Lady Annabel Goldsmith, a socialite who had her name immortalised when a Mayfair nightclub was named after her, has died at the age of 91.
Lady Annabel was mother to six children, including Tory politician Zac Goldsmith and filmmaker Jemima Goldsmith.
Her first husband, hospitality entrepreneur Mark Birley, founded the London private members’ club Annabel’s in 1963. The exclusive venue would go on to welcome royals and rock stars.
Lady Annabel was the younger daughter of the eighth Marquess of Londonderry. In a statement to the BBC, her youngest child Ben said she was “quite simply irreplaceable”.
He added: “We are bereft, not for her – because her life has been extraordinary and complete – but for us, because of the immense hole in our lives she leaves behind.”
The statement continued: “I spoke to her every day for 45 years, she truly had my back and we loved each other very much. I will miss her terribly.”
In a joint statement, her children said: "It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our mother, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, who died peacefully in her sleep this morning at the age of 91.”
Lady Annabel was mother to six children, three from her first marriage and three from her second marriage to businessman Sir James Goldsmith. Speaking to The Times in 2006, she said: “I was a hands-on mother and I am a hands-on grandmother”, adding: “We go on holidays; I talk every day. I’m not judgemental about women who work, but I was so besotted with my children I never wanted them out of my sight.”
She had Rupert, Robin and India Jane with her first husband Mr Birley, and Jemima, Zac and Ben with Sir James.
Her first marriage broke-down after Lady Annabel discovered that Mr Birley had been unfaithful, later telling Vanity Fair: “Like a butterfly, he had to seduce every woman.”
But she told the magazine: “It’s quite difficult to live with a perfectionist, but the thing is, life with Mark was fun.” She remained close to Mr Birley, with whom she spoke regularly until his death in 2007.
She would become the mistress and then the wife of entrepreneur Sir James Goldsmith, who himself had two children with his mistress Laure Boulay de la Meurthe.
Lady Annabel’s long affair with Sir James made her a fixture of gossip columns in the 1960s and 1970s.
She was born Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart in 1934, the second daughter of Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, and knew tragedy from an early age when her mother passed away from cancer when she was just 17 years old. Her father descended into alcoholism following her mother’s death and died from liver failure two months after the birth of Lady Annabel’s first son Rupert.
In 1986, at the age of 30, Rupert went missing, presumed drowned, off the coast of West Africa. Lady Annabel described his death as “the worst thing that has happened to me” in an interview with The Guardian. She told the newspaper, “It was worse than my parents dying, but I said to myself: ‘I have six children. I’ve lost one. I have to be strong for the rest of them.’”
She wrote a number of books, including her own autobiography Annabel: An Unconventional Life, and one which told the story of her pet dog Copper’s life.
In 2009, she told The Guardian that her happiness in life hadn’t come from being elite, adding: “Give me dogs, give me children, give me books and I’ll be happy.”
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