No will, so who gets £385k left by Archer’s ex-mistress?
JEFFREY ARCHER’s former mistress sally Farmiloe fought a long and very public battle against breast cancer. The howards’ Way actress even published a moving book, My Left Boob: A cancer Diary, before succumbing to the illness last year at the age of 60.
however, I can disclose that Farmiloe failed to make a will, meaning that her widower, Jeremy Neville, will not inherit all of her £385,000 estate.
‘she doesn’t seem to have been able to face it,’ a source tells me. ‘It’s a shame because it causes a headache for the loved ones left behind.’
The probate office i n London confirms that Farmiloe — whose ex- boyfriends included the Marquess of Reading, Woolworths heir Anthony hubbard and inventor sir clive sinclair — left an estate of £384,535, which became £372,430 after tax.
Under the rules of intestacy, her husband will inherit the first £250,000 and her personal possessions. he will share the remaining £122,000 with their children. They have a daughter, Jade, and an adopted daughter Kat.
Farmiloe raised her after Kat’s mother, sally’s best friend and fellow actress Marilyn smethwick, died of cancer when Kat was ten years old. Jeremy also has a son, Alistair.
As well as playing scheming barmaid Dawn Williams in popular BBc drama howards’ Way, Farmiloe had roles in Bergerac and steptoe And son. her career was, however, eclipsed by her three-year affair with best- selling
author Archer which began in 1996 when he was campaigning to be Mayor of London.
The pair met at a Conservative Party fundraising event. ‘He came up behind me, threw his arms around me and grabbed hold of my boobs,’ she later recalled. He asked where her husband was, and when she told him she did not have one, he replied coolly: ‘That makes things easy.’
Memorably, the couple were reported to have enjoyed a tryst in an NCP car park during a ball at the Dorchester. She returned to the dance with engine oil all over the back of her white gown.
The affair ended after it was exposed by a newspaper and she then rekin-dled her friendship with ex-boyfriend Neville. They married in 2002.
Farmiloe developed breast cancer in 2012 but was determined to look as good as possible, undergoing a non-surgical face lift, and regularly appearing in public beautifully dressed. She vowed to fight the disease with drugs and champagne.