Catherine's uncle reveals close call with death as princess battled cancer

Gary Goldsmith, the self-described "King Of Fun" and uncle to the Princess of Wales, has revealed he came perilously close to death at his Ibiza villa in April last year.

The health emergency struck just eight days after what had been restrained 60th birthday celebrations - alcohol-free beers, gentle hikes and tennis, with a seafood feast as his sole indulgence.

"I'd fallen asleep on the sofa watching rubbish box sets," he recalled to the Daily Mail. "And when I woke up around 7am, still on the sofa, I started feeling terribly sick. I managed to stagger to the loo, where I was projectile vomiting blood. It seemed to go on for hours."

His wife Julie-Ann, 56, who had remained in London caring for their dogs, went directly to Gino, his Ibiza house manager, who drove Mr Goldsmith to the island's private hospital.

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He was through triage and into life-saving surgery within just 12 minutes.

Surgeons performed emergency banding on his dangerously enlarged veins in his oesophagus - a consequence of liver disease.

"If they hadn't banded me I would have bled to death," Carole Middleton's younger brother said.

What followed was 48 hours in intensive care - an experience Mr Goldsmith found deeply distressing.

"There were people dying all around me. I find hospitals horrific so I checked out and went home," he said. "The doctors were pleading with me to stay. Gino was in tears."

His house manager telephoned Tallulah, Mr Goldsmith's 24-year-old daughter from his second marriage to Luan Bettaney, who was furious at her father's recklessness after hearing he had left the hospital.

His daughter also reached out to relatives and friends, imploring them to reason with him. Chief among them was his elder sister Carole, 71.

Carole stepped in with characteristic maternal firmness, pressing him to sleep properly, improve his diet, stay active and take supplements.

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The news that Catherine had entered remission arrived just four months before Mr Goldsmith's own medical crisis. During his recovery, he found himself reflecting on what his sister had endured - supporting both a daughter with cancer and a brother fighting for his life.

"I'm very conscious that your brother being poorly is one thing. Your daughter, suffering with cancer is massive," he said.

Catherine's composed and dignified approach to her illness left him "awestruck."

He was "thrilled" to watch her tackle the gruelling Three Peaks challenge last month, summiting Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon within 24 hours to raise funds for the Royal Marsden Hospital, where she received treatment.

But the proximity of death took a severe psychological toll, as he admitted: "I went into a dark hole. I couldn't sleep. I wouldn't speak to anyone. I was bitter, twisted and scared trying to figure it all out. My emotions were just welling up and I couldn't focus on anything."

Therapy eventually helped him regain some equilibrium and sleep more soundly.

Mr Goldsmith, who made his fortune selling his stake in recruitment firm Computer Futures for £17million in 2005, acknowledges that four decades of heavy drinking - fuelled by a business culture of constant entertaining - caught up with him.

"My body just said: 'No. You've had enough,'" he said.

Now teetotal, he sports a tattoo on his finger reading "sin alcohol" as a permanent reminder. His bloods are monitored every few weeks by specialists at University College Hospital.

"But I'm fitter than I've ever been," he insisted.

Mr Goldsmith has shed six stone over the preceding year using Mounjaro weight-loss injections, part of a broader transformation that has reshaped his life entirely.

As for what comes next, the answer is characteristically bold, as he declared: "I want five grandchildren. Tallulah doesn't even know that yet. I would like to have a five-a-side football team."

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