Mel Giedroyc’s mother Rosemary has died ‘peacefully’ aged 86 in Oxford on Sunday.
The former Great British Bake Off presenter, who has declared that ‘family is everything to me’, has been left devastated after the passing of her beloved mother.
While Mel hasn’t publicly spoken about her mother’s passing her family say she was ‘adored’.
The loss comes just six years after she lost her father Michael back in 2018.
Her father, who was a Polish aristocrat sent to forced labour in Siberia by the invading Soviet army in 1939, died aged 88.
The Great British Bake Off’s former presenter Mel Giedroyc (pictured) has been left devastated after the death of her beloved mother
While Mel hasn’t publicly spoken about her mother’s passing her family say she was ‘adored’
While the reason for her death is unknown, Rosemary suffered from a series of strokes when she was in her early 50s.
She told The Guardian in 2016: ‘Mum was in her early 50s when she had four strokes in quick succession that almost took her off.
‘I’d just come down from Cambridge with a rubbish degree. I spent a year reading to her – her eyesight was badly affected – and making sure she got proper rest. It was a special time but very intense, too.’
Mel grew up in Leatherhead, Surrey, along with her three siblings, Coky, a film and TV director, Kasia, a children’s writer and Miko, a musician.
Mel also discussed how her father met Rosemary through her mother Astrid who was a book illustrator.
She said: ‘Astrid hoped my father might get together with one of her elder daughters but, as soon as he saw Rosemary at one of Astrid’s parties, he was smitten. Nothing happened for three years until she was 19.’
Speaking about her dad previously Mel said: ‘Dad has instilled in me a need to make my mark in life.
‘I have a strong need to achieve things for myself and I think that comes from him. He and I have a lot in common. We’re as tough as old boots and both have a good sense of humour.’
Mel grew up in Leatherhead, Surrey, along with her three siblings, Coky, a film and TV director, Kasia, a children’s writer and Miko, a musician (Mel pictured with Sue Perkins on Bake Off)
Mel was deeply moved when her father wrote a poignant memoir in 2010 about his struggles as a refugee during World War II.
Michal, whose own father was a senator and a judge, was ten years old in 1939 when the Russian police seized his home and imprisoned his dad. He was flung on to the streets with his mother and two sisters.
Transported in cattle trucks to Siberia, they were forced to work on a farm with other refugees until 1941, when Soviet leader Stalin released all Polish deportees.
The family, who were said to be on the brink of death, escaped and began a long journey to England. They later discovered that Michal’s father was shot dead in 1941.
‘Dad lost all material possessions, but maintained a deep sense of who he was,’ said Mel, who lives in Ealing, West London, with her husband Ben Morris, a television director, and their two daughters.
‘That has been passed on to me along with a strong pride about where I come from.’
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