Annabel: An Unconventional Life

Lady Annabel Goldsmith is a daughter of the 8th Marquess of Londonderry. In these memoirs she tells of her aristocratic upbringing with an increasingly eccentric father, a Conservative MP with strong liberal leanings, and a mother who died young from cancer. Married to Mark Birley at the tender age of 20, she was the name behind the creation of his club, Annabel's, in Berkeley Square. As a result of his serial affairs their marriage did not last, but by then Annabel had entered into a relationship with James Goldsmith. Annabel eventually married Goldsmith and had three children, including Jemima Khan and Ben, who is marrying into the Rothschild family. But tragedy was never far away: Rupert, her eldest son, died in an accident and Goldsmith died from cancer after financing the Referendum Party in the 1997 general election. This is the story of someone right at the heart of British society, but it is told with immense wit and warmth touching on subjects that are universal.