Boris Johnson’s mother Charlotte Wahl dies ‘suddenly and peacefully’ in hospital aged 79
BORIS Johnson’s mum has passed away at the age of 79.
Charlotte Johnson Wahl, a professional painter, passed away “suddenly and peacefully” at a hospital in London on Monday evening.
Tributes have poured in for the Prime Minister and his family with Labour’s Keir Starmer tweeting: “I’m very sorry to learn of the Prime Minister’s loss.
“My condolences to him and his family.”
The PM described his mum as the “supreme authority” in his family and credited her with instilling in him the value of every human life, the Telegraph reports.
In 2019, at Mr Johnson’s first Conservative Party Conference as Prime Minister, he told delegates that they were entitled to ask about his core principles and ideals, saying his mother had taught him to believe in “the equal importance, the equal dignity, the equal worth of every human being on the planet”.
He also disclosed in the same speech that his mother had voted Leave in the EU Referendum.
Last year during a Covid press conference, Boris told the nation that he was hoping to see his mum on Mother’s Day – before Downing Street was forced to clarify that he would be speaking to her via Skype.
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Charlotte Johnson Wahl was born in Oxford in 1942.
She is the daughter of Sir James Fawcett, who was the president of the European Commission for Human Rights, Charlotte describes her parents as “rich socialists.”
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Charlotte met Boris’s dad, Stanley Johnson, at Oxford University where she studied English.
At the time, aged 18, she was already engaged to another student named Wynford Hicks whom she describes as “extraordinarily beautiful to look at but actually quite boring.”
She and Stanley had four children, Boris, journalist Rachel, 56, former Cabinet minister Jo, 49, and environmentalist Leo, 53, before they divorced in 1979.
She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease aged 40 but continued her painting and remarried in 1988.
Charlotte also publicly revealed how the Prime Minister got his name.
“When I was three months pregnant, we travelled to Mexico City by Greyhound bus,” she said.
“It was very uncomfortable, I was desperately sick.
“We stayed with a man called Boris Litwin, who drew me aside and said: ‘You can’t travel back like this, here are two first-class air tickets,” she said.
“I was so grateful, I said: ‘Whatever the baby is, I shall call it Boris.’”
Speaking about her Prime Minister son, Charlotte said that Boris is a very kind man, very fair,” although she does say that being PM sounds like a “ghastly job”.
She also says that he isn’t as “daft” as he seems, describing his public persona as “shambolic”.
Before Boris was elected, she said of his ambitions for the top: “I worry about what the hell he’s going to do next.
“He is interested in the leadership of the Conservative Party, but he could equally well retire and become a painter.
“He’s a very good painter. If he reaches the top, I’d feel very proud, but very anxious. It’s a ghastly job being Prime Minister.”
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