Sheherazade Goldsmith - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Born Sharon Ventura-Bentley at King's College Hospital in London, Goldsmith is the daughter of Colombian-born actress Viviane Ventura and British financier John Bentley. Born out of wedlock, her paternity was established on 13 March 1975 in the West London Domestic Court. Growing up, she had a very limited relationship with her father, a former chief executive of Barclay Securities who became a millionaire at age 28.

She grew up near King’s Road in Chelsea with her older half-sister, Jasmine Joanna Duggan, her mother's child with first husband and film producer Frank Duggan. "Having lived in Chelsea my whole life," she has said, " is my favourite area in London." Viviane Ventura raised the family by establishing an international promotions company called the Ventura Promotions, which later became Francolin Promotions Ltd. Goldsmith's family spent their summer vacations in the mountains of Northern Spain, where she used to pick strawberries.

She was educated at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in London. She later attended the Aiglon College in Switzerland on a part-scholarship, where she was captain of the ski-team. "I have never been able to thank my mother enough for her decision to send me to Aiglon College... Along with what was essentially a privileged bunch of children, whose lives until then bore little resemblance to the real world, I learnt the pleasures of living at a human scale," she later said. She graduated Aiglon with A- levels in English Literature, Art, Spanish and French. Having inherited the linguistic talent of her mother, who speaks 6 languages, Goldsmith is fluent in Spanish, French and Italian besides her native English. In 2007, she completed a three-year course in practical horticulture at the English Gardening School, with classes held in the world-famous Chelsea Physic Garden.