As Charles’s ex-drug addict godson falls for a new love could the next Lady Mountbatten be a mermaid?
That’s what £100m heir’s girlfriend does for a living... in a crystal-encrusted tail!
AS a so-called ‘mer-lesque’ artiste or performing mermaid, she was used to making a splash with her underwater performances.
Now Ambre Saint-Clare is causing waves of another kind – as the new girlfriend of Nicholas Knatchbull, the tattooed ex- drug addict heir to the £100million Mountbatten fortune.
They were even recently photographed together strolling in through the gates of Broadlands, his family’s 5,000-acre estate and 60-room stately home in Hampshire, after a wander round the shops in the nearby market town of Romsey.
Their blossoming relationship raises the prospect that, if they were to marry, a former professional mermaid could one day become the next Countess Mountbatten.
Nicholas, 37, a great-grandson of Earl Mountbatten of Burma and a godson of Prince Charles, is next in line to the prestigious Mountbatten title after his father.
In recent publicly accessible posts on social media site Instagram, Miss Saint-Clare, who is French, has called Nicholas her ‘boyfriend’ and ‘ mon amour’, while he has described her as his ‘missis’ (sic) and ‘lover’.
During a trip to the Costa Brava in Spain last month, Nicholas, who as an electronic musician goes under the artistic nom de plume 5DN – Five Dimensional Nick, posted a photo of her sitting on a rock and captioned it ‘ sexy beach babe’, to which she replied ‘on my ultimate mermaid throne’.
Miss Saint-Clare describes herself on her Instagram profile as a ‘holistic health coach’ with interests in ‘ herbal medicine’, ‘ lunar chronobiology’ and ‘ dance/intuitive movement/yoga’.
But she has also worked as what is known as a professional mermaid. A native of Paris, she began classical dance training at the age of seven before she ‘discovered the world of belly dancing, circus, and music hall, which allowed her to develop a strong presence on stage and a unique energy’, according to a biography of her on another website.
‘In 2010, when she was on a trip in the Caribbean, she discovered diving and the “flipper”,’ it continues. It was then that Miss SaintClare, who was apparently ‘captivated by the mermaid world since her childhood’, began her mermaid performances.
These involved wearing a custommade Swarovski crystal-encrusted mermaid tail – but often very little else – for her ‘unforgettable’ and ‘realistic’ underwater shows and photoshoots. In addition to what she called her ‘aquatic magic’, Miss Saint-Clare could also turn her hand to fire eating, ‘body burning’ where flame is ‘directly in contact’ with her skin, and a ‘real gold leaf body cover show’. Nicholas was educated at Eton, where he helped mentor family friend Prince William, who was in the year below. Then he went to Edinburgh University but dropped out after six weeks and descended into drug addiction. He fought a long battle with crack cocaine and heroin, and there was talk of his parents disinheriting him amid fears he would squander the family fortune.
He has now been clean of drugs for nearly seven years.
He has never wanted to use his courtesy title Lord Romsey, pointedly living a life as far removed as possible from the great family house. He spent many years living in various flats all over London and has been engaged to three of his ex-girlfriends.
The sighting of him and Miss Saint-Clare entering Broadlands begs the question whether he – or, indeed, they as a couple – have moved on to the estate.
Photographs he has posted on social media also suggest he has recently moved house, while she describes herself as living in Romsey. Neither Nicholas nor Miss Saint-Clare responded to requests for a comment on their relationship or living arrangements.
The royals have a huge sentimental attachment to Broadlands. The Queen and Philip spent their wedding night there, as did Charles and Diana.
‘The world of belly dancing’