listed, with three bedrooms.
The farmyard includes modern livestock buildings, which are in good condition.
Swains Farm Cottage is a four-bedroom detached cottage made up of two former farm workers' cottages.
The rolling land is grade 3, a fine silty over clay soil with five acres of woodland.
Entitlements are included in the sale, as well as sporting and mineral rights.
(Strutt & Parker 020 7318 4668)
Source: www.fwi.co.uk
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