Kirsty Allsopp ‘quietly marries property tycoon’ after two decades of dating

Location, Location, Location presenter Kirstie Allsopp has reportedly married her property tycoon partner of 20 years in an “elegant and lowkey” ceremony in Mayfair, London.

Kirstie and her now-husband, self-made property tycoon Ben Andersen, have been together for the past two decades. They share two teenage sons, Bay, who was born in 2006, and Oscar, who was born in 2008.

Kirstie and Ben reportedly kept their wedding plans under wraps right until the last minute and most of their guests didn’t even know until it happened,

Kirstie was said to be keen to keep the ceremony as private as she could, the Mail On Sunday reports. The location of their nuptials had a special significance for the Channel 4 star as it was the scene of a memorial service for her late father, Charles Henry Allsopp, 6th Baron Hindlip, following his death last year.

The couple have homes in both Devon and London and first met in 2004 when they were both guests at a party for a prospective Conservative MP.

Their relationship got off to a contentious start when Kirstie forced to deny rumours she had “stolen” Ben from his ex. At the time, he and his ex-wife Theresa had only been separated for five months.

“I did not [steal him]. I met Ben at a party for a prospective Tory MP friend of mine, Orlando Fraser.

“Ben’s wife, whom I knew at school and whom he was already separated from, introduced us,” she told the Evening Standard in 2012.

Kirsty had previously appeared adverse to the idea of marrying her long term partner saying their children were their commitment to one another.

“Ben has been married before and so I don’t think he’s in a hurry to do it again. Our child [children] is our commitment to each other,” she said.

Prior to meeting Ben, Kirstie said she had been described as “not girlfriend material” by someone she had dated and admitted she had been desperate to tie the knot.

She told Stylist magazine: “No one was interested in me in my 20s.  I had ‘please marry me’ tattooed on my forehead. It was so vital to me to get married and have children.”

She subsequently told The Mirror: “One chap said, ‘Kirstie, you will make someone a fantastic wife but you are not girlfriend material’.”