Tragic Tara Palmer-Tomkinson described how she wanted her funeral just two weeks before dying
TRAGIC Tara Palmer- Tomkinson poignantly told how she wanted a simple funeral just two weeks before she died.
The socialite also wept as she spoke of her wish to make her family proud again.
She said in an interview: “I don’t like funerals where everyone has a good time and gets drunk. I want a simple service, a positive eulogy and meaningful readings.”
She also told the Daily Mail she wanted to be remembered “like a Bernese mountain dog — cheerful, beautiful and loved by all.”
Pal Ivan Massow, who once discussed having her as a surrogate for his children, said she looked “dangerously underweight” when he last saw her a few months ago.
An “older man” seen with Tara during her final weeks may have been a drug dealer, friends also claimed last night.
Barmen at the tragic socialite’s local had claimed the silver-haired man was her boyfriend — but suggested he “wasn’t a nice guy”.
Tara, 45, was found dead at her home on Wednesday, months after revealing she had been diagnosed with a brain tumour.
She battled cocaine and alcohol addictions for much of her life.
The Sun revealed how just weeks earlier she told a friend: “I’m doing everything I can to stay clean, but therapy isn’t enough any more.”
Pals told The Sun that they fear the mystery man had helped her return to a “dark place of drink and drugs”.
One said: “In the final months she barely left her flat and had never mentioned a boyfriend.
“The fact she was only seen with this guy in pubs or when he visited her flat at odd hours makes me fear he may have been helping her get drugs again.
“Drink and drugs put her in a very dark place.”
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Tara’s grieving sister Santa Montefiore visited the home of the former It Girl in Kensington, South West London.
It came as a death notice in the Daily Telegraph said: “Tara Clare died peacefully in her sleep,” and said a private funeral will be held.
Santa paid tribute on social media a day after her sister died.
The 47-year-old author tweeted a black and white photograph of a smiling Tara, and wrote: “My darling sister. I miss you.”
In November, Tara said she was being treated for a non-malignant growth in her pituitary gland. She also feared she would die after being told of her condition.
Tara had been diagnosed with the tumour last January on her return from a ski trip.
She was also suffering from an auto-immune disease which caused tiredness, joint pain and acute anaemia.
Tara’s close friends the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall were among the first to pay tribute as news broke of her death.
The royal couple said they were “deeply saddened.”
Six more 'It girls'
TPT was the queen of the It Girls, an exclusive club of rich women who couldn’t resist a party. Here’s what happened to the others ...
Tamara Beckwith
PREGNANT at 16, Tamara got her parents to raise her baby and turned high-profile socialising into a job.
She dated Sly Stallone and Charlie Sheen and once asked if £7,000 was too much for a dress.
She then entered reality TV and, now 46, has a “normal-ish” life with construction heir hubby Giorgio Veroni and their daughter, eight.
Amanda De Cadenet
FRENCH viscount’s daughter Amanda dated movie actor Jack Nicholson at 17, presented The Word at 18 and posed nude for Playboy the next year.
Also at 19, she wed Duran Duran’s John Taylor — dad to her daughter Atlanta.
Now 44, she lives in LA where she has twins with her second husband, Strokes guitarist Nick Valensi.
The Hervey sisters
LADY Victoria, daughter of the Marquess of Bristol, was a model whose dates included F1’s David Coulthard.
Currently single at 40, she once said of the homeless: “They should go somewhere warm like the Caribbean where they can eat fresh fish all day”.
Sister Isabella, 34, also modelled. Now a personal trainer, she is married with a son.
India Hicks
POSH India is the daughter of Lady Pamela Mountbatten and god-daughter of her cousin Prince Charles.
A bridesmaid at his wedding to Diana, she raised high society eyebrows when she fell pregnant by advertiser David Flint Wood, but refused to get married.
Now, 49, she and David remain unwed and have four kids.
Emma Parker-Bowles
THE niece of the Duchess of Cornwall, Emma allegedly dated Prince William at 25 — when he was just 17.
Now 43, she has admitted struggling with drugs and alcohol and in 2000 checked into rehab.
She became a motoring columnist for The Sun and presented Sky’s Vroom Vroom. Still a journalist, she is currently starring in The Jump.