‘They spend a lot of time apart… it’s a make or break move.’ As Geri and Christian Horner plot to buy £45m Edgcote Manor, insiders reveal how the purchase might just be a VERY expensive distraction from the couple’s troubles

Priced at a cool £45million, the Edgcote Estate in Northamptonshire is very much an ‘if you have to ask, you can’t afford it’ property.

In fairness, prospective owners – the property went on the market last month for the first time in a century – do get a lot of bang for their buck: built in the mid-18th century, the Grade I-listed Georgian country house sits amid 1,704 acres and comes with a lake, a separate rectory and mill house and a glut of farmhouses as well as its own private racecourse.

It also boasts a sprinkling of showbiz glamour, having doubled as Netherfield, home of the foppish Mr Bingley, in the BBC’s iconic 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice.

Doubtless this tickled one prospective buyer who took a tour of the property with her husband last month: Geri Halliwell-Horner is a big Austen fan – as her followers on Instagram have noticed from the bookshelves in her London home.

After becoming a keen horsewoman in recent years, no doubt that racecourse also has a certain appeal for the 53-year-old former Spice Girl.

It is not just Geri who has tipped her cap in Edgcote’s direction though: Christian Horner, her husband of 11 years, is said to be even keener on acquiring the estate, which would be an upgrade on Glebe House, the already-vast £9million Oxfordshire pile they own just a few miles down the road. They can certainly afford it: the former Red Bull Formula One team boss, 52, received a reported £80million payout after being axed from his role last July following allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ by a female colleague in 2024.

But could there be another reason for the move?

Christian vehemently denied the accusations and was cleared of any wrongdoing by his former team’s parent company Red Bull GmbH but was relieved of his duties last year.

It’s left the couple on a ‘sticky wicket’, insiders tell the Daily Mail, with some wondering whether the decision to relocate is a ‘make or break’ move.

Although in public she maintained a steadfast front, Geri was said to be both ‘devastated’ and ‘humiliated’ by the entire episode, but specifically by the apparent leak of suggestive texts allegedly sent by her husband. But the united front continues.

This week they were pictured looking every inch the devoted married couple when they arrived hand in hand for day one of Royal Ascot, Geri clad in a white lace dress and hat that would not have looked out of place in a production of My Fair Lady.

‘When they need to they’re very good at putting on a public front. But there are wider family tensions,’ one source told the Daily Mail this week.

‘They still do things together and participate in village life in Northamptonshire when they are both there, but they spend quite a lot of their time apart: Geri in London and Christian in the country. Edgcote would at least be a joint project, which they desperately need as they are slightly pulling in different directions.’

At the heart of the tension, by all accounts, is the fact that neither can really get over Christian’s defenestration from F1, a sport they both adore.

Geri has a lifelong passion for motor racing, and on her very first meeting with Christian in 2009 at the Monaco Grand Prix surprised him with her knowledge of the sport. While they did not become a couple for many more years, their marriage in 2015 elevated her to F1 First Lady status, and there is no question that Geri misses the glamour and international travel that goes hand in hand with this unofficial title.

This time last year – and only three weeks before her husband was fired – the couple were posing on the red carpet in New York with Brad Pitt at the world premiere of F1: The Movie.

‘Geri is desperate for him to return to F1,’ a source told the Daily Mail. ‘She’s made it clear to Christian that she wants him back in as quickly as possible. She misses being an F1 WAG and wants him back in that world.’

That sentiment is shared equally by her husband, who also greatly misses the sport to which he has dedicated a large slice of his adult life, and to which he harbours hopes of return.

‘His real aim is to get back into F1,’ another source, who knows him professionally, told the Daily Mail. ‘He’s already had a number of offers and even turned one down from McLaren [F1 team]. He’s also had talks with Alpine which are progressing well.

‘What he wants to do is buy a stake in a team because ultimately Christian doesn’t want to be an employee, he wants to return to F1 as a shareholder.’

In the meantime, it emerged last month that Christian had joined private equity company Oakley Capital as a sports-investment adviser, although he sees the job as little more than a stop gap.

‘He took it because he was bored – it’s not really what he wants to do and it’s not a permanent thing,’ the source adds.

On their F1 ambitions, at least, Geri and Christian are united. Day to day however, it seems the couple, who married in 2015 at St Mary’s Church in Woburn, Bedfordshire, with a lavish reception at the nearby Woburn Abbey breathlessly covered by Hello! magazine – are seemingly far less on track.

According to those who know them well, Geri spends most of the week at the home they own in Highgate, north London, where the couple’s nine-year-old son Monty is at school – Geri also has daughter Bluebell, 20, from a previous relationship with screenwriter Sacha Gervasi – while Christian prefers to base himself in Oxfordshire.

‘Christian now loves the country life, and really doesn’t like cities any more,’ another who knows the couple told the Daily Mail. ‘He particularly hates London and doesn’t like being there – which isn’t ideal as Geri does, although she does go to Oxfordshire at weekends. She would just like them to spend more time together in the week.’

There is another reason that Christian likes to be in Oxfordshire during the week, which is that his 12-year-old daughter Olivia – from his previous long-term relationship with former pub landlady Beverley Allen – attends school there.

Such logistics are familiar to many blended families, of course, but are compounded in this instance by a layer of tragedy.

Beverley passed away last year at the age of 58 after a two-year battle with a rare form of eye cancer and just days before her ex husband was sacked from F1.

They’d been a couple for 14 years before separating in 2013, but the news understandably still left Christian devastated, not least on behalf of his daughter.

Christian’s parents Garry and Sara – with whom Beverley had remained in contact – were also said to be deeply upset and have a close relationship with their granddaughter.

‘It’s fair to say it’s not been an easy time,’ one source says. ‘Beverley’s death and the high-profile sacking have put a strain on the entire family and, of course, everyone is mindful of the impact on Olivia.’

It does not help that relations between Geri and her in-laws are said to be ‘lukewarm’, having got off on a decidedly tricky start. When she and Christian first went public as a couple in March 2014, Olivia was just six months old.

While Christian had left Beverley months earlier – and there has never been any suggestion of an overlap between Beverley and Geri – his parents took a dim view of his departure, notably attending Wimbledon with Beverley in the summer of 2014 in what was seen as a pointed show of solidarity with their son’s ex partner.

They also chose not to attend their son’s wedding to Geri.

Monty’s arrival in 2017 went some way in thawing relations, and they have since holidayed together as an extended family. In April, Horners senior and junior attended a point-to-point event in Kimblewick Equestrian Centre in Norfolk together.

Relations are said to have soured since then, however, after a recent family lunch at which Geri and Garry reportedly had a ‘huge row’. ‘Garry stormed out and he and Sara aren’t speaking to Geri at the moment,’ a source reveals.

‘They were all supposed to go to Ascot together this week but Garry and Sarah pulled out because they didn’t want to play happy families.

‘They love Monty and generally they all get along but there are definite flashpoints.’

As we have seen, Geri is nothing if not expert at putting on a brave face – onlookers pointed out that she and Christian ‘behaved like honeymooners’ at Ascot this week, exchanging affectionate kisses and hugs – and, if the private picture appears complicated, professionally she is enjoying something of a renaissance.

Earlier this month, it emerged she has been cast to join the upcoming series of award-winning show Only Murders In The Building alongside Martin Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez.

She also continues to achieve significant success as a children’s author, with her Ugenia Lavender and Rosie Frost series both proving commercial and critical successes, with renowned children’s author Jacqueline Wilson describing one as a ‘brilliant read, so inventive and exciting’.

In what could be seen as the final rubber stamp of her elevation from ‘Ginger Spice’ to lady of the manor, she has also become close to Queen Camilla via her work for the Royal Commonwealth Society, for which she is an ambassador.

Given this apparent elevation to the very heart of royal life, perhaps it is only fitting the Horners have their eye on upgrading their own domestic backdrop.

It must be said that their current country residence is far from shabby. Glebe House, which the Horners have enthusiastically renovated, counts a swimming pool, working farm and orangery among its many features.

Since purchasing the property in 2007, Christian – and later Geri – have submitted more than 40 planning applications relating to the house and grounds, not all of which have gone down well with residents of the nearest hamlet of Marston St Lawrence.

Earlier this year, some of them objected to the Horners’ request for retrospective planning permission for an oak pergola and red-brick pizza oven.

The couple have since resubmitted plans to West Northamptonshire Council, and the Daily Mail understands a fresh decision is still pending, although of course it may become immaterial should the pair decide to up sticks and move to Edgcote House.

While they have not yet submitted an offer, they have viewed the property several times and Christian in particular is said to be particularly keen.

‘He’s pushing for this because he genuinely thinks getting a bigger estate in the countryside would be good for him,’ the source says.

‘Geri isn’t against the idea because she loves playing the country dame.

‘So while it’s Christian’s baby, Geri doesn’t mind.’

Whether Edgcote ultimately proves a fresh start or merely a very expensive distraction remains to be seen.