When Leilani Münter realised that her relationship was getting serious she sat her boyfriend down to have a conversation about children.

The professional racing car driver told him that she intended to remain “child-free” and if he felt differently they should probably break up there and then. That was 12 years ago and they have been happily married since 2009.

“The only babies in our house have four legs and are furry,” she says, referring to their three rescue cats.

Now Münter, 44, wants to help other women make the same choice by becoming a patron of Population Matters, a British charity that campaigns to end population growth.

The charity, created in 1991, has struggled for years to attract much attention despite having some eminent