Annabel Coft just discovered late husband blessed daughter's upcoming wedding before his death
Annabel Croft has just found out that her late husband, Mel Coleman, blessed their daughter Lily's upcoming wedding before his death in May 2023.
Annabel Croft was moved after finding out her late husband blessed their daughter's upcoming wedding - two years after his death.
The 59-year-old former professional tennis player has just learnt that Mel Coleman - who died in May 2023, eight weeks after being diagnosed with stage three cancer - gave Felix McCorquodale, a relation to Princess Diana's stepmum Raine Spencer, his permission to marry his 27-year-old daughter Lily.
Annabel told the Daily Mail newspaper's Eden Confidential column: "He gave permission to my youngest daughter Lily's boyfriend – they just got engaged, actually.
"Felix told me the other day that one of the things Mel said to him was, 'You definitely have my permission to marry Lily.'"
The former British number one tennis player appeared on Strictly Come Dancing just months after her husband's death.
Annabel - who was eliminated from the Latin and Ballroom dance competition during the semi-final - did the show to navigate through the grief.
In November 2024, the star - who was paired up with 38-year-old professional dance partner Johannes Radebe on the show - told The Sunday Post: "When people ask why I did Strictly so soon after, I think, ‘Gosh, why would I not say yes?’ What was I going to do – come back to an empty house and cry all evening?
"I’ve subsequently realised how helpful it was to get up every day instead of sitting in this house, which my husband built."
"Coming back to a house that used to be full of life, full of Mel, but was suddenly empty, was terrifying. I was in grief and crying every day, so to have that focus of doing something positive and distracting the brain was really an incredibly healing process, and I’m very grateful I had the opportunity.
"I’m not sure how I would have got through that winter without it, to be honest."
Mel - who was a professional yachtsman and investment banker - married Annabel in 1993, and they went on to have daughters Amber and Lily, as well as a son called Charlie.
Their eldest daughter gave birth to a boy, Arlo, in October, and Charlie married Boodles Heiress Honour Wainwright in August.
