Inside Sir David Attenborough’s marriage to late wife of 47 years

Sir David Attenborough might be known as one of the UK’s most beloved nature presenters, but although the planet certainly holds a special place in his heart, the broadcaster also dedicated his heart to his late wife, Jane Ebsworth Oriel.

The pair walked down in the aisle in 1950 and during their happy marriage they welcomed two children. However, Jane sadly died at the age of 70, 47 years after walking down the aisle with the naturalist.

Here’s everything you need to know about Sir David’s late wife…

Marriage

© PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Jane grew up in the Welsh town of Merthyr Tydfil later moving to Richmond-upon-Thames following her marriage to David. Not much is known about how the couple first crossed paths, but the pair married in 1950.

Children

Sir David and Jane welcomed two children during their relationship: son Robert and daughter Susan. However, due to his commitments to filming, which often took him abroad, David missed out on parts of their childhood.

In 2017, the Planet Earth presenter reflected: “If I do have regrets, it is that when my children were the same age as your children, I was away for three months at a time. If you have a child of six or eight and you miss three months of his or her life, it’s irreplaceable; you miss something.”

© PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

David’s absences became a running joke in the family, with the star explaining to the Guardian: “You know, ‘You were never there. You don’t remember that, Father, do you, because you weren’t there!'”

These days, Richard is a lecturer in bioanthropology, while Susan works for her father, following in her late mother’s footsteps, who had a similar role. Before joining her father in the industry, Susan was the head of a primary school.

Death

In 1997, while filming in New Zealand for The Life of Birds, David was informed that Jane, 70, had fallen into a coma following a brain haemorrhage. The broadcaster rushed back to be by his wife’s side, and she died while David was present.

Writing in his 2010 memoir, David said that Jane “gave [his] hand a squeeze” before passing away. Speaking of the impact of Jane’s death, he wrote: “The focus of my life, the anchor had gone… now I was lost.”

© Evening Standard

The 98-year-old still lives in their Richmond home, previously telling the Daily Mail: “What would be the point? I would be leaving the home we made together, the garden we built up. I think it’s probably sentimental. This house is all bound up with her. I feel her here as much as anywhere.”

Speaking to the Radio Times, he shared: “You accommodate things… you deal with things. I’m quite used to solitude in the wilds, but, no, an empty house is not what I enjoy. But my daughter’s there. In moments of grief – deep grief – the only consolation you can find is in the natural world.”

© PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

It was David’s work with the natural world that helped him overcome his grief for his late wife, telling the Telegraph in 2011: “I did cope by working, and again it was just the most fantastic luck that I was able to.”