Sir Benjamin Slade appears on Handcuffed: Last Pair Standing tonight, but Sir Ben found fame long before the Channel 4 show.
He even appeared on an age-gap dating show looking for the perfect “breeder” to provide him with an heir.
Although he didn’t find love on Channel 5 show Millionaire Age Gap Love, he did later meet a much younger woman through an agency.
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Handcuffed star Sir Ben fathers baby girl via IVF
Sir Ben, who is now aged 80, met Sahara Sunday Spain, who was 28 at the time, in March 2020. They were introduced via a London agency for people seeing a co-parent to have a child with.
With a successful career as a composer, Sahara divided her time between London, New York and Paris. However, in lockdown, she moved into Sir Ben’s spacious Maunsel House in Somerset.
And, while they did plan on marrying – a ceremony Sahara claims Sir Ben cancelled twice – their relationship was affectionate rather than sexual.
Back in 2022, Sahara spoke to the Daily Mail about their attempts at using sperm frozen by Sir Benjamin 20 years previously to conceive a child. He said that he was desperate for a son who could inherit his title.
Happily, Sahara’s first round of IVF was successful and she fell pregnant. However, she claims Sir Benjamin was underwhelmed by the news.
She then revealed that his relations stepped in to share their concern over their nuptials. He called off the wedding for the first time when she was in the early stages of pregnancy. They then started replanning it, only for him to call it off the night before the ceremony, she claims.
She then realised she had no option other than to go France to stay with her mum and prepare for the birth alone.
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‘His behaviour is devastating’
It’s claimed that in the weeks leading up to the birth, contact between Sahara and Sir Benjamin was minimal. When the baby – a girl that she named Violet – was born, her mum Elisabeth called Sir Benjamin to tell him the baby had arrived.
Again, he was said to be “underwhelmed”. She claimed he “didn’t ask how the baby was or how Sahara was”.
Sahara claimed she had sent Slade photographs of his daughter. However, at the time of the interview, she alleged they had gone unacknowledged.
It was also claimed at the time that he had “no interest” in meeting his daughter, who is now four years old.
“The way that my daughter and I have been treated by Sir Ben is utterly shameful. I know Ben wanted a boy but he didn’t know the sex of the baby when he cancelled our second wedding. Would he have had a change of heart if I’d had a son? Only Ben knows that. But he has shown no interest in meeting Violet. His behaviour is devastating,” Sahara claimed at the time, suggesting things may have been different if she’d provided Sir Ben’s heir.
‘Robbed’
However, she added: “I don’t hate Ben. Part of me will always love him. I’m grateful he’s given me Violet who is my world now. I just regret that it’s ended like this. I have offered to bring Violet to the UK, but Ben says it’s not a good time.”
Sadly, she concluded: “Violet deserves two parents and it’s a travesty she’s been robbed of that.”
Sir Benjamin Slade, 7th Baronet is said to be legally recognised on Violet’s birth certificate as her father. However, only a legitimate male heir can inherit his baronetcy, so the little girl will never carry a title. And isn’t his longed-for heir.
Handcuffed star Sir Ben on his ‘very clever’ daughter
However, Sir Benjamin has said that his little girl is “very clever”. Speaking to The Sun this year, he admitted he was disappointed he didn’t have a boy, but he said his daughter was a “blessing from God”.
“She’s clever, takes after her mother. She’s only four and speaks three languages, and can ride a horse. She lives between France and Dubai with her mother,” he said.
Asked if he has much contact with them, he claimed: “A bit. The mother’s pretty difficult. Anyway, these things happen, you just have to move on.”
ED! has contacted Sir Benjamin Slade’s reps for comment.
Watch Sir Ben on Handcuffed: Last Pair Standing on Channel 4 tonight (March 2) at 9pm.
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