Lady Annabel Goldsmith, the socialite who gave her name to a famous Mayfair nightclub, has died at the age of 91.
Her youngest son, the environmentalist and financier Ben Goldsmith, described her as “quite simply irreplaceable” and said her life had been “extraordinary and complete”.
The former society hostess – the widow of flamboyant billionaire financier Sir James Goldsmith – died peacefully in her sleep on Saturday morning, her family said.
Mr Goldsmith paid tribute to his mother in a statement to The Times, saying: “She was quite simply irreplaceable.
“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.
“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.”
Lady Annabel was also mother to environmentalist and former Conservative politician Zac Goldsmith, writer and producer Jemima Goldsmith, entrepreneur Robin Birley and artist India Jane Birley.
“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,” her children said in a joint statement.
Born Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart, she was the aristocratic daughter of the eighth Marquess of Londonderry and married her first husband, Mark Birley, at the age of 19.
He named the trendy Mayfair private members’ club Annabel’s after her and it became a playground for the rich and famous.
It was where Diana, Princess of Wales, with whom Lady Annabel was friends, held her hen do.
The couple faced tragedy when their eldest son, Rupert, disappeared off the coast of West Africa in 1986 and was assumed to have died.
Their son Robin was mauled and permanently scarred by a tiger as a child at a private zoo.
Lady Annabel went on to fall in love and have an affair with Sir James, and later marry him.
She stayed with Sir James, who set up his own political party the Referendum Party in 1997, despite his numerous infidelities, describing him as “the most dynamic, charismatic and irresistible man I had ever come across”.
She told The Guardian in 2009: “My happiness in my life has nothing to do with being elite.
“Give me dogs, give me children, give me books and I’ll be happy.”
Lady Annabel said people always assumed she was haughty, but insisted “really I’m not”.
She wrote a number of books, including a memoir of her life in 2004.
