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Tara Palmer-Tomkinson's Biography

 
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Tara Palmer-Tomkinson was born on 23 December, 1971 in Dummer Grange, Hampshire.

It Girl, Tara came second to Tony Blackburn in I'm a Celebrity when she was a contestant on the show in 2002.

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson first came to the public's attention because of her royal connections and her ubiquitous presence at society gatherings.

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson came from a family of skiers. Her grandfather was Captain of the British ski team and her father, Charles, is a former British Olympic skier who advised Prince Charles.

Tara's mother, Patti, was badly injured in the avalanche which killed Major Hugh Lindsay in March 1988. Another Palmer-Tomkinson - Jeremy - was also British ski champion.

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson's sister, Santa Montefiore wrote Sea of Lost Love.

Tara was brought up on her family's 1,200-acre estate next to Major Ronald Ferguson's patch. Tara told the Jonathan Ross show:

"I'm nuts full stop. I can't help it. The old English aristocracy are all barking mad. I'm the only member of my family who's sane!"

Tara achieved 10 O-levels and 3 A-levels at Sherbourne, and had a stint working at Rothschild's.

In 1995 she was photographed kissing Prince Charles, at Klosters. The photos were featured in the national press and led to her increased fame.

Her social life escalated. Boyfriends included the restaurateur Mogens Tholstrup, Nick Rhodes, Hugo Speers and Jamie Hargreaves. She also had flings with Robbie Williams and James Blunt.

But life in the fast lane was to prove Tara Palmer-Tomkinson's temporary undoing. She once said:

"Cocaine comes round with the canapés at a lot of the parties in London."

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson made an addled appearance in 1999 on the Frank Skinner show that proved the precursor to her checking herself in to an Arizona clinic.

She was a supporter of Childline.

In the past Tara Palmer-Tomkinson had columns in the national press, but more recently she has presented TV programmes including ITV2's coverage of I'm a Celebrity and a reality show called Dirty Cows.

In 2007, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson won Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, singing These Boots Are Made For Walking.

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson also played the piano at the Royal Festival Hall with the National Symphony Orchestra.

In 2007, Tara Palmer Tompkinson and Celebrity Fit Club contestant Sharon Marshall wrote The Naughty Girl's Guide to Life.

In 2008, the FT reported that Tara Palmer-Tomkinson had quit as a director of the Three's A Crowd events management company.

In 2009, Tara Palmer Tompkinson posed naked for Sky Arts' Brush With Fame series.

She became the CEO of Desiderata London.

In January 2016, she began receiving treatment for a non-malignant growth in her pituitary gland.

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson died on 8 February 2017, aged 45.

Her sister Santa Montefiore later revealed that Tara had died "peacefully in her sleep" from a perforated ulcer.



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