Edward Downes after his health declined following a hip replacement. Lady Downes was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer that metastasised to her liver, and given only weeks to live. Lady Downes wrote a letter to family explaining that she had decided against treatment and that: Sir Edward, aged 85, and Lady Downes, aged 74, ended their lives by assisted suicide at the Dignitas clinic in Zürich, Switzerland, on 10 July 2009. Although Joan did not want the children present, Dignitas encouraged it and "Ted and Joanie" were reported to be pleased when the time came. Their children issued a statement speaking of
Joan Vaux (lady-in-waiting) had a brother, Sir Nicholas Vaux. In 1471, her father died. On an unknown date, she became a lady-in-waiting and protégée of Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, and later entered the service of Queen consort, Elizabeth of York, wife of Margaret's son, Henry Tudor. In 1489, she married her first husband, Sir Richard Guildford (1455 – 6 September 1506). King Henry and Queen Elizabeth both attended the wedding. Sir Richard and Joan had one son: By the year 1499, she served as the Lady Governess to Princesses Margaret and Mary. It was Joan upon whom Princess Mary chiefly relied on