Edward Downes "serious health problems" suffered by the couple. A statement issued by the couple's children said that while Downes could have gone on living with his deafness and blindness, he did not want to do so after his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer. In March 2010, Keir Starmer (director of public prosecutions) stated that Caractacus Downes would not be prosecuted for his involvement with his parents' assisted suicide because it was not in the public interest. Edward Downes Sir Edward Thomas ("Ted") Downes, CBE (17 June 1924 – 10 July 2009) was an English conductor, specialising in opera. He was
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