Bryan Ferry has said he is “saddened and shocked” by the death of his former wife Lucy Birley at the age of 58.

The former model and society heiress died on holiday in Ireland on Monday.

The Roxy Music frontman wrote on Twitter: “I’m much saddened and shocked by this tragic news of Lucy’s death. The family request that our privacy be respected during this difficult time.”

A statement on behalf of her current husband Robin Birley and her children with Ferry said: “On Monday Lucy Birley (nee Helmore) passed away whilst on holiday in Ireland, surrounded by her beloved dogs, Daisy, Peg and Daphne.

“Her husband Robin, and her sons – Otis, Isaac, Tara and Merlin – are understandably devastated and request that their privacy be respected during this difficult time.”

Lucy Birley
Lucy Birley in 2004 (Matthew Fearn/PA)

No further comment will be given, a family spokesman said.

Birley and Ferry married in 1982 and they divorced in 2003.

She married businessman Robin Birley, the son of Lady Annabel Goldsmith and nightclub owner Mark Birley, in 2006.

In 2011, she told The Guardian that she retreated from public life following the breakdown of her 21-year marriage to Ferry and for other personal reasons, including the furore around their son Otis’s storming of the Commons chambers to protest against the fox hunting ban.

Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry with his four sons (left to right) Merlin, Isaac, Otis and Tara (John Stillwell/PA)

She told the newspaper: “I didn’t want to be put in the spotlight.

“My family’s attitude to the press and publicity was very much that it was frowned upon. You only appeared in papers if you were born, married or had died. That affected me when I got married to Bryan.

“I didn’t want to reveal myself and, actually, probably there wasn’t much to reveal at that point.”