EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Ben Goldsmith launches eco prize to honour daughter Iris after quad bike tragedy
Two years after his teenage daughter died in a quad bike accident, her loss is as raw as ever for Ben Goldsmith.
Now, however, the financier is determined to create a positive legacy from the tragedy by launching a new ‘Nobel prize for nature’ in Iris Goldsmith’s memory.
The son of late billionaire tycoon Sir James Goldsmith tells me he’s setting up the Iris Project to ‘identify and empower the most impressive teenagers we can find who are doing great things to protect and restore nature where they live’.
The winning youngsters will be given cash grants to support their eco-ventures, and the scheme will launch next year. He adds: ‘The Iris Project will seek to build over time a global community of empowered, effective teenage environmentalists.’
Two years after his teenage daughter Iris died in a quad bike accident, her loss is as raw as ever for Ben Goldsmith. Pictured: Iris with her father Ben Goldsmith
Iris, 15, was a nature lover who had a particular interest in cleaning up plastic pollution from beaches
Iris, 15, was a nature lover who had a particular interest in cleaning up plastic pollution from beaches.
Her father, 41, is also writing a ‘nature manifesto’ in her memory, with guidance from Isabel Oakeshott, who co-authored the infamous David Cameron biography with Lord Ashcroft.
‘I’ve written a book about the most vulnerable time in my life,’ he tells me.
‘The only person who’s seen it so far is Isabel Oakeshott, who I’ve got to read it through and help with her insights.’
Of the book, he says: ‘I’ve gone quite deep into what I think about death, but it ends on the thought about how there’s a greater magic to nature than we can see with our senses.
‘That’s as close as I get to religion. It’s about loss and a year of magical thinking.’
Iris — who was one of three children from Ben’s first marriage to banking heiress Kate Rothschild — was riding around the family’s farm in Somerset when her all-terrain buggy overturned. Her friend immediately raised the alarm but she couldn’t be saved.
Getty bride Ivy proves a glass act
Most brides shine on their wedding day, but heiress Ivy Getty was especially luminous.
The great-granddaughter of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty married photographer Toby Engel at the weekend in a four-layered ‘cracked mirror’ dress designed by John Galliano.
Most brides shine on their wedding day, but heiress Ivy Getty was especially luminous. The great-granddaughter of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty married photographer Toby Engel at the weekend in a four-layered ‘cracked mirror’ dress designed by John Galliano
For her rehearsal dinner Ivy Getty wore an equally eye-catching dress with a butterfly theme (pictured)
‘My grandmother [Ann] always wore Galliano,’ explains artist Ivy, 26, daughter of the late John Gilbert Getty and jewellery designer Alyssa Boothby. ‘I knew I wanted him to create the dress for my wedding.’
She exchanged vows with Toby, 29, son of former Coronation Street actress Cheryl Prime and businessman Peter Engel, at San Francisco City Hall.
For her rehearsal dinner she wore an equally eye-catching dress with a butterfly theme.
Raymond Blanc has won two Michelin stars for his celebrated restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons — where the seven-course dinner menu costs £194 per head — but the haute cuisine left the Queen’s bridesmaid, Lady Pamela Hicks, hungry. ‘Dinner was sensational,’ says Lady Pamela’s daughter, India Hicks. ‘My mother was not so convinced. “Is there any bread?” she asked.’
Now diver Daley hopes to make a splash in LA
Olympic hero Tom Daley is taking the plunge into Hollywood.
I hear the gold medal-winning diver has signed up with Tinseltown’s biggest agency, CAA.
Daley, 27, already had a profile in Los Angeles through his husband, the Oscar-winning Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black.
Tom Daley, 27, already had a profile in Los Angeles through his husband, the Oscar-winning Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black
‘Tom is a natural for TV,’ an LA industry source says. ‘Not only does he have a very great natural gentle manner, but his look and British accent give him a competitive edge in Hollywood.’
Daley was a mentor on ITV’s diving competition series Splash!.
He recently insisted retirement was not in his mindset: ‘I always said that I’ll keep going until my body gives up or until I get the gold medal. And I’ve got the gold medal.
‘But my body’s getting better. So there are lots of decisions to be made in the next year or so.’
‘I’ve never been someone that likes to be overtly sexy,’ claims Sienna Miller, 39, who’s known for her ‘boho chic’ style. ‘I don’t think I would wear a wrap dress that has bits cut out of it and was all made of Lycra’
Why you won’t see Sienna in a skimpy number…
Don’t expect to see Sienna Miller in the type of dresses worn by actress and model Emily Ratajkowski.
‘I’ve never been someone that likes to be overtly sexy,’ claims Sienna, 39, who’s known for her ‘boho chic’ style. ‘I don’t think I would wear a wrap dress that has bits cut out of it and was all made of Lycra.’
She adds, loftily: ‘I don’t feel the need to be on display that way — that’s not interesting to me.’
Don’t expect to see Sienna Miller in the type of dresses worn by actress and model Emily Ratajkowski (pictured)
Born Free McKenna blasts off at billionaire Jeff Bezos
For Born Free star Virginia McKenna, Netflix just isn’t green enough. So the celebrated actress and wildlife campaigner is launching a rival streaming service, Ecoflix, aimed at getting young people excited about nature.
‘I hope it becomes a rival to Netflix,’ she tells me, adding: ‘We are excited by what it sets out to achieve, that it moves young people to become activists.’
Today, the actress, whose husbands were the late actors Denholm Elliott and Bill Travers, will release Free Billy, a documentary about an elephant at LA zoo, on the site.
Though she is making a foray into tech, she is unimpressed by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos: ‘How can people spend all that money on self-gratification by going to space — on something that is amazing but not necessary to us all? The planet will curl up and die at this rate before we find another one to destroy.’
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