Dame Diana Rigg still enjoyed 'clinkie drinkies' every day before she died

The late Dame Diana Rigg made time for cocktail hour every day during her cancer battle.

The veteran actress passed away in 2020 at the age of 82 and had spent her final days living with her daughter and son-in-law, Rachel Stirling and Guy Garvey, and their young son Jack, and no matter how she was feeling, there was a "non-negotiable" afternoon break for her favourite alcoholic beverage.

In an extract from her upcoming book All About My Mother published by the Sunday Times, Rachel wrote: "We’d take each day as it came, but 'clinkie drinkies' at 4pm were non-negotiable: a Campari and soda with a generous squeeze of lime and lots of ice, hence the clink in the drink, following a post-lunch nap. I don’t think we missed a single Campari o’clock all through her cancer.

"Guy and Ma had their date at cocktail time and we all had an early tea together at 5pm. One day Ma said to me, the steroids coursing through her system, 'Rachie … has there ever been a film in which a mother moves in with her daughter and her son-in-law, and the son-in-law falls in love with the mother because she is much better in bed?' "

On Diana's 82nd birthday, the Elbow frontman arranged a special gift for her mother-in-law.

Rachel wrote: "On her 82nd birthday on July 20, the sun streaming into her room, Guy arranged for Elbow’s violinist, Violeta, to serenade my mother from beneath the window with her favourite piece of music, The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

"As she heard those first notes, oh, were there tears. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. We sat together, all four of us, wrapped in every searing string, and Jack managed not to talk all the way through, which was a minor miracle."

As the Game of Thrones star's health continued to decline, visitors were given "strict instructions" not to get too emotional when they went to see her.

Rachel wrote: "More visitors came to say goodbye, on strict instructions they weren’t to stay long or sob too much. 'No keening at my bedside, please.'

"We googled pictures of Ma one night, something she never did herself, and marvelled at how truly ravishing she was. Not for nothing was she voted the sexiest TV star of all time, alongside George Clooney, by the readers of America’s biggest-selling entertainment magazine in 2002.

"Guy said, 'There’s going to be a right hoo-ha when you’re gone, D.' 'Oh!' she said, smiling coyly. 'Do you really think so?' "

And when it came to her final days, Diana urged all her friends and family to join her for a final cocktail.

Rache recalled: "Those who couldn’t come in person she informed that she would be having her final Campari before the doctor arrived to put her into the arms of Morpheus. 'Join me!' she said. 'Have a Campari at exactly 12 o’clock and toast me from wherever you are.'

"Now here’s a problem nobody had anticipated. What kind of an expression should you have on your face when saying goodbye, for ever, to someone you love, at the same time holding aloft a vivid pink drink?