The death of Lady Soames, née Mary Churchill, at the age of 91 has been announced. While she lived to a very good age and achieved a good many things, there is always a slight sadness as the country loses (inevitably) another link with the past, particularly events of the Second World War during which she had a far more interesting time than most members of the ATS as she often accompanied her father on his many trips abroad.
She was her father's favourite child and eventually managed to work out a reasonable relationship with her mother about whom she wrote a highly praised book that came out two years after Clementine's death. It can even be said that of all the Churchill children, Mary was the successful one in her life, family and, eventually, writing and public career.
The obituary in the Telegraph is all too obviously treading lightly on treacherous ground, historically and politically speaking, while the one in the Guardian is a little more outspoken, particularly on the subject of Sir Christopher Soames's unfortunate stint as the last governor of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and his friendship with Robert Mugabe.
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