Anne Robinson, the 81-year-old former presenter of The Weakest Link and Countdown, is relocating from her Grade II-listed converted barn in the Cotswolds to an apartment overlooking Hyde Park in London. The move comes after 40 years in the countryside, driven by health fears and deteriorating eyesight that has led her to give up driving.
Health Concerns Prompt Move
Robinson told The Times that while she will be sad to leave, she recognises the necessity: “I just know that it will be sadder if they take me out of here in an ambulance.” She added, “I run, do weights and Pilates, but I just can’t legislate for the next five years.” Her new home is just a few streets away from her daughter, broadcaster Emma Wilson, and her two grandchildren, Hudson and Parker.
Robinson expressed a desire not to burden her daughter: “I don’t want Emma sitting at lunch saying to someone, as people say to me, ‘Oh my mother, you know she’s in Somerset and now the carer’s gone off sick – I’m having to drive for an hour and a half when there’s a crisis’.”
Learning the Tube and City Life
Having given up driving due to worsening eyesight, Robinson said her daughter will teach her how to use the London Underground. She is excited about the prospect of walking to lunch with friends rather than relying on others for transport. Robinson has owned homes in London before, but this marks her first permanent move to the city in decades.
Property Portfolio and Financial Moves
Robinson purchased the Cotswolds property, then a dilapidated farm, for £1 million in 2006, two years after undergoing a £9,000 facelift. After two years of renovations, she is now selling it for £4.5 million. In addition to this home, she owns properties on Fifth Avenue in New York and in the Hamptons.
In a 2024 interview with Saga, Robinson revealed she has distributed her estimated £50 million fortune to her daughter and grandchildren to avoid inheritance tax. “I’ve given it all away – I don’t want the taxman to have it,” she said. “I’ve spread it about quite a lot, to the children. They may as well enjoy it now.” She admitted she has “genuinely no idea” if she is worth £50 million but insisted she doesn’t “want for much” and “can't think there's anything I really want except my good health and the family happiness.”
Personal Life and Dating
When asked in the interview if she is still dating the Queen’s ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles, Robinson quipped, “None of your business!” She has one daughter, Emma, from her first marriage to journalist Charles Wilson, which ended in divorce in 1973. Her second marriage, to John Penrose, ended in 2007.
