Ben Goldsmith has revealed that his younger children see his late daughter Iris – who in 2019 tragically passed away in an ATV accident on the family farm aged 15 – as a ‘mythological creature’ and guardian angel.
Speaking to FEMAIL, the wealthy British financier, 42, candidly opened up about the teenager’s legacy and how he’s immortalising her love of nature in the Iris Project – an initiative that helps fund and support young climate activists around the world.
Ben has seven children. He had three with his ex-wife Kate: Iris, Frank and Isaac. In 2014, he married restaurateur Jemima Jones and the pair have since had four kids: Eliza, Arlo, Vita and Vincent – who is eight months old.
The father-of-seven, who just last year welcomed his youngest, Vincent (known as ‘Vinny’), said that his kids continue to be inspired by Iris.
And some are even getting involved in the environmental project set up in their sister’s name.
‘I think, that they themselves are interested in devoting their lives to environmental work,’ he explained.
Speaking to FEMAIL, the wealthy British financier, 42, candidly opened up about the teenager’s legacy and how he’s immortalising her love of nature in the Iris Project. Ben and Iris pictured in 2017
‘I think they love the idea that in Iris’s name, we’re helping teenagers around the world to do the kinds of things that Iris will never have the chance to do.
‘In fact, my older son Frankie, is going to go and work with one of our prize winners in Bali…He’s studying engineering, and he’s going to go and be an engineer on the team.’
Ben added that being committed to the project work ‘gives them comfort’.
However, his ‘little ones’ – ranging in age from less than a year old to around seven – ‘don’t really know about’ the organisation.
‘Iris is a kind of mythological creature for them,’ he explained.
‘They don’t remember her fully, and they don’t fully understand where she’s gone.
‘They just know that she’s gone to heaven. They don’t know where that is.’
The father-of-seven, who just last year welcomed his youngest, Vincent (known as ‘Vinny’), said that his kids continue to be inspired by Iris. Ben and Iris pictured in 2015
Iris, a dazzling 15-year-old and the eldest of Ben’s seven children, died on his 280-acre Cannwood Farm estate in Somerset in July 2019
Ben says that they see her as a ‘guardian angel’ and ‘dream about her’. Both pictured when Iris was younger
He and Iris’s mother Kate Rothschild are now separated, but have both established the Iris Project in memory of their daughter (pictured when she was younger)
Ben says that they see her as a ‘guardian angel’ and ‘dream about her’.
‘I think, as they grow up, they’ll come to appreciate this Iris prize, and I think they’ll want to be involved in it as well,’ he added.
Iris, a dazzling 15-year-old and the eldest of Ben’s seven children, died on his 280-acre Cannwood Farm estate in Somerset in July 2019.
She was playing around in an off-road farm vehicle when it lost balance, flipped over and pinned her to the ground.
The friend, who had been riding with her, was unhurt, but the vehicle was too heavy for her to lift.
By the time a distraught Ben, who was playing cricket with friends and family at Charterhouse public school in Surrey, arrived an hour later, Iris had died.
He and Iris’s mother Kate Rothschild are now separated, but have both established the Iris Project in memory of their daughter, which identifies and helps the most promising young environmentalists around the world.
The first three winners were awarded funding and mentorship last September.
Ben (pictured in 2017) has seven children. He had three with his ex-wife Kate: Iris, Frank and Isaac. In 2014, he married restaurateur Jemima Jones and the pair have since had four kids
Ben added that being committed to the project work gives his family comfort. Pictured with his sister Jemima earlier this year
The author – who has recently released the book God Is An Octopus, recounting his thoughts on grief and nature – says there is ‘nothing he wouldn’t give’ to see what Iris could have achieved herself.
‘She would have been a highly professional young woman, doing amazing things,’ he said.
‘We won’t ever get to see that. But I think it’s some consolation if we can help other young people of the same generation to fulfill their dreams.’
But Ben thinks Iris would have ‘loved’ the project set up in her name – because it captures her curious and collaborative spirit.
‘She was so gregarious and so open-hearted,’ he explained. ‘She had such a wide circle of friends, and she was so interested in other people’s lives and other people’s projects.
‘And she was such a ring leader. I think she would have been overjoyed to meet and know these young winners we have, and the young runners up.
‘And I think she would be enthusiastic about their projects, and she would feel a desire to help them.’
Recalling on his brilliant’s daughter achievements, Ben says it’s the perfect homage to the kind of work she would have done in the world.
‘Iris was a really brilliant girl, really, from her youngest years – she was always a step ahead,’ he fondly recounted.
An emotional Ben also remembered a time in which Iris showed her soft and sweet nature when it came to animals as she sent her father a video.
‘She was outside with her phone one day with her pony, and a huge flock of starlings rose up from the field.
‘And she just got her phone out and was like, “Look, I’ll go over to them now”.
‘And she filmed this huge flock of birds fly up… And this video, which I look at from time to time, really sums up, that she had the same love for nature that I have.’
‘She was like that from her youngest years, and if we found a grass snake, she was very happy to carry it.
‘She she was very gentle with animals. She was just a very connected child in terms of her relationship with nature.’
He continued: ‘I felt a strong conviction that she would go on to do great things. I didn’t know what, necessarily.
‘But I always felt they would be something to do with nature and the environment, because this is where she spent all her free time.
‘She was a little child of the woods, you know. She was always outside.
‘And so we’ll never know what wonderful and and brilliant things she would have done.
‘And and I guess that’s why we want to help teenagers around the world by way of this Iris prize to fulfill their own dreams and to do amazing things in their communities.
‘I think Iris would have loved it.’
theirisproject.org