One ran off with the handyman, another married the Queen’s godson… while a third’s 17 cats proved too much: What happened to picky Baronet’s other lovers as he launches bid to find a ‘good breeder’ wife

After collecting ‘old masters and young mistresses’ throughout his life, Sir Benjamin Slade has launched what appears to be a last-ditch bid for a son and heir to help him rule his 1,300-acre Somerset estate.

The eccentric aristocrat, who turns 80 next May, is offering £50,000 a year to find a bride who must be a “good breeder” to ensure he is not the last of the Slade baronets.

His quest may be hindered somewhat by a rigid and strange list of requirements.

Only candidates who are at least 20 years younger will be considered and must be able to use a shotgun.

When it comes to hobbies, II. Sir Benjamin, a descendant of Charles, is looking for a bride who likes ballroom dancing and playing bridge and backgammon.

In addition, he must have management skills that will enable him to ‘manage two castles’ with the choice of ‘law and accounting education’.

Sir Benjamin says the successful candidate will also need a driving licence, but a helicopter license ‘will be useful’.

It narrows the field further by excluding ‘Guardian readers, Scorpios, drug users, alcoholics, Scots and anyone under 5’6”.

The eccentric aristocrat has launched what appears to be a last-ditch bid for a son and heir to help him manage the 1,300-acre Somerset estate pictured.

There is no point in applying if you come from a country whose flag starts with ‘I’, which is green, and which excludes Ireland, India, Italy, Ivory Coast and Iran.

The same goes for citizens of countries that ‘don’t wear coats in winter’.

Sir Benjamin said: ‘I don’t care about Canadians, Americans, Germans and Northern Europeans – as I like to call similar people. ‘I don’t think marrying an Eskimo is for me.’

In summary, he says: ‘What I need is a nice, ordinary country girl who knows and understands everything.’

Sir Benjamin explains that his bride is expected to provide at least ‘an heir and a spare’.

He says: ‘I can have two sons, three would be better, but if I have two sons it would save the situation.

‘There is always a lady of the house, women manage the houses. People think this is sexist. Jane Austen said that if you have a big house, you need a wife.

‘Women run the house. ‘They manage the staff and have an eye on this.’

But the Daily Mail reveals that Sir Benjamin has no shortage of romantic adventures. He married Pauline Myburgh, pictured, in 1977 but they divorced 14 years later.

He had a six-year relationship with Fiona Aitken, pictured, but their relationship also ended in a fight in the High Court. Married the eighth Earl of Carnarvon

Sir Benjamin also explains that marrying a young woman is necessary for tax purposes, and promises a ‘financial percentage’ so that his inheritance can be passed on to ‘distant relatives’ after his death.

The nobleman’s onerous list of criteria may help explain why he took so long to find the right person to give him a son.

Yet the Daily Mail reveals that Sir Benjamin has had no shortage of romantic adventures throughout his colorful life; but many have unsurprisingly resulted in bitter acrimony.

Sir Benjamin is the seventh Slade baronet, a title created in 1831 for Peninsular War veteran General Sir John Slade.

The title belonged to a number of distinguished noblemen. The second Baronet was a lawyer, while the third served as Director General of the Inland Revenue.

Sir Benjamin inherited the title at the age of 15 in 1962, following the death of his father, Sir Michael Nial Slade.

This is the stately home, Maunsel House, a 13-bedroom World War II building. It came with a Grade I listed Manor House and 2,000 acres of land in Bridgwater, Somerset.

The 13th-century house, which was previously home to Alfred the Great, is said to be where Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales and was purchased by the family in the 1770s.

Sir Benjamin posed for a photo with actress Kirsten Hughes, known for her role as the eponymous heroine in the 1987 film Jane And The Lost City. She left him in 2011

Thoughts of succession seemed far from Sir Benjamin’s mind when he bought a one-way ticket to Australia at the age of 21, but he returned five years later and became a stockbroker before setting up a successful international container shipping company.

He appeared to be settling into a conventional life in 1977 when he married Pauline Myburgh, daughter of gentleman cricketer and British Army officer major Claude Myburgh.

But after 14 childless years, the couple divorced in 1991 after Sir Benjamin was said to be uncomfortable sharing a home with his 17 cats.

She later claimed that their divorce, which was said to have cost her £1.5 million, went down in legal history as the only case in which a cat was named as a co-defendant.

He had a six-year relationship with London-born Fiona Aitken, but their relationship ended in a High Court fight, this time over custody of their dog, Jasper.

The pet, which originally belonged to Sir Benjamin’s mother-in-law, was inherited into her trust fund upon her death.

Fiona Aitken married George Herbert, eighth Earl of Carnarvon, the late Queen’s godson, in 1999.

Lady Carnarvon now lives at Highclere Castle in Hampshire, known as the iconic filming location of the hit TV series Downton Abbey.

The aristocrat posed for a photo with Bridget Convey in 2013. He started flirting with the businesswoman and his friends hoped that he had finally found the woman of his dreams. They broke up in 2017

Sir Benjamin said of the split: ‘I rescued him from the back of a car, started the business and made him a millionaire in 18 months.

‘It was very difficult to live with him. We wish him good luck.’

The aristocrat moved on with actress Kirsten Hughes, best known for her role as the eponymous heroine in the 1987 film Jane And The Lost City, based on the World War II Jane newspaper strip.

The pair met at a dinner party in London in 1995 and lived together at Maunsel House, where they built a successful wedding venue business.

But it all ended in 2011 when Kirsten left Sir Benjamin, in her words, ‘Lady Chatterley style’.

Sir Benjamin said: ‘He ran away with my mechanic in the middle of the night. To be honest I’m more saddened to have lost a good mechanic.’

Tragically, Kirsten died in 2022 at the age of 59 after suffering a stroke.

Sir Benjamin began courting glamorous businesswoman Bridget Convey and friends hoped he had finally found the woman of his dreams.

In 2020, Sir Benjamin appeared to have finally accomplished his mission after meeting American poet and composer Sahara Sunday Spain (pictured left) through an exclusive co-parenting agency.

Sahara explained that Sir Benjamin had little interest in his daughter, to whom he could not cede his baronetcy.

It was said that he referred to her as “my fiancee” and that the couple were indispensable at the most exclusive soirees.

But when the relationship ended in 2017, Sir Benjamin deadpanned: ‘She’s 50 and too old to have children.’

Around this time, he appeared on ITV’s This Morning, launching a public mission and issuing an appeal for a new bride.

He said at the time: ‘I interview very hard. ‘I’ve had a few offers but sometimes women are past their sell by date and they change guns several times.’

While she was ramping up the campaign, a member of her team introduced her to Tinder and created a profile for her (putting her at 56, a few years younger than her age), and her efforts were documented in the 2020 Channel 5 reality series Millionaire Age Gap Love.

In 2020, Sir Benjamin, then 75, appeared to have finally accomplished his mission after meeting American poet and composer Sahara Sunday Spain through a private co-parenting agency.

Sahara, who was only 30 at the time, became pregnant through in vitro fertilization, using sperm frozen by Sir Benjamin more than 20 years ago.

They moved to Somerset before the Covid outbreak began and the couple held two weddings before Sir Benjamin stopped both ceremonies at the 11th hour.

Sahara told the Daily Mail how she left the estate and went to live with her mother in France after accusations from Sir Benjamin’s relatives that she was a “gold digger”.

She gave birth to the couple’s daughter Violet, now four years old, there in October 2021.

Sahara, a former Black Panther civil rights activist and the daughter of a convicted murderer, said Sir Benjamin wanted little to do with his daughter, whose baronetcy he could not cede.

She told the Daily Mail in 2022: ‘The treatment of my daughter and I by Sir Ben is utterly disgraceful.

‘I know Ben wanted a boy, but he didn’t know the gender of the baby when he canceled our second wedding.

‘Would he change his mind if I had a son? Only Ben knows this. However, he showed no interest in meeting Violet. ‘His behavior is destructive.’

She was raising her daughter in a 16th-century castle in Normandy, where she moved in with American photographer and anthropologist Elisabeth Sunday.

On claims she was after Sir Benjamin’s money, she said: ‘It’s ridiculous that her relatives accuse me of wanting to marry Ben for his castle and money.

‘Ben’ doesn’t have any money. I knew this from the beginning. Land rich, cash poor. And if all I wanted was a castle, it was already here.’

He added: ‘What I regret is the way he ended it. It was cowardly. There is nothing honorable about what he did. I thought we were going to be a family. He turned his back on all of this.’

Sahara claimed that Sir Benjamin, who had legally acknowledged her paternity, asked her to return as a companion and this time he wanted to try for another son.

Shaking her head in despair, she said Sir Benjamin had told her: ‘You may want another baby, but I still need a son.’

Meanwhile, it looks like Sir Benjamin’s bride-to-be may not have much work left after it was revealed that she had indeed fallen on hard times and sold her family.

The property was placed under receivership in June 2024 to be sold to meet Sir Benjamin’s debts and was listed with a guide price of £3.5 million.