Lady Annabel Goldsmith obituary

"Goldsmith, who has died aged 91, was herself a celebrity, accessible to journalists and happy to explain about the men in her life at a time when talking openly about being a mistress was still vaguely scandalous. Having married Birley as a teenager in 1954, she began a relationship with the financier Sir James Goldsmith 10 years later, having discovered that her first husband was a serial adulterer as, it turned out, was her second."

"The nightclub set up by her first husband, the businessman Mark Birley, on borrowed money in the summer of 1963 the same week as the Profumo scandal broke in the Berkeley Square basement of their friend John Aspinall's notorious private casino, the Clermont Club, was eventually sold in 2007 for 90m. By then she had long ceased going. Annabel's had attracted celebrities such as, at various times, members of the royal family even Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 the Kennedys, Richard Nixon, Muhammad Ali"

Lady Annabel Goldsmith died aged 91. She was the second child of Robin, Viscount Castlereagh, heir to the 7th Marquess of Londonderry, and Romaine Combe. She married Mark Birley as a teenager in 1954. Birley opened the famous nightclub Annabel's in 1963 in the Clermont Club basement; it was sold in 2007 for 90m. Annabel's attracted royals and celebrities including Queen Elizabeth II, the Kennedys, Richard Nixon, Muhammad Ali and Frank Sinatra. She began a relationship with financier Sir James Goldsmith in the mid-1960s, bore him two children before their 1978 marriage and a third later. Both husbands engaged in affairs. She spoke openly to journalists about her relationships.

Read at www.theguardian.com