Former Great British Bake Off host Mary Berry, 90, says she remains so proud of what her son William had achieved before his road crash death at the age of 19 back in 1989
Emotional Mary Berry says she still expects tragic son William to walk through the door 35 years after his death.
The 90-year-old baking Queen – who has written more than 80 books and become a household name after judging amateur bakers on The Great British Bake Off – lost her son when he died in a car crash in 1989 aged just 19. The TV star says not a day goes by where she doesn’t think about him, and she still has pride in what he achieved in his short life.
William, who was studying business studies at a university in Bristol, decided to go on a drive one weekend but sadly the speed at which he drove around a bend had cost him his life. While his sister Annabel escaped unhurt, broken Mary was informed by the police that her son had not survived the smash.
She said William used to bring joy to everyone’s life says despite having her son cruelly taken from her when he was a teenager, the adoring grandmother says she is so grateful for the rest of her family. Speaking to Radio Times, Mary said: “I think of William everyday. Of course I do.
“And if he were to walk through that door over there, I would say, “Where the hell have you been?” I’m still very proud of him. I think of the joy he gave us. He was a lovely child but you have to step back and think – I had wonderful parents, I’ve got two more children, Annabel and Tom, and my grandchildren.”
Mary shared her son William with long-term partner Paul Hunnings. The couple who married in 1966 also have two other children together – Thomas born in 1968 and Annabel in 1972. She recalled the tragic moment in her life when she had to tell her other son Thomas that his brother had died. She said: “I remember when we told Thomas that William had died. He said, “But Mum, we had so much to do.” That’s his sadness. It stays with you.”
Previously during The Mary Berry Story, a BBC documentary about her life, Berry revealed her personal heartache and said: “It was a glorious January day and it was sort of 1 o’clock and he wasn’t home. The doorbell rang and there was a policeman there, and immediately then I knew why. And he said, ‘There’s been an accident and I’m sorry to say your son is dead.”
Years after the tragedy, Mary revealed the heartfelt way she celebrates her son’s life. “Every occasion we can we drink to Will. And you wonder what would have been. I still think of him as 19. He would be 53 now. Who would he be?
She added: “Still, after all these years, his Bristol friends put flowers and notes at Penn church [the family lived in Penn, Buckinghamshire for over 40 years]. It’s lovely. I think he had an effect on his friends. I hope it made them drive more carefully.” Berry also shared that her faith has kept her strong and takes comfort in the hope she will see William in the afterlife. She said: “‘Oh, yes! I think so. Absolutely. I hope so. There is a comfort in that.”
Last December, speaking on the Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth podcast, she recalled the fateful day more than three decades ago. She told Gyles: “He asked if he could borrow a sports car, which he was insured for, and I said “You ask your dad” – anyway, he took his sister with him, and he just drove too fast, which was so unlike him.
“William was the one that you could rely on. When the phone rang after he was killed, everybody said “I’m so sorry to hear about Thomas, because Thomas was our wild one. I knew when the policemen came through the door. I remember saying to him ‘it must be an awful thing for you to tell us all’.”
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