British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is mourning the sudden death of his mother.

London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is mourning the death of his mother, professional painter Charlotte Johnson Wahl, who suddenly passed away at a hospital here.

The 79-year-old had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease and a notice of her death in The Times’ newspaper said that she died “suddenly and peacefully” at St. Mary’s Hospital in west London on Monday.

Johnson once described his mother as the “supreme authority” in the family.

She and Johnson’s father, Stanley Johnson, had four children Boris, journalist Rachel, former parliamentarian Jo Johnson, and environmentalist Leo before divorcing in 1979.

In 1988, she



married American professor Nicholas Wahl. They lived in New York and returned to London in 1996 after Wahl died.

At the age of 40, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease but continued painting, steadying herself with a walking frame as she worked.

During an interview in 2008, Wahl said in reference to her Parkinson’s: “I try to paint every day if I possibly can, though I have to go to the hospital a lot.

“I still manage to paint, though my arm will suddenly do a movement which is completely unintentional and that almost brings me to tears.”

Opposition Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer was among several political leaders to take to.