Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson’s wife Joan’s cause of death has been revealed at an inquest on Wednesday.
Lady Joan Sarah Drummond Branson, 80, died at The Lister Bridge Hospital in November 2025, with the pre-inquest hearing that the cause of death was a blood clot two weeks after a fall.
The hearing, held at Inner West London Coroner’s Court, heard that her family are not looking to blame anyone for her death.
However, a full inquest to be held in September will examine whether Lady Branson should have been prescribed blood thinners and if she was wearing anti-clot stockings at the time of her death.
Speaking at the hearing, Lady Branson’s daughter Holly said: “I believe mum had great care. The doctors saved her life three years ago, giving us all three more years together. We just want to help other families if there are any lessons to be learned.”
Senior Coroner Professor Fiona Wilcox told the court that statements from an expert witness would be needed to determine whether a prescription of the anti-coagulant Heparin would have prevented the death.
Sir Richard Branson has previously said that his wife had a history of blood clots going back as far as at least 2010.
In 2018, she had woken up one day to find her leg three times the size it usually was, with doctors at hospital confirming she had a series of blood clots from her ankle to her groin in the “worst case” doctors at that hospital had ever seen.
Lady Branson was prescribed Warfarin and given a compression clot but was warned she remained at risk of a “major pulmonary embolism”, and had urgent surgery to install an umbrella structure in her leg preventing any of the clots from entering her lungs.
Sir Richard announced his wife’s death in an emotional tribute.
Posting on Instagram, he said: “Heartbroken to share that Joan, my wife and partner for 50 years, has passed away. She was the most wonderful mum and grandmum our kids and grandkids could have ever wished for. She was my best friend, my rock, my guiding light, my world. Love you forever, Joan x”
He later said that Lady Branson died “quickly and painlessly”, and that he had lunch with her on the day of her death.
The couple married in 1989 on Sir Richard’s private estate on Necker Island, in the British Virgin Islands, where the family held a beachfront gathering for friends and family to remember her following her death.
The couple had three children, Holly, Sam and Clare Sarah. Clare Sarah died shortly after her birth in 1979.
