‘Colourful’ QC who married a princess STILL doesn’t have a death certificate 10 weeks after his death leaving desperate family unable to bury him
Desmond de Silva QC, who was one of the first barristers to earn £1 million a year and reputedly had foie gras flown out to his hotel in West Africa while prosecuting a case there
Few have lived more exuberantly than Sir Desmond de Silva QC, who was one of the first barristers to earn £1 million a year and reputedly had foie gras flown out to his hotel in West Africa while prosecuting a case there.
But I can disclose there has been a bizarre and distressing postscript to de Silva’s remarkable life: more than ten weeks after his death from heart failure, aged 78, a death certificate has yet to be issued — meaning that he remains unburied, as no interment is permitted without it.
‘It is too, too ghastly,’ says his younger sister, Helga de Silva Blow Perera, from her home in Sri Lanka, where she and Desmond grew up with visits from family friends such as Gandhi and India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and where Lord Mountbatten came to Sunday lunch.
Helga adds that de Silva’s daughter, Victoria — his only child by ex-wife Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia — has explained to her that the coroner is continuing inquiries, though no further details are currently available.
A family friend says that de Silva’s health faltered last year, not long after he published his memoirs, Madam, Where Are Your Mangoes? ‘He was in hospital for months — all over Christmas,’ I’m told.
I can disclose there has been a bizarre and distressing postscript to de Silva’s remarkable life: more than ten weeks after his death from heart failure, aged 78, a death certificate has yet to be issued — meaning that he remains unburied, as no interment is permitted without it
But de Silva did manage to pay a final visit to Sri Lanka. ‘My brother came to see me to say goodbye,’ says Helga. ‘He looked out at the mountain where he grew up.
‘There was no outward emotion. But he was vulnerable.
‘He did not want anyone to know that he was coming. He knew he might not make it.’
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De Silva married Princess Katarina, 21 years his junior, in 1987, but they divorced in 2010 after he announced to her that she wasn’t intelligent enough for him.
In his memoirs, he recalled how he evaded death in 1981 when prosecuting the ringleaders of a Marxist coup in The Gambia: pouring himself a glass of brandy in his hotel room, he noticed that it was discoloured — and decided against drinking it.
Analysis later showed that it had been lethally poisoned.
Glamorous gran-to-be Tamara does a Bianca
Nineties ‘It-girl’ Tamara Beckwith is soon to become a grandmother, but her penchant for wild parties remains undiminished.
Nineties ‘It-girl’ Tamara Beckwith is soon to become a grandmother, but her penchant for wild parties remains undiminished
At the weekend, the 48-year-old attended the birthday party of Italian socialite Magda Pozzo at a Studio 54 pop-up in Ibiza with Luther star Idris Elba. Sporting an electric pink playsuit, Tamara re-enacted one of clubbing’s most enduring legends when, in 1977, Bianca Jagger straddled a white horse in New York’s Studio 54.
‘Too much fun on that rocking horse,’ wrote Tamara, whose daughter Anouska, 31, is expecting her first child this summer.
The late Princess Margaret could be outmatched for unpleasantness by her husband, Lord Snowdon, according to a new documentary.
Speaking in A Tale Of Two Sisters: Elizabeth II And Princess Margaret, to be screened next week on the Yesterday history channel, royal biographer Sarah Bradford, Viscountess Bangor, 79, says: ‘It was a very close relationship, and although she was a princess and he wasn’t a royal, I think he had the upper hand — and as things got worse, he was better at being nasty than she was.’
The late Princess Margaret could be outmatched for unpleasantness by her husband, Lord Snowdon, according to a new documentary
Corkscrew-haired TV historian Suzannah Lipscomb appears to have undergone a drastic makeover.
Sharing a selfie online, the Tudor expert, 39, reveals she’s straightened out her mane.
‘About once a year, my hairdresser blow-dries my hair straight,’ she says. ‘It’s such hard work that I have to warn him in advance so he doesn’t workout his shoulders in the gym the day before.
‘Then for three glorious days, I walk around with spun gold, until I wash it and the curls magically reappear. In those three days, even old friends don’t recognise me.’
Corkscrew-haired TV historian Suzannah Lipscomb appears to have undergone a drastic makeover
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