Jill Freud (1927–2025): The Real Lucy of Narnia & Love Actually’s Beloved Housekeeper Passes Away at 98
Surrounded by children, grandchildren and pizza, she told us all to ‘f*** off’ so she could go to sleep.
And then she never woke up. Her last words were ‘I love you’.”
– Emma Freud
On 24 November 2025, Britain lost one of its most extraordinary women. Jill Freud – the real-life inspiration for Lucy Pevensie in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a celebrated stage actress, founder of a much-loved regional theatre company, and the unforgettable Downing Street housekeeper in Love Actually – has died peacefully at the age of 98.
Her daughter, broadcaster and writer Emma Freud, announced the news with the perfect blend of tears and laughter that defined Jill’s remarkable spirit.
The Girl Who Stepped Through the Wardrobe
Born June Flewett in London in 1927, Jill was evacuated during World War II and ended up at The Kilns – the Oxford home of C.S. Lewis and his brother Warnie.
At just 14, she became their housekeeper, carer, and eventually family. Lewis was so enchanted by her kindness, curiosity, and courage that he immortalised her as Lucy – the brave little girl who first discovers Narnia.
– C.S. Lewis in a letter to Jill’s mother, 1945
Jill later recalled her teenage crush on the great writer: “He looked like a ruddy-cheeked farmer – heavy jowls, tweed jacket, big boots, and a Labrador. I thought he was wonderful.”
Lewis paid for her drama school scholarship at RADA, and years later his stepson confirmed: “You were the prototype for Lucy.”
A Life on Stage – and Off
Graduating as Jill Raymond, she lit up the West End alongside Michael Redgrave and starred in early TV classics. In 1950 she married Clement Freud (grandson of Sigmund), and together they raised five children, including Emma and PR legend Matthew Freud.
In 1980, at the age of 53, Jill founded the hugely successful Jill Freud and Company in Southwold, Suffolk – running summer repertory seasons for 30 glorious years and launching countless acting careers with passion, shepherd’s pie, and fierce devotion to regional theatre.
At 76, she stole scenes in her son-in-law Richard Curtis’s Love Actually as Pat, the cheeky No.10 housekeeper – a role written specially for her.
Feisty, Outrageous, and Utterly Unforgettable
Emma Freud’s tribute painted a vivid picture of the woman everyone adored:
She had red wine and crisps for lunch every day.
At 93, during lockdown, she did tap-dancing classes every morning with three generations of Freud women.
Lucky old heaven getting such a dazzling newcomer.”
Jill outlived her husband Clement by 16 years, faced family scandals with grace, and never stopped laughing. When asked if she felt overshadowed by her famous family, she replied with a twinkle: “I think our children were born without a mother – you never see me mentioned in the Freud dynasty!”
A Legacy of Love and Laughter
Mother of 5, grandmother of 17, great-grandmother of 7, Jill Freud lived a life that touched literature, theatre, film, and countless hearts.
She was living proof that the qualities C.S. Lewis admired in a teenage evacuee – courage, kindness, and boundless curiosity – can light up an entire century.
Rest in peace, Jill. Somewhere tonight, a wardrobe door is creaking open… and a certain lion is smiling.
Thank you for the magic – both in Narnia and in real life.
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