How Richard Branson and Late Wife Joan Templeman Navigated the Tragic Loss of Their 4-Day-Old Daughter Clare

Sir Richard Branson and his wife Joan Templeman went through the unimaginable together.

In 1979, the couple welcomed their first daughter, Clare Sarah, in Scotland. However, the birth did not go as expected as Clare arrived three months early. After only four days, she died due to complications.

It was a moment in the couple’s life that they haven’t spoken about too often. But in a 2009 episode of Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, the businessman, 75, candidly spoke about those days in the hospital.

“It was obviously horrendous for Joan,” Branson said of his wife, whom he shared on Nov. 25, 2025 died at age 80. “It was not good for me either.” 

In the short time the couple had with Clare, Branson remembered her in an incubator while they were “hoping and praying” the hospital would be able to manage her complications. However, it “wasn’t to be,” according to Branson. 

“For the mother having gone throughout a whole pregnancy, it’s absolutely ghastly,” he said. 

Part of the healing process, or “mending” as Branson called it, came in the form of the couple’s next two kids: Holly, now 44 and Sam, 40.

“The mending process takes time and I suspect it didn’t really start until Holly was born some 18 months later,” Branson said. But it took Templeman a little longer to heal.

“For myself, the moment Holly was born, that mending process was almost completed. I suspect for the mother it will never be complete — completely completed,” Branson explained. 

The couple welcomed Holly in 1981 and Sam was later born in 1985. 

“We’ve been absolutely blessed [to have] two fantastic kids. There are other people we know who’ve lost a child who weren’t able to carry on and have other children. For them, that’s a nightmare they have to live with for the rest of their lives,” he said. “For us, we just got two of the best kids we could imagine.”

Morgan went on to ask if the experience brought the couple closer together.

“I don’t think anything could have brought us closer together and I don’t think we needed to go through something like that to bring us closer together,” he said. “Having Holly and Sam, you know, 100% bound our relationship forever.” 

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Branson announced the death of his wife on Tuesday, Nov. 25.

“Heartbroken to share that Joan, my wife and partner for 50 years, has passed away,” Branson wrote on Instagram. “She was the most wonderful mum and grandmum our kids and grandkids could have ever wished for.”

Their daughter Holly married long-term boyfriend Freddie Andrews and later welcomed three kids of their own, according to The Irish Sun. She opened up about her struggles with fertility in her debut book Weconomy.

Sam Branson and wife Isabella Calthorpe welcomed their first daughter Eva-Deia in 2015. They later welcomed their second child Blue Rafe Richard two years later.