Lady Annabel Goldsmith, the muse behind the famous private members' club, Annabel's and close friend of Princess Diana's, left behind a £5.6 million legacy in her will.
The high-society it-girl died aged 91 on 18 October last year and was famed for running in the uppermost echelons of society, which included the former Princess of Wales. Her first husband was Mark Birley, the entrepreneur behind the famous Chelsea club.
© PA Images via Getty ImagesAccording to the Daily Mail, Probate records released today show that the widow of tycoon Sir James Goldsmith, her second husband, left UK assets worth £6,668,035, reduced to a net estate of £5,618,858 after the deduction of liabilities.
The publication reported that the mother-of-six Lady Annabel left most of her estate in trust for her two surviving children from her first marriage – entrepreneur Robin Birley, now 66, and artist India-Jane, now 61.
Lady Annabel also had three other children from her later marriage to Sir James - TV producer and screenwriter Jemima Goldsmith Khan, 52, politician Zac Goldsmith, 51, and environmentalist Ben Goldsmith, now 45.
But a clause in her will stated that they had already been 'generously provided for' by their late father, who was reported to be worth £1.2billion when he died aged 64 in 1997 from pancreatic cancer.
Who was Lady Annabel Goldsmith?
Lady Annabel was an adoring mother to six children, Rupert, Robin, India, Jane, Jemima, Zac and Ben from her two marriages.
Mark, whom she married in 1954, shared Rupert, Robin, India, and Jane. In 1963, Mark Birley created Annabel's eponymous club, which was known as the chicest club in the world, and still remains a private members' club.
© Alamy Stock PhotoIn 1986, her first son, Rupert, sadly died after going missing off the coast of West Africa in 1986 and her second son, Robin, was mauled by a tiger. In 2019, her granddaughter Iris, the daughter of Ben Goldsmith and Kate Rothschild, tragically died after an accident on the family farm when the all-terrain vehicle she was driving overturned.
Annabel and Mark's marriage lasted 21 years, but ended due to Mark's frequent "infidelities," with Lady Annabel formerly describing her ex-husband as a "serial adulterer" to Vanity Fair.
Meanwhile, Annabel had an extramarital affair with Sir James Goldsmith - 'Jimmy' - who she would later marry in 1978.
