GSK boss at centre of family war over death of vice-admiral
Sir Robert Walmsley, 81, died after falling down stairs while on holiday in US with his second wife
THE boss of the pharmaceutical giant Glaxosmithkline is at the centre of a bitter family war over the death of a retired vice-admiral.
Sir Robert Walmsley, 81, died in August 2022 after falling down a flight of stairs at a house in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where he was on holiday with his second wife, Lady Alexandra Walmsley, 53.
His three children – Dame Emma Walmsley, the chief executive of GSK; Victoria Walmsley, a therapist; and James Walmsley, a barrister – are said to have never warmed to their stepmother. Sir Robert wed her in 2009 only months after divorcing the mother of his children, Christina, after 42 years of marriage.
In 2006, there were reports that pink leaflets accusing Sir Robert, who was Britain’s longest-serving head of armed forces procurement, of an affair had been plastered on trees and lampposts near his home. He denied the accusation at the time.
The discord between the children and their stepmother exploded into public view at an inquest at West London coroner’s court in Fulham last month.
Lady Alexandra had told police in the US that she had found her husband’s body at the bottom of the stairs to the basement after finishing an early morning work call on Zoom, and authorities in Massachusetts went on to rule out foul play.
But at the Fulham inquest, a lawyer for James, 47, questioned the accuracy of Lady Alexandra’s account and presented a pathologist’s report commissioned by James that said “a simple shove by a third party” could not be ruled out as the cause of death.
Her lawyer told the inquest that James had been estranged from Sir Robert ever since he married Lady Alexandra and had not invited him to his wedding, his daughters’ christenings or visited him in hospital after a major operation.
When Lady Alexandra was called to give evidence, she was allowed to do so from behind a screen, allowing her to avoid eye contact with James, who was the only one of Sir Robert’s children not to be named alongside her as an executor of his will.
She said that Sir Robert may have gone downstairs to use the washing machine, investigate the smell of a dead animal or because he mistakenly thought he was in his two-storey London home.
When Lady Alexandra finished, James was asked to leave the courtroom so that she would not see him.
In his £629,000 will, Sir Robert left £100,000 to each of his three children, £25,000 to his first wife and £5,000 to each of his grandchildren.
The remainder, including all his personal property, was left to Lady Alexandra.
The will is not being contested. Dr Anton van Dellen, the coroner, ruled that Sir Robert’s death was accidental but said that he could not determine why Sir Robert was going to the basement or what caused him to “precipitate” down the stairs.
“I have been subjected to an unpleasant interrogation with questions that were distressing to me and undignified for my late husband,” said Lady Alexandra, who is a trustee of the armed forces charity SSAFA, after the hearing.
“I was forced to relive in public the very worst moment of my life.”
On Linkedin, she later condemned the “repeated and vexatious insinuations that his death might have been suspicious”.
In their own statement, Sir Robert’s three children said: “The sudden loss of our father, a long way from home, was devastating.
“The inquest has been an important process through which to try to understand how he came by his tragic death, and its conclusion helps us now to move forward.
“We are grateful to everyone who has helped us through these very difficult and intensely private matters and will continue to honour our father’s memory.”