Tara Palmer-Tomkinson’s funeral has taken place in Hampshire, with her sister sharing the touching eulogy she read at the private service online.
The socialite was laid to rest in front of a congregation of close family and friends on Monday (27 February).
Santa Montefiore has posted the tribute she paid to her sister on her Facebook page, saying she hopes “angels wrap their wings” around her and she “heals in heaven”.
Read Santa’s eulogy in full:
I know that Tara is here with us today in Spirit, so I’m going to address this to her.
My darling Tara,
I hope you know how much we miss you. From the moment you were born we were a family of five, but now we are four and that just isn’t right.
I hope you’re aware of all the lovely things people have written about you, and that you are touched, because you never believed you lit up a room or made people feel special, but you did. You really did.
I hope that you are resting, because you found life hard and now it is done.
My beloved sister, I don’t think you realised that success is never about the big things, but about the small things, and that just being you was enough.
I hope the old Dummer dogs have found you and given you a tremendous welcome, because you adored the dogs, and they will make Heaven feel more like home.
I hope the angels wrap their wings around you, because, although you shrank from embraces in life, you need to be hugged. You really do.
I hope you can make rabbit ears and witty rhymes up there, because your loopy humour was your gift to us and now it is your gift to them. How they will laugh. I envy them that.
As your sister I always wanted to look after you and I tried, I really tried. I hope they are looking after you now in Heaven and that you are letting them, and that you heal.
Most of all, my dearest Tara, I hope you know that we love you, with all our hearts, we really do.
Santa also shared a number of posts on her Twitter page, including the poignant last song that Tara had written and recorded, which was also played at the service.
The 45-year-old former socialite was found dead in her London home on 8 February. At the time, a police spokesperson said her death was being treated as “unexplained” but not “suspicious”.
A Coroner’s Report into her death later confirmed she died of natural causes, specifically a perforated ulcer.
Tara’s family later issued a full statement, insisting she was not in a “dark place” prior to her death, as some had claimed.
“Tara died peacefully in her sleep due to a perforated ulcer and peritonitis,” they said.
“Those that knew and were close to Tara knew that there was no retreat to a ‘dark place’ as some have disappointingly sought to suggest.
“In the last few weeks Tara was happy, positive and making plans for when she recovered her health.
“As usual she had been busy with the friends and family she loved, and who loved her in return.”
They added: “She was in communication with her family and others of whom she was fond over her final weekend and had spent a lot of her time recording music and playing the piano in her apartment – a sure sign that she was happy and feeling good.”