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Pandora Cooper-Key – half-sister of actor and model Cressida Bonas, and daughter of Sixties It girl Lady Mary Gaye Curzon and aristocrat Esmond Cooper-Key – has died aged 51.
Cooper-Key had been suffering from various cancers for two decades. In an interview earlier this year, in which she revealed she had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour, she said her family had planned her funeral “thousands of times” due to her repeated experiences with cancer over the past 24 years.
The ceramicist’s father, Esmond, had himself died of a brain tumour at the age of 42. He was the grandson of the 2nd Viscount Rothermere, owner of The Daily Mail and one of the UK’s richest people.
Her half-sister, Bonas, is known for her modelling career and for a previous relationship with Prince Harry, from 2012 to 2014.
Cooper-Key suffered from Li-Fraumeni, a rare disorder that greatly increases the risk of developing cancers. She was 26 when she was diagnosed with Paget’s disease, a rare cancer of the milk duct, and had a double mastectomy.
Then at the age of 34, just weeks after giving birth to her eldest son, she was diagnosed with cancer sarcoma of the sinus. She was told that she had 10 months to live. She briefly considered travelling to Switzerland’s Dignitas assisted-dying clinic, but in the end decided to try to live.
Cooper-Key suffered from other cancers in the subsequent years, before her death on 22 July.
In a statement, Kerry Reeves-Knepi, director of communications at Sarcoma UK, who had worked closely with Cooper-Key, said: “Pandora was an extraordinary individual whose impact on Sarcoma UK and the wider community cannot be overstated. She was, without a doubt, one of the most extraordinary and infectious spirits I have ever encountered, radiating sweetness and genuine care for others. Her fighting spirit in the face of a 24-year battle with various forms of cancer, including sarcoma, was nothing short of inspirational.
“I had the pleasure of working closely with Pandora, particularly during the organisation of a carol concert at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford. This event, featuring notable personalities like Kate Winslet and Bear Grylls, raised over £130,000 for our cause. Pandora’s energy, kindness, and dedication during this time were truly remarkable.”
Cooper-Key, who worked as an accessories designer for Vivienne Westwood, was open about her quest to rationalise her disorder.
“I wondered if it was because my parents were so rich,” she admitted to The Times in 2021. “Maybe I got the money but not the life.”
Despite her illness, she continued to work. In 2022, she started a ceramics business, Curzon Blue.
She is survived by her two children she had with ex-husband Matthew Mervyn-Jones, two brothers and eight sisters, and her mother.
