EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Family heartbreak for David Cameron as his wife Samantha’s brother splits from his partner

David Cameron’s family are proud that he’s been asked to return to government as Foreign Secretary, but there is a secret heartache among relations of the former prime minister’s wife.

I hear that Samantha Cameron’s brother, Robert Sheffield, has split up with the mother of his child.

Sheffield, 39, who is heir to their father Sir Reginald’s baronetcy and an estimated £20million fortune, had been together with Gucci model and actress Ellen Francis Gibbons, 31, for more than three years. Their daughter, Clementine, will be three next month.

‘They are no longer together,’ a friend tells me. In that quintessentially modern confirmation of the end of a relationship, the pair have both ‘unfollowed’ each other on the picture-sharing website Instagram, having previously barely mentioned each other in their respective posts for months.

The pair decline to comment, while Ellen’s mother Jane, a sociology teacher from Lincoln, will say only: ‘It is a private matter’.

David Cameron’s family are proud that he’s been asked to return to government as Foreign Secretary, but there is a secret heartache among relations of the former prime minister’s wife

Pictured: Ellen Francis Gibbons attends the Penelope Chilvers x Bay Garnett King’s Road Collection Launch at The Chelsea Pig

Robert Sheffield and Ellen Gibbons share a baby daughter called Clementine

Ellen appears to be spending most of her time in London while Old Harrovian Sheffield remains at Sutton Park, his family seat in North Yorkshire – the childhood home of Sam Cam. He took over the running of his family’s magnificent Georgian property in 2019.

Ellen, who has posted online about finding a new home in West London’s fashionable Kensal Rise, shared an image last weekend was the slogan, ‘You start by sinking into his arms, and end up with your arms in his sink,’ apparently describing a woman’s disillusionment with a man she once found attractive romantically.

Art dealer Sheffield is a playful character who has always enjoyed shocking friends with his love of cross-dressing. He once cavorted around London in a sparkly Union Jack mini dress and stilettos.

Until earlier this year, the couple had extensively documented their relationship on social media and during interviews for glossy magazines such as Tatler, where they had spoken about their idyllic lives inside Sutton Park, which they’ve transformed in recent years.

In June, I disclosed that Sheffield was barred from 5 Hertford Street, the fashionable private members’ club in Mayfair. ‘Robert got bounced out – membership rescinded for being a naughty boy,’ a fellow clubman told me. Sheffield said: ‘It was a temporary ban. It was a minor infraction and the ban has since been rescinded.’

King’s final goodbye to Earl of Airlie 

By tradition, monarchs avoid non-family funerals and memorial services, but there can be exceptions.

One such was the Earl of Airlie, former Lord Chamberlain, and the man behind the most radical restructuring of the Royal Household in a century.

Yesterday, both King Charles and Queen Camilla were present at his thanksgiving service at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

Pictured: Camilla, Queen Consort and King Charles III during the State Banquet at Buckingham Palace on November 22, 2022

A former banker and Scottish farmer, David Airlie’s life straddled many fields, as his cousin, the Marquess of Salisbury, recalled in his address.

During his days at the Palace, the Airlie reforms ranged from rescuing the royal finances and creating the Royal Collection Trust to calculating the exact cost of producing a lettuce at Balmoral — 93p.

However, the Earl was equally proud of his earlier career as a soldier, serving in the Scots Guards. The King and Queen departed to a lively organ recital of the regimental quickstep, Highland Laddie.

Voice of an angel ‘still not forgiven’

Charlotte Church has revealed her mother, Maria, has still not forgiven her, more than 20 years after she moved out of the family home.

‘I left home when I was 16 because, at the time, travelling constantly with your parents throughout your adolescence is hard,’ says the singer, 37, who is known for having the ‘voice of an angel’.

‘They had so much control over my life, I needed to break free… and my mother still hasn’t forgiven me.’

Church, who’s married to musician Jonathan Powell, says her parents had hoped she would marry into royalty. Speaking on the Changes podcast with Annie Macmanus, she adds: ‘I did go out with a boy from the [Cardiff] docks who was a drug dealer, and they were, like, ‘You can’t do this. We were thinking maybe you would go and be with Prince William’.’

Don’t look back in anger, Gene

With his sullen expression and brown tousled hair, there’s no disputing that Gene Gallagher is the spitting image of his father, Oasis singer Liam.

Gene, 22, who is the rock star’s son with his ex-wife, the former All Saints singer Nicole Appleton, does, however, take issue with being called a ‘nepo baby’.

The term refers to people who have benefited from nepotism thanks to their parents’ careers.

‘I don’t take any notice of it when people call me a nepo baby,’ the budding model tells me at AIR MAIL’s The London List launch party at Upstairs At Langan’s in Mayfair.

‘I’ve developed a thick skin and I’m just who I am and have my own identity,’ he adds.

With his sullen expression and brown tousled hair, there’s no disputing that Gene Gallagher is the spitting image of his father, Oasis singer Liam 

Palin reading Fifty Shades of Grandad

Known for his television travel programmes, Monty Python star Sir Michael Palin has found exploring his family history is even more eye-opening.

Recently, he’s been reading the sex-obsessed diary of his great-grandfather, 19th-century Oxford University tutor Edward Palin.

He says Edward was ‘officially celibate’, as was required of an Oxford don at the time, but his entries were ‘strewn with ladies’.

Sir Michael, who is promoting his book about another ancestor, Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale Of War And Empire, adds: ‘Worse than Fifty Shades of Grey.’

Known for his television travel programmes, Monty Python star Sir Michael Palin has found exploring his family history is even more eye-opening

Happy Barbie-day to you

Barbie-mania may be fading, but Dame Natalie Massenet and her daughter, Isabella, are determined to stay in the pink for just a little longer. 

Dame Natalie, who brought high- end fashion to the masses with successful retail website Net-a-Porter, and her daughter, a DJ and model, both wore pink dresses to Isabella’s 24th birthday celebrations in New York City. 

In a nod to the year of her birth, Dame Natalie, 58, quotes singer Prince’s lyrics: ‘Tonight, I’m gonna party like it’s 1999.’

Barbie-mania may be fading, but Dame Natalie Massenet and her daughter, Isabella, are determined to stay in the pink for just a little longer

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