Ben Goldsmith Pleads With God To Have His ‘Kind Little Girl’ Back After Tragic Death

"It hurts me so much I can’t describe,” father says after daughter Iris Annabel was killed in quadbike accident.
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Financier Ben Goldsmith has issued a heart-breaking plea to God to have his “beautiful… kind little girl back” after his daughter died in a quadbike accident.

Her father, who raced from a charity cricket match to her bedside after the accident, tweeted on Thursday night: “Dear God, please can I have my beautiful, brilliant, kind little girl back, please God. And if not, please take extra special care of her. I love her so so much and I’m so proud of her. It hurts me so much I can’t describe.”

Iris was the first child of Kate Rothschild, an heiress to the Rothschild finance empire, and ex-husband Goldsmith, who are worth a combined £300m. She was the niece of Tory MP Zac Goldsmith.

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Iris was killed in a quad bike accident on the Goldsmith family farm on Monday morning
SWNS

The teenager was a student at Wycombe Abbey, a £13,000-per-term independent girls’ boarding school in Buckinghamshire. She had just embarked on her summer holidays, after studying for her GCSEs.

The school’s headmistress, Rhiannon Wilkinson, said: “We were all shocked to learn from the family of Iris’s tragic death. We extend our deepest sympathies to her parents and family at this sad, sad time.

“Iris was a much valued and loved member of our school community. She was highly regarded in her House and year group.

“Popular with staff and pupils alike, she was truly thriving in her academic work. We are very proud of her and how, in particular, she had blossomed in her GCSE studies this year.

“Iris was sparky, inquisitive with an effervescent, sunny personality which lit up all around her.

“The whole school community is devastated by such a tragic loss of a happy, well respected, successful young woman.

“Iris will be hugely missed by all of us at Wycombe Abbey and, in particular, of course, by all her many friends. Iris’s family are very much in our thoughts at this very difficult time.”

James Hooke, the headmaster of her previous school the Harrodian in Barnes, said: “She was a kind, gentle and caring student who adored her school and her friends and was impeccably behaved.” 

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Iris Annabel Goldsmith, with her father Ben
David M. Benett via Getty Images

Iris’s parents divorced in 2012 after nine years together, and have two sons, 13-year-old Frank and Isaac, 11.

Rothschild started a relationship with rapper Jay Electronica, while Ben Goldsmith, who is Zac’s younger brother, went on to marry Jemima Jones, with whom he has two children – Eliza and Arlo.

The financier is an advisor to Michael Gove and the youngest son of late billionaire politician Sir James Goldsmith and Lady Annabel Vane-Tempes.

An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said: “We were called at about 3.15pm on Monday July 8 to a farm in the North Brewham area following the sudden death of a teenage girl.

“The girl’s death is not being treated as suspicious and officers are now carrying out inquiries on behalf of the coroner.”