Lady C: “I’m stuck in my castle – but there are worse places to be in this crisis!”

I’m A Celebrity star Lady Campbell talks to Closer about looking for love and how she’s finding lockdown life in her 14-bed country pad

She became the oldest ever contestant on Celebs Go Dating last year – and, despite rejecting her potential suitors on the show, Lady Colin Campbell say she’s still very open to the idea of finding love.

Now 70, and with a previous marriage that lasted only nine months, Lady C reveals her wicked sense of humour when she tells Closer that lockdown is putting a dampner on her “busy love life”.

“I only have six lovers – aged 27 to 32,” she laughs, adding, “But seriously, in terms of husband material, I’m looking for someone who’s 104, very wealthy and looking to make me a rich widow quickly!”

Lady C divided the nation with her jungle antics on I’m A Celeb! in 2015 when she walked out of the camp on “medical grounds”. She admits she found filming Celebs Go Dating more enjoyable, saying,

“It was one of my happiest television experiences. I loved everybody.”

WHIRLWIND ROMANCE

In her twenties, Lady C had worked as a model in New York where she met Lord Colin Campbell, a cousin of The Queen, in 1974. Just five days later, the couple got married – but the relationship was shortlived and they split after nine months together. But despite her quips about toyboy lovers, Lady C believes love should come naturally and shuns dating sites.

“I’ve never thought love is something you can look for. With me, it’s always happened unexpectedly. My first love was an American football player when I was 19 – he looked like Clark Kent when dressed and he was definitely Superman without his clothes! Every man who has ever been important to me, I’ve met accidentally.”

TWIN BOYS

Lady C was born in Jamaica in 1949, but, shockingly, a physical issue meant that her parents assumed she was male and she was raised as a boy. Her grandmother gave her the money to undergo surgery at the age of 21. In an interview on Loose Women, she explained any girls born with a deformity around the time of her birth were “given the superior sex” because it was “better to be a man than a woman”.

In 1993, she adopted Russian twin boys, Misha and Dima, now both 27. Son Misha is temporarily living with her in lockdown along with her beloved dog and cat at her 14-bedroom home in Sussex, the Grade 1 listed castle she bought in 2013.

“There are definitely worse places to be in this crisis! I’m never lonely because I have my dog and cat. With my son also living here during lockdown, I have more company than I had before, so I have lunches and dinners with him as a distraction,” says Lady C.

“I keep in touch with friends and family through phone calls and WhatsApp. I’m not a great fan of video calls – everybody looks like death, me included! It’s infinitely preferable to hear somebody’s voice than see them looking like the back end of a bus.”

Lady C’s age puts her in the vulnerable group for coronavirus, but the aristocrat isn’t panicking and says she plans to live life to the full – though admits her weekly house parties at Castle Goring are on hold.

“Yes, I’m 70, but I’m in good health. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink too much, I’m not fat and I don’t have underlying health conditions.

“I’m not particularly scared – I’m not a reckless sort of person, I have respect for danger, but you need to live life. I’d like to hang around for maybe another 40 years yet!”

‘I’m not scared – you need to live life!’