Overview
- Her children issued a joint statement on Oct. 18 confirming she died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 91.
- Ben Goldsmith called his mother “quite simply irreplaceable,” and Zac Goldsmith shared an Oct. 20 photo tribute describing a “profound” family loss.
- A central figure of the Swinging Sixties, she inspired Annabel’s, opened in 1963 by her first husband Mark Birley, a club famed for royal and celebrity patrons.
- She later married Sir James Goldsmith after a long affair, raised six children, published memoirs, and was a trusted confidante of Princess Diana.
- Reports have revisited family tragedies, including son Rupert’s 1986 disappearance and son Robin’s childhood tiger mauling, while noting a BBC tribute that briefly misstated her birth year.