Fresh heartache for royals as sister of Prince Harry’s ex-lover tragically dies

Pandora Cooper-Key, half-sister of Cressida Bonas, has died aged 51 after suffering with different types of cancer for over two decades.

Cressida was in a relationship with Prince Harry from 2012 until 2014, before he met Meghan Markle, and although things did not work out they remained on good terms.

Pandora was first diagnosed with cancer 24 years ago, when she was just 26, and revealed in March this year that she had already been planning her funeral after she was found to have an inoperable brain tumour.

She was the daughter of Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon and aristocrat Esmond Cooper-Key, and is survived by her 77-year-old mother, although her father died in 1985.

At the end of last year a tumour was discovered on the left side of Pandora’s skull, leading to her having immunotherapy even though it could not be surgically removed.

Pandora’s battle with cancer began in 2000 when she was diagnosed with Paget’s disease, a rare cancer of the milk duct, with her later having a sarcoma in her left eye and sinus area.

After an operation to remove her tear duct, Pandora later had tumours in her cheek and eye removed before suffering a series of seizures in 2016 that sometimes left her unconscious for a week at a time.

Despite this Pandora continued to fight back against the disease, telling Femail earlier this year about her brain tumour: “[To operate] they’d have to go through blood vessels and that’s not great.

“So they categorically said in the first meeting ‘I’m really sorry, but we can’t.'”