Prue Leith says she wants to die ‘with a glass of wine in hand’

Great British Bake Off star Prue Leith has revealed she plans to spend her final hours drinking wine with friends and family.

Dame Prue Leith has spoken candidly about her plans for her final days whenever they come, and good wine is at the heart of them. The 82-year-old said that “I want to go out with a glass of wine in my hand and a lot of my friends around me.”

Leith has made no secret of the fact that she enjoys a regular drink, telling the Sunday Times last year that she is “very interested in wine. I have a drink probably most days.” Asked if her perfect weekend would involve wine or water, she quipped: “Ridiculous to ask me.”

In 2020 she told the podcast ‘Fortunately… with Fi and Jane’: “I don’t go a single evening without a glass of wine, in fact a good two glasses of wine. I’m usually quite busy until about 6.30pm but if I haven’t got a drink in my hand by 7pm I start thinking it’s definitely time.” Leith has also said she likes a dram of whisky after dinner.

Though presently in good health, Leith has been spurred on to think about her last wishes after watching her brother die “an appalling death”, which led to her investigating the matter of assisted dying for a Channel 4 documentary.

“I thought, ‘this is crazy’. He wanted to die, he was asking the doctors to let him die. They couldn’t give him enough painkillers but they also couldn’t help him die. They said ‘we can’t do it because it’s against the law’.”

Leith now campaigns for organisation Dignity in Dying. “I really think that people ought to consider what kind of a death they want,” she said. “I don’t know what is the absolute right, best law to have. What I do know is that in Britain we need to change the law, we need to make it possible to die when you want to die.”

The Great British Bake Off judge has enjoyed a career as a restaurateur (launching the Michelin-starred Leith’s in Notting Hill), a caterer and a cooking school founder, and has penned multiple cookbooks and novels.

“I have a positive attitude because I’ve got lots of energy and I’m healthy, I sleep well and I eat well and I’ll try anything once,” she said.

Leith was made a Dame in 2021 for services to food, broadcasting and charity. She tweeted at the time: “I am thrilled, delighted and very grateful. I’m not sure I deserve such a pat on the back for doing things that I’ve loved all my long life – in business or cooking or campaigning. But I can’t pretend it’s not a huge honour and source of pride. Dame Prue! It will take some getting used to.”