Lady Annabel Goldsmith

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Lady Annabel Goldsmith (born 13 June 1934) is an English socialite and the widow of Sir James Goldsmith. Born Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart, she is the daughter of the 8th Marquess of Londonderry.

Her first husband was the club owner Mark Birley, son of Sir Oswald Birley and founder of Annabel's, the nightclub in Mayfair, opened in 1962. The couple were married at London's Caxton Hall in 1954. The couple had three children: Rupert, Robin and India Jane. Rupert died in mysterious circumstances in Africa in 1986; Robin was seriously disfigured when he was attacked by a friend's pet lion, and India Jane is a portrait painter.

Lady Annabel's social circle included the gambler and zoo-owner John Aspinall and the notorious Lord Lucan, who disappeared in 1974 after murdering the family nanny.

In 1964 she met the entrepreneur Sir James Goldsmith, and became one of his several mistresses. The couple's first child Jemima was born in 1974, followed by the birth of their son Zac. In 1978 the couple married to legitimize Jemima and Zac. A third child, Benjamin, was born in 1980. Sir James died in 1997 of pancreatic cancer.

Her autobiography is entitled Annabel, An Unconventional Life: The Memoirs of Lady Annabel Goldsmith.

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