The spy who loved her. 007’s feisty ex-wife dies

SIR Roger Moore’s children were thrilled by the long-awaited release of the new James Bond film, No Time To Die. Just days after the glittering world premiere, they are, however, coping with devastating news.

I can disclose that their mother, Luisa Mattioli, has died at the age of 85. The Italian actress was 007 star Sir Roger’s third wife.

‘Sadly, I can confirm it is the case,’ their son, Mayfair restaurateur Geoffrey Moore, tells me from Switzerland, where Luisa is understood to have been living at the time of her death.

One of the family’s friends tells me: ‘Luisa was ill for some time, so it has been a difficult period for all the family. Despite her acrimonious split from Sir Roger, they were reconciled before his death.’

Moore, who died in 2017 aged 87, left Mattioli in 1993 for her best friend, Swedish-born Danish socialite

Kristina ‘Kiki’ Tholstrup. Mattioli won a huge £10million settlement in their divorce, which she refused to grant for seven years. She wrote in her memoirs, Nothing Lasts Forever, about how she felt betrayed by Tholstrup and discarded by Moore.

Moore’s children with Mattioli, Geoffrey, Deborah and Christian, refused to speak to him for some time after the divorce, but were later reconciled with their father.

The start of Mattioli’s romance with Moore was just as explosive as its end. When his second wife, Dorothy Squires, learned of his affair with Mattioli, which began while they were filming Romulus And The Sabines in Italy in 1961, the Welsh singer smashed a guitar over his head.

Moore said: ‘She threw a brick through my window. She reached through the glass and grabbed my shirt and she cut her arms doing it. The police came and they said: “Madam, you’re bleeding”, and she said: “It’s my heart that’s bleeding”.’

Squires refused to accept their separation and sued Moore for loss of

conjugal rights, but Moore refused the court’s order to return to Squires in 28 days.

She unsuccessfully sued Kenneth More for libel, as the actor had introduced Moore and Mattioli at a charity event as ‘Mr Roger Moore and his wife’. When Moore, who was first married aged just 18 to fellow RADA student Doorn Van Steyn, finally wed Mattioli in 1969, a crowd of 600 fans gathered outside the Caxton Hall in Westminster, with women screaming his name.

BORIS Johnson’s wife, Carrie, did little for his reputation when she hired expensive interior decorator Lulu Lytle to renovate their Downing Street flat. She has, though, apparently done wonders for Lytle’s business, Soane Ltd. I hear that assets in Soane shot up by almost £1 million in the year of the refit, which included £840-a-roll wallpaper, a £9,800 Baby Bear sofa and a £3,000 Lily Drum table. Newly filed accounts reveal company assets went from £2.2 million to £3.1 million over the year.

From Roger with love: Wedding day bliss and fun times for Luisa

Happy days: Roger and Luisa with children Deborah and Geoffrey