Quick Answer: Baron Steven Bentinck is a Dutch aristocrat, businessman, and private art collector, born on 1 March 1957. He married Irish actress Lisa Hogan in 1998, and they had three children. The couple separated around 2005 and divorced in 2011. He now lives privately in Madrid.
Clarkson’s Farm has made Lisa Hogan a familiar face in British homes. The man she married long before all that stayed almost invisible.
- Full name: Steven-Carel Johannes Bentinck, born 1 March 1957, now 69 and Dutch.
- Parents: Adolph Willem Carel Baron Bentinck and Gabrielle Baronin Thyssen-Bornemisza von Kaszony.
- He is a nephew of the late steel heir and art collector Baron Heini Thyssen-Bornemisza.
- He married Lisa Hogan in 1998, and they share three children: Lizzy, Wolfe, and Alice.
- His first wife was Nora de Picciotto; that marriage ended in divorce in 1996.
- No verified net worth figure has ever been published.
Who is Baron Steven Bentinck?
He belongs to the House of Bentinck, one of Europe’s oldest noble families. His name appears in genealogy as Steven-Carel Johannes Bentinck. Some UK company filings use the shorter Baron Steven Carel Bentinck. He gives no interviews and has never spoken about his marriage.
One point confuses British readers. In Dutch nobility, every male member of a baronial family carries the word ‘baron’ before his name. The title comes by birth. It is not a peerage awarded for his achievements.
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Family background and the Thyssen Link
Genealogical records held by The Peerage list his parents as Adolph Willem Carel Baron Bentinck and Gabrielle Baronin Thyssen-Bornemisza von Kaszony. The same records show a sister, Henrietta Boissevain, née Bentinck.
His mother’s side explains much of the curiosity. Through her, he is a nephew of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, known as Heini. The German-Hungarian steel heir built one of the world’s finest private art collections and once boasted that he had £50m of annual disposable income. Most of that collection now hangs in Madrid, the city where Steven settled.
The wider Bentinck history is grander still. Family notes compiled on Wikipedia trace the line to Johan Bentinck, who held land near Heerde and appears in documents between 1343 and 1386. Hans Willem Bentinck crossed to England with William of Orange and became the 1st Earl of Portland.
Later, relatives served as Governor-General of India and as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The line also links to the Royal Family through the Queen Mother’s Cavendish-Bentinck ancestry.
None of that belongs to Steven personally. This is where many articles slip, lifting a distant cousin’s titles and attaching them to him.
Education and Business Career
His schooling spanned three countries: the American School in Paris, Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and the Brunel School of Economics in England.
In business, profile notes published by Tuko record him as chairman of Applied Power Technology International and of Scientia Ltd. His public reputation, though, rests on art, and as a private collector rather than a dealer.
His First Marriage, Before Lisa Hogan
Lisa was not his first wife. He was married to Nora de Picciotto, and that marriage ended in divorce in 1996, the year he met Lisa.
The Marriage to Lisa Hogan
The pair met in 1996 and married in 1998. Reporting at the time in The Sun described a small family service in Switzerland. Larger celebrations were postponed while they redecorated Moyns Park, their Elizabethan home in Essex. The work was so extensive that the couple slept on the floor for two months.
Their life moved between capitals. Lisa divided her time between London, New York, Klosters in the Swiss Alps, Norris Castle on the Isle of Wight, and Moyns Park, a Grade I listed house on Lord Ivar Mountbatten’s 444-acre Essex estate.
Records from 2003 place the family at Chalet Eugenia in Klosters and at Moyns Park in Steeple Bumpstead. Holidays were spent aboard his yacht, Zaca a te Moana, a roughly 150 ft replica of Errol Flynn’s famous Zaca.
They separated in 2005, and their divorce was finalised in 2011. A report in the Daily Mail said Lisa instructed Fiona Shackleton, the lawyer who acted for the then Prince Charles. Neither side has ever explained the breakdown publicly.
One claim needs correcting. Several outlets say the marriage lasted about 30 years. That is impossible. They met in 1996, married in 1998, and divorced in 2011.
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The Learjet Crash That Nearly Killed Lisa
In August 1996, Lisa was the only passenger on a private Learjet flying from Palma, Majorca to London. Bentinck had arranged the flight. On the approach to RAF Northolt in Middlesex, the two Spanish pilots became disoriented and began arguing.
She later told investigators, “We were going round and round for ages, and then they started arguing. The co-pilot tried to do something, but the pilot smashed his hands off the controls, and then we crashed.”
The jet overshot the runway and struck a van on the A40 dual carriageway. She walked away with shock, cuts and bruises, and credits her seat choice. As she put it, “I insisted on sitting where I was, which was just as well because that was the area where the van came through when we crashed, and I would have been killed instantly.”
Baron Steven Bentinck’s Net Worth
There is no verified figure. Press coverage around the 1998 wedding put him at more than £50m. Later features called him a Madrid-based billionaire. The Express describes his wealth as undisclosed but likely to run into the multi-millions, citing luxury assets and the Thyssen link. Reports have also tied him to the Duntreath Castle estate in Scotland, which is not independently confirmed.
One figure muddies things further. The family’s Welbeck Estates holdings are valued at over £230m, but that is the British branch’s wealth, not his. Treat any precise number with caution.
His Three Children With Lisa Hogan
All three children carry the Bentinck name. Elizabeth Mary Wilhelmina Bentinck, known as Lizzy, was born on 22 October 1998 and works in the creative industries. Wolfe Goswin Bentinck was born in April 2000 and has been seen helping out at Diddly Squat. Alice Arlene Bentinck, born in October 2001, is the youngest and reportedly gets on well with Jeremy Clarkson.
Note too that Alice Bentinck MBE, the British tech entrepreneur born in 1986, is a different person.
Where is He Now?
He lives in Madrid and stays out of the public eye, as coverage in the Mirror reflects. No current partner has been confirmed, and he has never commented on his former wife’s television career.
Lisa, now 55, has been with Clarkson since 2017 and has ruled out marrying him. Asked about becoming Mrs Clarkson, she replied, “No, thank you, I like Lisa Hogan.”
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Baron Steven Bentinck?
Ans: He is a Dutch aristocrat, businessman and private art collector born on 1 March 1957. In the UK, he is known as the ex-husband of Clarkson’s Farm star Lisa Hogan.
How old is Baron Steven Bentinck?
Ans: He is 69. That makes him 14 years older than Lisa Hogan, who was born in 1971.
Is he related to the Thyssen family?
Ans: Yes. His mother was Gabrielle Baronin Thyssen-Bornemisza von Kaszony, making him a nephew of steel heir Baron Heini Thyssen.
When did Lisa Hogan and Baron Steven Bentinck divorce?
Ans: They separated around 2005, and the divorce was finalised in 2011. They were married in 1998, two years after meeting.
What is his net worth?
Ans: No verified figure exists. Older reports suggested more than £50m, while recent coverage calls his wealth undisclosed but substantial.
How many children does he have with Lisa Hogan?
Ans: Three: Lizzy, born in 1998, Wolfe, born in 2000, and Alice, born in 2001. All three use the Bentinck surname.
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