A beauty salon visit and a hug from mum for betrayed wife
FOR the second time in two days, Martha Hancock stepped out from her home to face a barrage of flashing cameras. And once again, her husband was nowhere to be seen, having already left his home – and marriage – 48 hours earlier.
The mother of three, wearing a floral dress, ignored questions from reporters, though at one point she glanced in their direction as if about to address them.
Her mood – as she headed for an appointment at a beauty salon – wasn’t easy to read because of her oversized sunglasses, but friends say her priority is the three children, aged 14, 13 and eight, that she has with the former Health Secretary.
Mrs Hancock, a 44-year-old osteopath, has always kept a low profile and generally avoided public events. She is said to be seriously worried about the effect of the scandal on her children.
‘She is a delightful woman,’ said one friend. ‘This is unimaginably horrible for her and indescribably sad.’
Descended from a baron and a viscount, Mrs Hancock had a privileged upbringing. Her father, Old Etonian Alastair Hoyer Millar, 84,
‘This is unimaginably horrible for her and indescribably sad’
was secretary of The Pilgrim Trust between 1980 and 1996. The organisation supplies grants to preserve historically significant buildings or artefacts.
Her mother, Virginia Hoyer Millar, 70, an antiques dealer, was yesterday pictured comforting her daughter in the street by putting her arms around her shoulders. They also linked arms as they strolled around NorthWest London.
Mrs Millar is the grand-daughter of Frederick Millar, 1st Baron Inchyra, a British diplomat who served as an ambassador to West Germany from 1955 to 1956, and on her mother’s side, the great-grand-daughter of William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose, a Welsh newspaper publisher.
Following her salon treatment, Mrs Hancock returned to the family home where a bouquet of pink peonies in a glass vase had been placed on the doorstep by a delivery man.
Mrs Hancock is said to have met her future husband while they were students at Oxford University. Both are dyslexic and he once revealed that the condition helped them bond. The couple divide their time between London and their West Suffolk constituency home, where there was no sign of Mr Hancock. He skipped a planned constituency event on Friday when photographs of him kissing Gina Coladangelo emerged. He has since disappeared from the public eye, after being so conspicuous during the pandemic.
Mrs Hancock may keep a low profile online but she has used her Facebook page to champion animal rights, encouraging friends to sign petitions calling for a ban on pig cages, chicken factory farms and the sale of eggs from caged hens.
She was last photographed with her husband at England’s Euro 2020 match against Scotland at Wembley more than a week ago.
Mr Hancock told The Daily Telegraph last year that lockdown had created the kind of educational challenges in his household faced by countless others across the country, noting that ‘of course, Martha’s borne the brunt of it’.
He also admitted that he did not take on an equal share of the domestic duties.
‘ Thank God Martha is totally wonderful in looking after the children and looking after me and it’s really tough,’ he added.
In an interview with the Financial Times in 2014, he said: ‘Both my professional and social and family time gets booked up a long way in advance and then you have to be strict about it.’