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Sir Richard Branson’s son Sam Branson is speaking out following the death of his mother Joan Templeman.
On Tuesday, Nov. 25, Richard announced on Instagram that his beloved partner of almost 50 years died at the age of 80. In his post, he called Templeman the “most wonderful mum and grandmum our kids and grandkids could have ever wished for.” A few hours later, Sam, 40, shared his own tribute to his mom.
“Mum, you instantly made everyone in your presence feel like all was well with the world. You were the kindest, most loving, warm and abundantly generous woman to walk this Earth,” Sam captioned his Instagram post on Tuesday, Nov. 25.
He continued, “Thank you for all that you were to me, our family and to everyone who was blessed by your graceful, loving presence. I am so deeply grateful to have had the privilege of being your son and being able to call you mum.”
“I love you to the moon and back 🌝,” he ended the caption. “Forever and Ever ♥️.”
Sam Branson/Instagram
The post included a carousel of photos spanning decades of their mother-son relationship. The first slide shows Sam planting a big kiss on his mom’s face following the birth of one of his kids with wife Isabella Calthorpe. He also included several more recent selfies together.
Sam also shared some pictures from when he was a kid. One snap shows Sam sitting on his dad’s lap while his sister Holly Branson, now 44, poses next to her mom.
In the comments, Paris Hilton offered her support: “So sorry Sam, sending you and your family my love and condolences.”
Sam is the second of the three kids Richard and Joan shared. The first was Clare Sarah Branson in 1979. Clare arrived three months prematurely and died only four days after her birth in Scotland.
The couple hasn’t spoken publicly about the experience very often, but Richard opened up in an interview with Piers Morgan in 2009.
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“I don’t think anything could have brought us closer together and I don’t think we needed to go through something like that to bring us closer together,” Richard said. “Having Holly and Sam, you know, 100% bound our relationship forever.”
The mogul added: “We’ve been absolutely blessed [to have] two fantastic kids. There are other people we know who’ve lost a child who weren’t able to carry on and have other children. For them, that’s a nightmare they have to live with for the rest of their lives. For us, we just got two of the best kids we could imagine.”
