London socialite and fashion muse Annabelle Neilson has died aged 49

Annabelle Neilson, the former model and muse of Alexander McQueen, has been found dead at her Chelsea home aged 49.

One of London’s most famous socialites, she was a fixture on the capital’s party scene throughout the 1990s and 2000s, when she befriended fellow models Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. She and Moss in particular were close, regularly attending parties together and going on holiday, with Nielson once describing her as ‘my best mate... like a sister’.

At 22, she caught the eye of designer Alexander McQueen after being introduced to him by Tatler’s former Fashion Director, the late Isabella Blow, quickly becoming his unofficial muse. She remained close to him throughout his life and was reportedly the last person to see him alive before his death in 2010. ‘He was my brother, my boyfriend, my soulmate,’ she told the Daily Mail in 2015. ‘Most of the time people called me Mrs McQueen. Quite often we were sharing a bed.’

She married Nat Rothschild, heir to Jacob Rothschild’s fortune, in 1995, shocking their families by eloping to Las Vegas. The marriage was short-lived, however, with the two divorcing just three years later in 1998. Since then her most high-profile boyfriend was Edward Spencer Churchill, who she remained close to even after their relationship ended. Indeed, she attended his wedding to photographer Kimi Hammerstroem at Blenheim Palace last week, where she posed for a picture with the bride as well as Kate Moss and Poppy Delevingne.

In 2014 she dipped her toes into the world of reality TV, joining the cast of the show Ladies of London for two seasons. The Bravo series followed her as she launched a career as a children’s author, as well as the aftermath of a painful horse-riding injury.

As well as being a mainstay in the Bystander party section, she was the focus of several big Tatler profiles, described by the magazine as ‘wild, ravishing and indomitable’ and as ‘the gulf stream of social butterflies’.