Ben to the rescue as Kate is hit by £500k gems raid
AFTER banking heiress Kate Rothschild and Ben Goldsmith divorced six years ago, they engaged in a very bitter and public war of words. But now relations between the pair have improved so much that Ben is offering a ‘substantial’ reward for the safe return of treasures worth £500,000 that were snatched from his ex-wife’s home earlier this month.
Kate, 35, has also spoken for the first time since the burglary, telling me: ‘While I’m really sad to have lost so many things that are precious to me, mostly I’m just so grateful that nobody was hurt. Who knows, some of these things might show up.’
Raiders broke into Kate’s £4million home in South-West London while her children and their babysitter slept and escaped with her wedding and engagement rings from her relationship with financier Ben. Other precious and sentimental items, including a unique dragonfly brooch and a locket containing her children’s hair, were also taken – and I can reveal none of them was insured.
But far from blaming his ex-wife over the insurance blunder, Ben tells me he is putting up a reward – likely to be in six figures – for the return of the gems. Last week the 37-year-old, who is now married to lingerie model turned food writer Jemima Jones, described the stolen Thomas Goode jewellery box as containing ‘every single thing of value Kate has’.
The gang struck on April 19. At the time Kate and her entrepreneur boyfriend Paul Forkan were at a party at 5 Hertford Street in Mayfair to support Jemima as she launched her book, A Love Of Eating: Recipes From Tart London.
Kate returned home to find her bedroom door locked from the inside. Paul managed to climb through an open bedroom window, only to discover the jewellery box was missing.
Ben and Kate, who have three children together, split in 2012 after it emerged she had been seeing US rapper Jay Electronica. Despite their acrimonious divorce, they have settled their differences and Kate even babysits Ben and Jemima’s two children. Ben has said of Kate and Jemima’s relationship: ‘They are friends, which is a great joy and blessing for me.’