From Rocket Man to rocking pram – Elton too old to be a dad?

Blog: Possibly four parents, speculation that a large sum of money has changed hands and a father who, at 63, is not exactly in his prime when it comes to sleepless nights - and these will inevitably progress to toddler tantrums and teenage angst as daddy gets older. And it's not exactly as if Elton John is not prone to odd tantrum himself.

Life is certainly complicated for Zachary Jackson Levon - the new baby son of Elton John and partner David Furnish – and he's not even a week old yet.

The couple managed to keep their addition a secret not only until three days after his birth on Christmas Day but all through the previous nine months of pregnancy - although that's hardly difficult when neither new parent has had to sport a bump.

And therein lies the first complication facing little Zachary. His birth is the result of modern medicine with reports today that one woman donated the egg only for another woman to carry the baby and deliver it in California where the laws on money changing hands for surrogacies are far more relaxed.

Now don't even dare ask who the father is – if indeed it is David or Elton, although the odds are on David as he is the younger of the two and has appeared to be more eager to experience fatherhood than his ageing partner. But it potentially gives little Zachary four parents – not the ideal start in life.

It's a start which seems only to reflect the current celebrity trend for having a baby or child when and how you want it regardless of the consequences. This pregnancy comes after Elton and David were turned down in their request to adopt a baby they met in an orphanage last year because of Elton's age and the fact that their civil partnership was not recognised in the Ukraine. It seems as if someone was told no and then threw his teddy bear in a corner and said 'I will have what I want and no-one is going to tell me otherwise'.

Is it really right that those who are rich beyond our wildest dreams can go shopping for a baby on a whim? Angelina, Madonna and Co appear to travel the world picking them out like they do their shoes or handbags, jetting into various countries on a Monday and leaving by Friday with babe in arms.

Meanwhile a number of other tinseltown heavyweights are only too happy to pay women to carry children and hand them over regardless of their genetic heritage. I have no doubt that David and Elton believe in their heart of their hearts they wanted and will love this boy and care for him like no other. But do they understand that will take an awful lot of give and sacrifice on their part – particularly in providing security and stability for a child born with so many questions to answer? This is not the latest accessory to their glittering lifestyle but a child with limitless demands who they will have to guide on what is an emotional and fraught journey at the best of times. But particularly and inevitably when he wants to know who his mummy is.

Of course Zachary is an awful lot luckier than a lot of children born with no parent to love them or those born to cruel individuals only interested in making life a misery for the children they should protect at all costs.

So with that in mind I do congratulate Elton and David and wish them all the best because there is no doubt that the desperation to be a parent, and a loving one at that, will drive you to extraordinary measures to fulfil that ache. And a baby born on Christmas Day is a wonderful gift.

But there is a nagging doubt that I just can't shake that the way in which this child has arrived in the world is not how we want to the human race to prosper.

By Tracey O'Sullivan