Annabelle Neilson has tragically died at the age of 49 - eight years after the suicide of her beloved 'soulmate' and 'gay husband' Alexander McQueen.

The aristocrat counted Kate Moss, Sadie Frost and Naomi Campbell as best friends and was a member of the Primrose Hill set in their 1990s heyday.

Annabelle's net worth was estimated to be around £20million thanks to family money - her grandmother was a second cousin of the Queen Mother - and a brief marriage to a member of the Rothschild banking dynasty.

But rather than just being another It Girl, Annabelle was a talented model, writer and muse who overcame early adversity to become one of Britain's best-loved socialites.

She beat childhood bullying, a life-changing attack, dyslexia and a heroin addiction to carve out her own life.

Here's all you need to know about her.

How did Annabelle Neilson die?

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Annabelle was found dead last Thursday at her £3.1million Chelsea home and her body was recovered by an ambulance.

A spokesperson for the Westminster Coroner's Court told Radar Online that the socialite's cause of death was 'cerebrovascular accident' or a stroke.

Annabelle's sister Camilla Neilson released a statement on behalf of her family, saying the news had come as a 'complete shock.'

Camila said: "Very sadly, we have been informed today that my sister Annabelle, died as a result of a heart attack at home last Thursday, It has come as a complete shock, as she had many plans having recently returned from Spain.

"My parents and I are devastated and shocked by this news. We would ask the media to respect the privacy of our family and Annabelle's close friends during this very difficult time. We will not be making any further statement at this time. We thank you for your consideration."

Annabelle's last Instagram post was taken at the wedding of her ex-boyfriend, Lord Edward Spencer-Churchill, at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire last week.

She partied with Alice Temperley, Kimi Hammerstroem and Kate Moss just days before her shock death.

Drug addiction sparked by horrific beating

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Annabelle was just 16 and staying with family in Australia when she was attacked by a man who would go on to murder three women.

The brutal and traumatising two-hour assault saw Annabelle tied to a tree while the man rained down blows on her face and body - the experience, she said, changed her life and robbed her of her dreams of marriage and having children.

"I looked like the elephant girl by the end of it," an emotional Annebelle told the Daily Mail in 2015.

"I managed to escape with my life but I needed reconstructive surgery because my face was so disfigured. After that, I fell into a serious depression and became a heroin addict because it provided an escape bubble and was the only way I could cope. In a way, heroin saved me because otherwise I would have killed myself."

She found solace in best friend Alexander McQueen - known to his close friends as Lee - who made her his muse as he found worldwide success with his fashion brand.

Her teenage drug addiction was normalised in the excesses of her wildchild lifestyle

Friendship with Alexander McQueen

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Annabelle was introduced to Alexander at the age of 22 by the fashion editor Isabella Blow, and was the last person to see him in February 2010 before he killed himself.

"Isabella was constantly bringing him girls, potential models. I met her and immediately, she said, 'You are perfect for Alexander'," Annabelle told The Times in 2013.

"I turned up and what he loved, actually, was that I was thin, far thinner than I am now. He was excited, it was 'You're so skinny' with a massive smile on his face. People who have been a bit hurt are like wounded birds flocking together. He thought I was more vulnerable than he was."

Annebelle was soon helping the aspiring designer get his line off the ground and would even be "running around" banks with her credit card hours before his shows "siphoning out cash otherwise, literally, the show would not go on".

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The friends lived together and shared a dog and all the other trappings of marriage "without the sex", she said in 2015.

"Lee had been through similar pain. He understood me; we understood each other. The truth is I was happier with Lee than with anyone else. He asked me to marry him towards the end and I said no. I wish now that I had said yes.

"He was my brother, my boyfriend, my soulmate. Most of the time people called me Mrs McQueen. Quite often we were sharing a bed."

The loss of her best friend shook Annabelle - known to Lee as 'Annie Tinkerbell' - to the core, as they'd spent hours together the evening before he was found dead by his cleaner talking about his future plans.

Eloping with a Rothschild

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In 1995 Annabelle eloped to Las Vegas with society playboy and hedge fund billionaire Nat Rothschild after they met on a beach in India, but their marriage ended in divorce just three years later following a series of explosive rows.

Annabelle was rumoured to have signed a confidentiality agreement and told to give up the Rothschild name in exchange for a 'generous' financial settlement.

But Eton- and Oxford-educated Nat's parents were said to be furious that their young son had chosen such a tearaway wife at the age of 23.

"It was a huge shock to Jacob and his wife, Lady Serena," a family friend told the Daily Mail in 2007.

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"They expected him to date models and sow his wild oats but marrying Annabelle was incredibly impetuous and obviously against the advice of the family lawyers. They were just appalled."

The friend went on: "The girl's party trick was to climb onto the dining table in her tiny dress and stilettos and dance amid the crystal and silver.

"Rather vulgar, I'm afraid. Nat's parents predicted it would end in tears, and it did."

Of her broken marriage, Annabelle - who never remarried - later said: "I can't mention my ex-husband. After all that happened, I was shell-shocked for a long time. Lee [McQueen] became my great defender."

Reality TV career

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Despite her natural shyness, Annabelle agreed to star in reality TV show Ladies Of London for two series in 2014, joining Caprice and Noelle Reno to document the "glitz, glamour and scandal" of their lives.

She quickly became one of the show favourites, but filming was curtailed when she fell off a horse and broke her pelvis.

"I was lying on the hospital bed with a broken back and pelvis. I just said to myself, 'You have to get up,' so I did. The nerves down my right leg and hip were very badly damaged, but I got up, with help, and discharged myself. The pain was so bad, but I was scared that if I didn't get up there and then I might never walk again," she said in 2015.

"I was committed to the show and didn't want to let anyone down. I couldn't just pull the plug on filming so I made a choice to go ahead."

While she was recovering from her injuries, Annabelle became the published author of children's book series The Me Me Me's.

What did Annabelle say about fame?

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In 2012, the socialite gave a telling interview about why she tried so hard to "cocoon" herself away from her pain.

"I have a bit of a fear of everyone wanting to turn everything into a story," she revealed to the Sunday Telegraph.

"It is so sad when you see people releasing the ninth volume of their life story and they are only about 40. [My life story] wouldn't be as juicy as people would expect.

"I don't regard myself as a socialite. I am really quite private."