Jeffrey Archer has died suddenly and peacefully at his home aged 86, HarperCollins has announced.
The bestselling novelist died “between writing sessions”, just one day before the planned publication of his final book, Adam And Eve.
His novels sold more than 300 million copies across 115 countries. He is survived by his wife, Dame Mary, 81, their sons William, 54, and James, 52, and five grandchildren.
Lord Archer and Dame Mary marked their 60th wedding anniversary in July with a garden party attended by 321 friends at their second home, the Old Vicarage in Grantchester, Cambridge. The couple also owned a penthouse on the Thames and a property in Majorca, where Archer wrote many of his novels.
Jeffrey Archer’s writing career
Archer turned to fiction after losing his parliamentary seat in the 1970s. His 1979 novel Kane And Abel became one of the world’s bestselling books, selling more than 30 million copies, after he and Dame Mary had faced financial difficulties.
The couple were initially helped by Dame Mary taking a teaching post at Cambridge University. Archer later received a £2 million advance for Kane And Abel.
His final novel was intended to be Adam And Eve. Archer said: “I’m 86. I don’t think I could do it again. So why not go now?”
He described the writing process as demanding, saying he wrote every word in longhand with a felt-tip pen on a 32-line pad and completed 18 handwritten drafts over two years.
Archer had been diagnosed with cancer in 2013 and underwent surgery to remove his prostate. He said the operation had left him permanently impotent.
In an interview last month, he spoke about growing older, saying: “I find old age tiresome. I don’t think I’d like to live to 100. I have a hip problem.” He added that he and Dame Mary were both “firing on all cylinders mentally” and that Alzheimer’s was his “biggest dread”.
Dame Mary, who had previously overcome bladder cancer, said: “I’m conscious that time is precious now. We must use it well and I’d rather spend our old age together than apart. We’ve both been through cancer.”
Political career and public life
Archer represented Louth as an MP between 1969 and 1974. He later returned to frontline politics and became deputy chairman of the Conservative Party in 1985, during Margaret Thatcher’s premiership.
He resigned from the role after being accused of paying money to a sex worker. Archer won a libel case over the claims in 1987 and was awarded substantial damages.
In 1992, he entered the House of Lords as a life peer. Seven years later, he announced that he would stand as the Conservatives’ candidate for Mayor of London, with the backing of Baroness Thatcher and John Major.
His political career later ended after he was convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice in 2001, for which he served two years in prison.
