Sir Richard Branson’s wife Joan died aged 80 from a blood clot two weeks after a fall, a coroner has heard.
Lady Joan Sarah Drummond Branson passed away at The Lister Bridge Hospital on November 24, 2025, following complications from a back injury she obtained as a result of a fall.
A pre-inquest hearing has heard her family, most notably Sir Richard, 75, their daughter Holly, 44, and their son Sam, 41, are not looking to apportion blame over the death.
A full inquest into her death will be held in September this year.
It is expected to examine whether Lady Branson should have been prescribed blood thinners if she was also wearing anti-clot stockings, the Mirror reports.
Speaking at the hearing at Inner West London Coroners’ Court, Holly said: ‘I believe mum had great care. The doctors saved her life three years ago, giving us all three more years together.
‘We just want to help other families if there are any lessons to be learned.’
Senior Coroner Professor Fiona Wilcox told the court that expert witnesses will testify as to whether prescribing Lady Branson the anti-coagulant Heparin could have prevented her death.
Lady Joan Sarah Drummond Branson passed away at The Lister Bridge Hospital on November 24, 2025, following complications from a back injury she obtained as a result of a fall
The couple on their wedding day on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands
Lady Branson had a history of blood clots, the court heard, going back at least as far as 2010.
Then in 2018, she awoke one morning in 2018 to find her leg three times the size it usually was.
After rushing to hospital, she and Sir Richard were informed that she had a series of blood clots from her ankle to her groin, in one of the worst cases doctors had seen.
Lady Branson was prescribed Warfarin and given a compression clot, but was warned she remained at risk of a ‘major pulmonary embolism’.
She had urgent surgery to install an umbrella structure in her leg, which prevented any of the clots from entering her lungs.
At the time of Lady Branson’s death, her husband, Virgin tycoon Sir Richard, was in the same hospital as her, having injured his shoulder in a bike accident in India.
Sharing the news last year, he said: ‘Heartbroken to share that Joan, my wife and partner for 50 years, has passed away.
‘She was the most wonderful mum and grandmum our kids and grandkids could have ever wished for. She was my best friend, my rock, my guiding light, my world. Love you forever, Joan.’
The couple’s daughter Holly recently shared an emotional tribute to her late mother as she reflected on the ‘initial shock and pain’ of her passing
Sir Richard and Lady Branson first met in 1976 at The Manor, a former recording studio in Oxfordshire, England
Announcing her death, Sir Richard described Lady Branson as ‘my best friend, my rock, my guiding light, my world’
He later added Lady Branson died ‘quickly and painlessly’, and that he had shared lunch with her on the day of her death.
Holly also shared an emotional tribute to her late mother as she reflected on the ‘initial shock and pain’ of her passing, describing her as ‘one in a billion, brilliant and kind’.
Posting photos with Joan throughout her childhood, Holly said she and her family ‘feel very loved’ following an outpouring of sympathies in the wake of her mother’s passing.
The family held a beachfront gathering for friends and family to remember her at his 74-acre private estate on Necker Island, in the British Virgin Islands.
Sir Richard and Glasgow-born Lady Branson first met in 1976 at The Manor, a former recording studio in Oxfordshire, England.
At the time, the former model was working in an antiques shop in Notting Hill, not far from the Virgin office.
The couple had three children, Holly, Sam and Clare Sarah. Clare Sarah died shortly after birth in 1979.
