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) as a child. She met the Dutch philosopher and humanist Erasmus when he paid a visit to the royal children. Erasmus had been so favourably impressed by his conversations with Joan, that years later in 1519, he referred to Joan in a letter to her son, Henry, as "the noble lady your mother", wishing her happiness and prosperity. She was summoned to wait upon Queen Elizabeth for the arrival of Catherine of Aragon in 1501. On one occasion, shortly before the Infanta's marriage to Prince Arthur, Joan is recorded to have partnered the Prince, in a dignified Spanish dance, performed