LADY Annabel Goldsmith, renowned socialite and close friend to Princess Diana, has passed away at the age of 91.
Lady Annabel was the younger daughter of the 8th Marquess of Londonderry.
Lady Annabel Goldsmith was known for her sense of humour, down-to-earth personality, and love of children and dogs, she was last pictured at her son’s weddingCredit: Getty
The last photos of Lady Annabel Goldsmith from her son’s weddingCredit: James Whatling/Kelvin Bruce
Her husband famously named the Mayfair nightclub Annabel’s after her in 1963.
The club was opened by her first husband Mark Birley, and for a while was the swankiest in the world.
Annabel’s is a members-only nightclub and catered to an exclusive clientele, it is located at 44 Berkley Square in London.
Members have included Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, Princess Anne, Richard Nixon, and Frank Sinatra.
In 2003, the Queen visited the club, and it is thought to be the only nightclub Her Majesty has ever been to, other than the even more fancy Whites on St James’s Street.
Lady Annabel married Mark Birley in 1954 and had three children with him, Rupert, Robin and India Jane.
The marriage lasted for 21 years with Lady Annabel gaining notoriety as a gossip columnist due to her affair with Sir James Goldsmith, who she would go on to marry.
Lady Annabel and Sir James were married in 1978 and she had a further three children with him, Jemima, Zac and Ben.
The couple’s son Zac Goldsmith would go on to become a Conservative MP for Richmond Park in his later life.
Lady Annabel once joked that she was “an incredible mother, rather a good mistress, but not a very good wife.”
Among her six children are the journalist and film producer Jemima Goldsmith and Zac Goldsmith, the former Conservative MP for Richmond Park, who were said to be “desperately saddened” by the news, reports the Daily Mail.
Lady Annabel Goldsmith was born in London in 1934 into an aristocratic family as Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart.
She was was the daughter of Robin Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, who would become the 8th Marquess of Londonderry, and Romaine Combe, who was the daughter of Major Boyce Combe, from Surrey.
At the age of just 15 she took on the title of Lady Annabel in 1949 when her father became Marquess on the death of his father.
Lady Annabel’s mother died of cancer two years later in 1951 and shortly after her father tragically passed away.
In her early life she was educated at Southover Manor School in Sussex and Cuffy’s Tutorial College in Oxford.
As part of the London social circle, she was known for her sense of humour, down-to-earth personality, and love of children and dogs.
Having been married to two unfaithful men, she explained her marriage philosophy to the Times in 1987 saying: “I can never understand the wives who really mind, the wives who set such store by fidelity.
“How extraordinary, and how mad they are. Because, surely, if the man goes out and he comes back, it’s not actually doing any harm.”
Queen Elizabeth II attended Lady Annabel’s “coming-out” ball in 1952.
