Mary Soames, who has died aged 91, was the last surviving child of Winston and Clementine Churchill, and the only one of their five children who really came to terms with bearing that distinguished family name. Mary enjoyed a fulfilled life as daughter, wife and mother, before blossoming late into an accomplished writer. Short and stocky, like her father, she inherited his energy and determination, while also displaying her mother's charm and poise. But the empathy, ebullience and sense of fun were all her own.
Mary was born in London, in the same month, September 1922, that Winston bought Chartwell, his beloved country house on the edge of the Kentish Weald. She was by far the most junior of the surviving Churchill children (the infant Marigold having died in 1921), eight years younger than Sarah, the next oldest. She was therefore brought up almost as an only child.
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