The former model at the heart of the Profumo affair Christine Keeler has died aged 75.
Ms Keeler, who was thrust into the spotlight as a showgirl in the 1960s, died on Monday night, at the Princess Royal university hospital in Farnborough, Hampshire.
She had been ill for several months, suffering from the lung disease COPD.
Former showgirl and model Christine Keeler (pictured in 1963) has died at the age of 75
Ms Keeler, became embroiled in the The Profumo affair after she enjoyed a romance with Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, at the height of the Cold War.
She met him after leaving her home in Middlesex and working at Murray’s Cabaret Club in Soho.
Dr Stephen Ward, a London osteopath, introduced the young dancer to Profumo, while at a party thrown by Lord and Lady Astor.
Ms Keeler and Profumo romance only lasted a few weeks and at the same time she became involved in an affair with Commander Eugene Ivanov, a Soviet naval attaché at the Russian Embassy in London.
While Ms Keeler’s romance with Profumo was short lived, it would catapult her into the public eye and see her lover resign from the Cabinet.
She later lived under the name of ‘Sloane’ and was married twice in later years.
She died on Monday night, at the Princess Royal university hospital in Farnborough
Ms Keeler had two sons, James and Seymour as well as a granddaughter.
Her son Seymour Pratt, who now lives in Ireland with his family, said the Profumo affair had a long-lasting effect on his mother’s life.
He told the Guardian: ‘There was a lot of good around Chris’s rather tragic life, because there was a family around her that loved her.’ he said.
‘I think what happened to her back in the day was quite damaging.’