We had a great informal chat about being a parent and all the challenges that it entails, how leaving Ludo (his son now 2 and a half) is getting harder as he nows asks him not to go. How he would love another child but would leave it longer next time (Ludo and Iona are 15 months apart which is the same age gap as Elizabeth and Alison).
Ben told us all about the procedure to have a waxwork done with is now in Madame Tussaud’s in Blackpool and how they spend ages fishing through a box of eyes to find the right type and how they take a real hair sample so they can match the hair correctly. It all sounded very freaky and macabre to me.
The last time I saw Ben on TV was his swimming with crocodiles show when he released a crocodile back in to the wild. I asked Ben about whether they had heard anything back from his tracker recently and he said he was last tracked a few months ago but they think he has lost his tracker now. Ben joked that he realised afterwards that it would be really bad karma if the crocodile killed someone after he had named it after his son.
Ben has spent quite a bit of time with the Royals, taking part in the Jubilee Flotilla, attending the Royal wedding, jumping in below freezing water at the north pole with Prince Harry (who called him crazy) and spending time in Botswana with Prince William and Prince Harry. I asked Ben what the most memorable moment with the royals was and he smiled the biggest smile and recalled spending time camping with the princes under the stars in Botswana listening to the Lions prowling in the background. It was at times like this that you really felt you had known Ben for ages.
We had such a great day as a family but spending that hour having a really lovely informal chat with Ben was definitely the highlight of my day.
