The former Bake Off judge, 91, opens up on the touching family ritual that keeps her son William present – 37 years after he died
Dame Mary Berry has spoken about the touching way she keeps her late son William’s memory alive, more than 30 years after he was killed in a car crash.
The former Great British Bake Off judge, 91, lost William in 1989 when he was just 19. He had borrowed the family car to fetch the weekend papers near their home while back from his studies at Bristol Polytechnic. His sister Annabel, then a teenager, survived the crash.
Rather than shut the pain away, Mary says her family keeps Will part of everyday life — toasting him at special occasions. “It’s 30 years since he died, and every Christmas we’re still having a drink to Will,” she explained.
“There are pictures of him all around and even though the grandchildren didn’t know him, they know all about him,” she added. “Some people don’t want to do that, they want to forget it and have a new life. But he is still part of our lives.”
One grandson, Hobie — the son of Mary’s daughter Annabel — often talks about the uncle he never got to meet. “Our grandchildren all say he was very good at sport. Hobie was saying, when he was doing so well at rugby, ‘William would have been proud of me, wouldn’t he?'” Mary said. “It’s really nice.”
She continued: “The one thing we’ve all told ourselves is how lucky we were to have had William, and what a wonderful life he’d given us.”
Mary, who shares three children — Thomas, 58, William and Annabel, 54 — with husband Paul Hunnings, 94, says losing her son taught her how to comfort others. As friends her age begin to lose their partners, she speaks warmly about those who have died.
“I always talk about them or find something nice to say. And I think people like that. I know I did,” she said. “I loved it if people came up and said, oh, Will was such a smashing chap.”
Mary, who judged The Great British Bake Off from 2010 to 2016, married Paul in 1966 and the couple celebrate their 60th anniversary this year. In six decades, she says, they have never rowed. “We’ve never had a crossword. I can’t bear shouting.”
Speaking on the Happy Place podcast, she added that her love of gardening also comes in handy when navigating conflict.
“When you think, I can’t believe he’s done that, or how stupid, I will walk into the garden and think, now, am I going to say something? I think we’ll just let it pass.
“Also, say sorry… it’s rather difficult because you always think you’re perfect and it does help to say sorry.”
Her reflections come after she was named a BAFTA Fellow last month — the Academy’s highest honour, previously given to Sir David Attenborough and Dame Judi Dench.
She said of winning: “The one thing that does cross your mind… you think, you wish your mother and father were here. I know they’re looking down, but the first thing you would normally do is pick up the phone.”
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