Lady Mary Soames, the last surviving child of former UK Prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill, has died at the age of 91, her family said today. Soames died peacefully at her home yesterday evening surrounded by her family, after a short illness.

She was the youngest of the five children of Britain's wartime Prime Minister and his wife Clementine. She is survived by her five children from her marriage to Baron Christopher Soames, who died in 1987. Her son Nicholas Soames, a Conservative party MP, said, "She was a truly remarkable and extraordinary woman, who led a very distinguished life. She was not just a wonderful mother to whom we were all devoted, but the head and heart of our family after our father died, and will be greatly missed".

Lady Soames was 17 during the outbreak of World War II and at the age of 18 she joined up for the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women's army.