Lady Annabel Goldsmith, who died at home on Saturday at 91, lived through an era in which aristocracy and wealth were extremely public. Born in the 1930s as the former Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart, she flourished in a world that celebrated aristocratic rule-breakers. Her story offers a lens on how Britain has changed.
At 15, she became a lady when her grandfather died, and everyone knew about it. Her coming-out ball in the 1950s was attended by a young Queen Elizabeth, as presentation to the monarch was essential for debutantes. In the 1960s, she lent her name to Annabel’s, the nightclub set up by her first husband, Mark Birley, for the elite in Berkeley Square, London.
In the 1970s, she was thought to have inspired the phrase: “When you marry your mistress, you create a job vacancy,” attributed to financier James Goldsmith upon his marriage to Annabel, his long-term mistress. In fact, he was quoting Sacha Guitry. The club attracted an international A-list including Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Teddy Kennedy, David Hockney and Muhammad Ali.
Annabel lived in a bizarre panopticon, with details of her personal life transmitted in real time, whether lauded in Tatler or lampooned in Private Eye. During James Goldsmith’s criminal libel case against Private Eye in 1976, their affair became public, though it had been known for years. She responded to gossip with arch homilies on fidelity, once saying in the 1980s that it was for wimps as long as your husband came home at night.
In the 1980s, she focused on motherhood, a role she later said she was “incredible” at. Her children with James – Jemima, Zac and Ben – were born in 1974, 1975 and 1980, when Annabel was 46. She wrote two memoirs: Annabel: an Unconventional Life (2004) and No Invitation Required (2009).
