At least he won’t mind the F-words . . . Ramsay’s son joins the Royal Marines
HEIR to his celebrity chef father’s £200 million fortune, he has grown up living a life of luxury.
But The Mail on Sunday can exclusively reveal that Jack Ramsay, eldest son of Michelin-starred chef and notoriously foul-mouthed TV personality Gordon Ramsay, has abandoned his pampered lifestyle and joined the Royal Marines as an £18,000-a-year recruit.
Without fanfare or publicity, Jack, 20, began the corps’ gruelling 32-week basic training course late last year and, if he shows the hunger to succeed, will earn a coveted green beret this autumn.
Remarkably, given his public school education and impressive A-level results, Jack has enlisted as a marine rather than a young officer. It means he will learn military skills alongside recruits from tough working-class backgrounds, some of whom are aged 16 and have no academic qualifications.
Last night, a source at the Royal Marines’ Commando Training Centre at Lympstone, Devon, said Jack had made a great start and was popular. He added: ‘First and foremost, he is just another marine recruit to us, a ‘‘bod’’. There’s no nepotism here and no favouritism.
‘He’s getting his head down and delivering the goods so far. He seems fit and is well liked. Not surprisingly, there’s a lot of good-natured banter when Jack and his mates sit down to eat and when they’re on a field exercise about who should prepare the rations.’
Proud Gordon, 53, gave his son a rare Rolex watch worth £10,000 for his 18th birthday and Jack’s Instagram account, which has 282,000 followers, includes pictures of him lying on a gondola in Venice with Brooklyn Beckham and other envy-inducing images taken at idyllic locations around the world.
Yet the former Dulwich College schoolboy who went on to study at Exeter University has swapped his designer clothes for military fatigues and even shaved off his blond locks to carve a career in one of Britain’s toughest military units.
Jack’s sporting background has ensured he is well prepared for the physical rigours of marines training, which includes assault courses, endurance marches and gym tests.
He played rugby for his school and university and has also competed in judo, water polo and triathlon events. It’s a career move that may surprise some, but Jack has in the past expressed his desire to succeed for himself. On the Channel 4 documentary Born Famous last year, he said: ‘I have grown up in a bubble. I’ve never had to fight or do anything for myself. I don’t know what I’m like without everything I’ve got.’
The Marines declined to comment as the corps does not discuss individual recruits.