I'll fight for assisted dying from beyond the grave, Esther Rantzen said in final note

Published: 00:01 BST, 20 October 2026 | Updated: 00:03 BST, 20 October 2026

Dame Esther Rantzen said she would fight for assisted dying from beyond the grave in a final note written before she died.

The family of the philanthropist and broadcaster shared her emotional message in an announcement of her being laid to rest in an 'incredibly beautiful' funeral.

The Childline founder died last month at her home in the New Forest after a three-year battle with stage four lung cancer, which inspired her latest campaign to legalise assisted dying.

In the note, the 86-year-old said she felt 'deprived of any choice over my own death' and encouraged campaigners to 'battle on', pledging to 'do everything I can from here to help you'.

Dame Esther's family announced today that they attended a small, private funeral last week, with a larger memorial service expected to take place at a later date. Details are yet to be announced.

Rebecca Wilcox, Dame Esther's daughter, said the funeral had been 'incredibly beautiful' and that the family had been inundated with sympathy messages since her death.

'It's been hugely comforting to know that people around the world felt the same way about her as we did,' she said.

Dame Esther had become a strong proponent for assisted dying in her later years, and her family has now revealed she left a 'goodbye and thank you' note for all those who campaigned on the 'crucial life and death issue'.

Dame Esther Rantzen died last month at her home in New Forest after a three-year battle with stage four lung cancer, which inspired her latest campaign to legalise assisted dying

Rantzen, with her daughter Rebecca Wilcox, after the TV presenter was made a Dame in 2015 by the Princess Royal during an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace

The former That's Life! presenter wrote: 'It would have transformed the way I died if the law had allowed me to ask for assistance to die when my life had become unbearable. Not because I would have used that choice.

'But because the last days and weeks would have been infused with the hope and confidence of a swift, pain–free death and my family would not have had to witness any suffering or lack of dignity and privacy at the end.

'I know from my own experience that witnessing those agonising moments can blot out all the memories of so many happy days spent with the people that you love.

'I was extremely lucky because I had the talent, skill and support of my local Oakhaven Hospice. But I was still deprived of any choice over my own death by the current messy criminal law.'

While she knew the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – which had been introduced in Parliament in 2024 but failed to make its way into law – would not have come into force in time for her, she added: 'Now I am dead I am sorry that there is not much more I can do to speed it on its way for the sake of other future generations'.

Dame Esther confirmed she had become 'too physically frail to take the flight' to an assisted dying clinic in Switzerland but thanked 'the Dignitas team for everything they did to try and help me', adding: 'A combination of my terminal illness and the cruel law frustrated them and me'.

Paying tribute to those who had supported the pro–assisted dying campaign, she said: 'So goodbye and thank you to everyone who has taken an interest in this crucial life and death issue.

'To those who have opposed it and blocked the new Bill, rest assured I will not come back to haunt you, I have better things to do and anyway I believe you too have the right to choose, but not the right to impose your choice on the most vulnerable people such as dying frail little old ladies like me.

'To those who will battle on and continue to support the reform and especially patients and their loved ones who urgently need it, I will do everything I can from here to help you. After all, nobody wants to shorten life, just to shorten death.'

Dame Esther's family has asked that anyone who wants to remember and pay tribute to the late broadcaster make donations in lieu of flowers to charities Oakhaven Hospice, Childline, The Silver Line and Cats Protection in her name.