Whenever Lady Wilnelia Forsyth sees a rainbow, she thinks of her late husband Sir Bruce… and smiles.
For it was a rainbow the national treasure promised would help guide his wife through life after his death.
As she prepares to mark the fourth anniversary of his death this week, Wilnelia, 63, says: “I remember saying to him, ‘But Bruce, how will I know what to do when you’re not here? I can’t even work the TV remote without you!’
“He turned to me and said, ‘Just look for the rainbow, my darling’.
“Now his children send me pictures of rainbows from wherever they are and it’s really just this wonderful feeling.”
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The 89-year-old entertainer, whose showbiz career spanned 75 years, died of bronchial pneumonia on August 18, 2017.
He and Wilnelia had wed in 1983, three years after meeting in London as judges at Miss World.
But the former beauty queen reveals how their paths almost crossed five years earlier – the year she won the title herself.
She says: “I was actually invited to be a contestant on The Generation Game when I came for Miss World.
“But I was sick and didn’t go. Had I done so, I’d have met him. You wonder whether it was always meant to be.”
We chat at Surrey’s highly exclusive Wentworth Golf Club, just a stone’s throw from their former family home.
Sir Bruce would unwind here after a long day in the BBC Strictly studio. A bench in honour of him carries the words, “Nice to sit here, to sit here nice.”
As with his TV game show, the club’s Generation Cup – played in his honour – encourages members to team up with another generation of their family.
Poignantly, Wilnelia tells how her tight bond with their son JJ and Bruce’s five daughters helped cushion their loss.
And she reveals plans to mark his death with a visit to the London Palladium, where Sir Bruce’s ashes are buried under the stage and where his career first blossomed.
Puerto Rican-born, Wilnelia tells how news that Anton Du Beke is to become a judge on Strictly brought joy to Bruce’s family.
She says: “I’m sure he’ll be smiling from heaven, thinking it’s about time. He’d have been thrilled – he not only saw Anton as a judge, but as a presenter.
“He’s got this great sense of humour, just as Bruce had. The pair of them always had jokes about Bruce being his love child.”
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Wilnelia embraces Latin music, listening to Bolero with mum Delia, who has Alzheimer’s and suffers from fading sight.
She admits she would love to appear on Strictly but says: “I could do the salsa but I don’t know ballroom. My worry is that I’m very emotional – and I’d also be out of breath.”
Last May, Wilnelia moved into a new £3m home close to where she and Bruce lived.
She shares it with her and Bruce’s son Jonathan Joseph – known as JJ – and 85-year-old Delia. It is filled with memories of Bruce’s career.
Photos chart his rise from Sunday Night at the London Palladium to The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right, The Price Is Right and Strictly, which he presented alongside Tess Daly.
Wilnelia says: “In a way I’m redesigning my life as well as my new house.
“But I still talk to Bruce in my head, often at night. He was always so loving and such a gentleman. Even until the end he was keeping his sense of humour.
“One morning, a few months before he died, he had his eyes closed and called out ‘Winnie?’. ‘Yes, Bruce,’ I said.
“I was filling with tears because I thought I was about to lose him. ‘Get me a sausage sandwich, will you?’ he said.”
She says his death has left an ache that will never go away, but adds: “You learn how to live with it.
“I never thought I would marry someone so much older – and he never thought he would fall in love again.
“But it’s funny how life is.”
