Sir David Attenborough's devastating loss and harrowing phone call that ended his marriage

Sir David Attenborough once received a phone call that left him absolutely shattered. The 99-year-old national treasure has outlived many of his peers - including his beloved wife, Jane Elizabeth Ebsworth Oriel.

The couple were happily married for 47 years, and had two children, Robert and Susan, who are now both in their 50s. Unfortunately, a devastating tragedy tore them apart when Jane died in 1997, leaving Sir David feeling "lost" and alone for the first time. Jane tragically passed away after suffering a brain haemorrhage at the age of 70, leaving her husband and children heartbroken. At the time of Jane falling ill, David was away filming in New Zealand for The Life of the Bird documentary, but he luckily made it back to the UK before she passed away. But the phone call telling him that his wife had fallen ill was one that would stick with him forever and turn his world completely upside down.

In his memoir, Life on Air, he shared that immersing himself in the creation of his documentaries and exploring different worlds was a coping mechanism following his wife's death as he opened up on her heartbreaking final moments.

He said: "She did and gave my hand a squeeze. The focus of my life, the anchor had gone... Now I was lost."

Sir David added: "The surgeon very gently and compassionately said that there was no way he could operate because she simply wasn't strong enough. She died one day short of our 47th wedding anniversary. It was a very happy marriage."

"My wife was a very special woman," Sir David previously told the Daily Mail. "She gave up her career as a cook when we married because she was old-fashioned enough to believe that being married and having a family was a career.

"But she was special in the sense that she let me go off around the world. She knew it made me happy; she wanted that for me."

Sir David and Jane met while students. She was his first and only serious girlfriend. They were both 18 and at the age of 24, when he had finished his national service with the Royal Navy, they married in 1950.