Miriam Margolyes has told a newspaper she and her partner of nearly six decades plan to leave the United Kingdom and live together permanently in Tuscany.
The 84-year-old actress said she and Heather Sutherland, 82, intend to move to a home Margolyes bought near Siena in 1973, marking the first time the couple will share a permanent residence after decades of living in different countries. Margolyes, who lives in Clapham, south London, said Sutherland currently lives in Amsterdam.
Margolyes discussed the plan in an interview with The Observer, saying the pair want to “toddle along and laugh and just quietly subside into old age. But together.” She added, “The world around us has lost its charm. And we just want each other in a beautiful place which we know.”
The announcement follows a year in which Margolyes underwent a transcatheter aortic valve replacement, a less invasive procedure than open‑heart surgery, and has publicly spoken about declining mobility. She has said she is registered disabled because of spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the space around the spinal cord that compresses nerves and can limit walking. Margolyes has described using walking sticks, a walker and a mobility scooter for assistance.
Margolyes and Sutherland met through a mutual friend while working on a BBC radio drama after Margolyes graduated from the University of Cambridge. Sutherland, an Australian historian who taught at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, first met Margolyes in 1967 and the couple have been together since the late 1960s.
In her 2021 autobiography, This Much Is True, Margolyes described the partnership as a “big achievement” and characterised Sutherland as her polar opposite: “reticent, incredibly private and reserved.” She has previously attributed the longevity of their relationship to honesty, listening and committing to the person you have, saying, “Don’t let the sun set on a quarrel.”
Margolyes has also spoken candidly about other personal concerns. In interviews over the past year she said she regretted not having made larger lifestyle changes earlier to address weight and expressed worries about future care and the cost of carers if her mobility deteriorates further. On the How To Fail podcast she described herself in blunt terms and, in another interview, said she feared not being able to afford help when she needs it.
Margolyes rose to international prominence through a long acting career that includes roles such as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films. She has continued to work across stage, screen and broadcasting while speaking openly about ageing and health.
Her plan to move to Tuscany would reunite the couple in a region Margolyes has known for decades and follows the recent medical procedure that prompted reassessment of her living arrangements. Margolyes said she still feels mentally alert and expressed a desire to spend her remaining years quietly with Sutherland in a familiar, beautiful setting.