Miriam Margolyes sadly revealed she learnt about her friend's death as she attempted to wish her a happy birthday. The Harry Potter star revealed a birthday reminder had popped up on her Facebook page. However, when she tried to send her a greeting, she discovered she had died two years beforehand. Writing on her own page, she penned: "Seeing her birthday is on the FACEBOOK list today, I checked on my old friend Jenyth Worsley. Thus, I discovered she had died 2 years ago, aged 91, in Oxford. She was related to the late Princess Diana, but her own interests were literary, musical and artistic.

"We knew each other from my BBC Radio Days. She was the producer of LISTEN WITH MOTHER, "Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin". After the closure of that programme, she directed in Schools Broadcasting. Jenyth was shy, serious, very special. I deeply regret I lost touch with her after she left Barnes to live in Oxford," she lamented.

Continuing she wrote: "She had a quiet, contemplative life and was very dear to me. She was a believing Christian...Gentle Jenyth - I hold you in my heart."

She also shared her death notice along with a short piece Jenyth had written about Sir Roger Bannister.

Jenyth was the great-niece of Jane Austen and, following her death, a long-lost book of sheet music, Domenico Corri’s Select Collection of Choice Music for the Harpsichord or Piano Forte (c.1790), that once belonged to the famed author, was rediscovered.

The book, which hadn't been seen in 45 years, was found among her possessions, and it was identified by the author’s signature within the inside cover.

This is the latest blow to hit Miriam this year. In January she revealed her friend, British actress Marian Diamond, had died aged 89. Miriam confirmed the tragic news in an emotional statement on social media, revealing that Marian died at University College Hospital in London on Monday, January 5.

Reminiscing on their time working together, Miriam wrote: "Alas, on my mind is the sudden death last Monday, of my dear friend, Marian Diamond, at UCH in London, aged 89.

We first met in Edinburgh, I think in 1968, at the Traverse Theatre, and I loved her from then on. We worked together in radio after I joined the BBC Drama Rep. Company in 1965. She was one of the angels in our business, endlessly generous, interested in others and thrilled by their success. She was beautiful, gentle, full of fun, wise and perceptive.

"I feel utterly bereft: a unique spirit has been taken very suddenly away from us. Her late sister, the casting director, Gillian Diamond and her close friend, the actor Hugh Dickson, both died in 2018. Gillian's sons survive her. I hope they will share the funeral details with her friends. She deserves a full house. Marian, you're held in my heart forever."