Before she died at the age of just 40, cancer campaigner Dame Deborah James told her husband he should ‘move on’ after she was gone and find love again.
Now, Sebastien Bowen might have fulfilled her wish. Last week, he was spotted hand in hand with a beautiful ‘mystery’ woman.
The pair could be seen strolling on the towpath beside the Thames after enjoying a long, leisurely lunch at The River Cafe in Hammersmith, west London.
Wearing an elegant red dress and sunglasses, the woman, who appeared to be in her 30s, gazed adoringly at Mr Bowen, 45.
‘They looked like they were very much in love,’ a passer-by said.
‘It was very sweet. For anyone who was inspired by Dame Deborah’s attitude to life, it was really heartening to see her husband looking happy again.’
The River Cafe is the fashionable restaurant where Jamie Oliver began his career and the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Nigella Lawson have dined.
Last December, The Mail on Sunday revealed that Mr Bowen was dipping his toe in the dating scene.
Friends said he had been on several dates as he attempted to rebuild his life following his wife’s death in June 2022.
A source said: ‘It’s very early days for Seb and he’s taking things very slowly.
‘Deborah is going to be a tough act to follow as they had a fantastic marriage and made a great couple.
‘But Seb feels the time has come for him to move on, as Deborah wanted him to.’
Dame Deborah, who called herself ‘Bowelbabe’, raised more than £11million for cancer research.
She was known for her frankness about dealing with her aggressive bowel cancer, which she shared on the BBC Radio 5 Live show You, Me And The Big C.
She described Mr Bowen as a ‘very eligible bachelor’ and knew he would attract a lot of female attention after her death.
She said: ‘I have given him strict instructions: I want him to move on. He’s a handsome man, I’m like, ‘Don’t be taken for a ride, don’t marry a bimbo, find someone else who can make you laugh like we did.’
She also joked there were a couple of people she didn’t want him to hook up with and if he did, ‘I would do my damned hardest to haunt him’.
Mr Bowen works as a banker for private equity firm Pomona Capital. He met his wife, with whom he had two children, in 2005 and they married three years later.
In 2023, her mother Heather said: ‘Deborah will be a hard act to follow, but he has our blessing.’
