Mr Bean star Rowan Atkinson is to have his third child at the age of 62. The comedy legend’s actress partner Louise Ford, 33, is expecting their first child in the next few weeks. Rowan already has son Ben, 23, and daughter Lily, 21, from his marriage to Sunetra Sastry.

He began dating Louise – who plays Kate Middleton in hit Channel 4 comedy The Windsors – in 2014 after separating from Sunetra. She appeared in Channel 4 comedy drama Crashing before landing her royal role in The Windsors, but jokes: “My mother would love it if I was in Midsomer Murders.”

Privately-educated Rowan, whose dad was a farmer in Consett, County Durham, went to Oxford University before finding fame in the 1980s in cult BBC comedy sketch show Not The Nine O’Clock News.

He has built an estimated £70million fortune from classic roles including the bumbling vicar in Four Weddings and a Funeral , and scheming Blackadder in four series of the BBC’s historical sitcom. His silent Mr Bean character – first seen in 1990 – has appeared in three hit movies so far. And he played him in the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012.

A third money-spinning movie based on his bungling spy Johnny English is due out next year. He has also turned to straight acting, starring as Belgian detective Maigret on ITV.

But Rowan confided that he had “a certain kinship” with lonely, single characters he portrays – despite his marriage to Sunetra. They met when she was a BBC make-up artist and were married in New York in 1990.