Mary Soames dead: Winston Churchill’s daughter dies at 91

Winston Churchill’s last surviving child, Mary Soames, has died at the age of 91, her family have announced.

Mary Soames passed away on Saturday at her home after a short illness.

She was the youngest of the five children of the wartime prime minister and his wife Clementine.

One of her sons, former Conservative minister Nicholas Soames, said: “She was a truly remarkable and extraordinary woman, who led a very distinguished life.”

Born Mary Spencer-Churchill, she served in the auxiliary territorial service during World War Two, manning anti-aircraft batteries in London, Belgium and Germany.

She accompanied her father on several of his most important trips, including to the 1945 Potsdam Conference, where Winston Churchill, Stalin and President Harry Truman discussed the future of post-war Germany and Europe.

Mary Soames enjoyed a lifetime of public service and through both birth and marriage, had life long association with the Conservative Party.

Her late husband, Christopher Soames, was a prominent Conservative politician who served as a minister under Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home and Margaret Thatcher.

In later life, Lady Mary Soames became a patron of several leading charities and was a successful author. She published a biography of her mother and edited a collection of her parents’ letters.