She was first married for two decades to entrepreneur Mark Birley, the creator of Annabel's, which she helped make a glamorous success as her husband's inaugural members-only Mayfair club.
Known in London as a society hostess, during the 1960s and the 1970s, she gained notoriety in gossip columns for her extramarital affair with Anglo-French financier Sir James Goldsmith, who later became her second husband.
A descendant and heiress of the Londonderry family, her primary occupation has been as a mother of six children whose births span 25 years.
She is also an author and founder of the Democracy Movement, a Eurosceptic political advocacy group.
Among her children are the journalist and film producer Jemima Goldsmith (former wife of Imran Khan); and Zac Goldsmith, the former Conservative MP for Richmond Park.