Advertisement

Boris Johnson’s mother Charlotte Johnson Wahl dies aged 79

Boris Johnson with his mother Charlotte Johnson Wahl at an event in 2014  (Getty Images)
Boris Johnson with his mother Charlotte Johnson Wahl at an event in 2014 (Getty Images)

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is mourning the loss of his mother after she died “suddenly and peacefully” aged 79.

Charlotte Johnson Wahl, a painter, passed away at St Mary’s Hospital Paddington, on Monday according to a death notice in The Times.

Mr Johnson once described his mother as the “supreme authority” in the family and credited her with instilling in him the equal value of every human life.

The notice in the Times says she was a “Painter. Mother of Alexander, Rachel Leo, and Joseph; grandmother of Ludovic, Lara, Charlotte, Milo, Oliver, Cassia, Theodore, Rose, Lula, William, Ruby Noor, Stephanie and Wilfred.”

The daughter of the barrister Sir James Fawcett, who was president of the European Commission for Human Rights in the 1970s, Mrs Johnson Wahl studied English at Oxford University.

She interrupted her education to travel to America with Stanley Johnson – who she married in 1963 – before returning to complete her degree as the first married female undergraduate at her college, Lady Margaret Hall.

The couple had four children – Boris, journalist Rachel, former minister Jo and environmentalist Leo – before they divorced in 1979.

As an artist, she made her name as a portrait painter – her sitters included Joanna Lumley and Jilly Cooper – although throughout her life she painted other subjects, including landscapes.

In the years following her divorce, she refused to accept any money from her former husband, eking out a living by selling paintings. She later recalled she was “very hard up”.

In 1988, she married the American professor Nicholas Wahl and moved to New York where she began painting cityscapes – which were the subject of a sell-out exhibition in 2004 – but returned to London following his death in 1996.

At the age of 40, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease but she never allowed her illness to prevent her painting, steadying herself with a walking frame as she worked.

During an interview in 2008, she had said: “I try to paint every day if I possibly can, though I have to go to the hospital a lot.

“I still manage to paint, though my arm will suddenly do a movement which is completely unintentional and that almost brings me to tears.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was among the first politicians to offer his condolences.

“I’m very sorry to learn of the Prime Minister’s loss. My condolences to him and his family,” he tweeted.

Tory MP Conor Burns said: “So sad to hear of the death of Boris Johnson’s Mum. Thoughts and prayers are with him and the whole of the Johnson clan.”

Fellow Conservative Angela Richardson added: “Sad news for the PM tonight as well as the rest of the Johnson family. Thoughts with them all.”

Conservative Party co-chairman Amanda Milling tweeted: “Thinking of Boris Johnson and his family this evening. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”

In 2015, she was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK News

Read More

Boris Johnson’s mother dies aged 79 – report

Emma Raducanu rubs shoulders with A-list celebrities at the Met Gala

Prince Andrew’s lawyer: New York claim is ‘baseless and unviable’