3 days ago
Jeremy Paxman's brother leaves staggering fortune to family after his death aged 73
Giles Paxman, the diplomat brother of BBC journalist Jeremy Paxman, left a staggering £2.1 million to his family after his tragic passing.
The former UK ambassador to Mexico and Spain died of lung cancer in March, aged 73.
His will, signed less than a month before his death, states that his estate of £2,096,640 should pass to his French wife Segolene.
The couple, who lived in south-west London, have three daughters.
After retiring, keen yachtsman Giles, the second of four siblings, sailed the Atlantic twice and the Pacific once.
In 2005, Giles was interviewed on BBC Newsnight by his own brother Jeremy about the devastation caused in Mexico by Hurricane Wilma.
Giles and Segolene married in Agen, France, in 1980 and had three daughters - Julia, who now works in the luxury travel industry, Lauren, a secondary school teacher, and Alice, a vet.
He was appointed ambassador to Mexico in 2005 and learnt in his second week in office that Hurricane Wilma was headed straight for Cancun.
In 2009 Giles was appointed Britain's ambassador to Spain where he stayed for four years.
He left the diplomatic service in 2013 and the same year he was honoured for his service.
Giles was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George later in 2013.
Unlike many of his predecessors Giles never received a knighthood.
Giles was born at Gosport, Hampshire, on November 15, 1951.
He was brought up in the Lickey Hills, south of Birmingham and followed Jeremy to Malvern College.
He then went on and read Modern Languages at New College, Oxford, spending a year as a riding instructor in France.
