RENOWNED composer Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber confirmed the sad news that his eldest son has died.

The news was shared on Twitter on Saturday, March 25 when the 75-year-old composer wrote: “I am shattered to have to announce that my beloved elder son Nick died a few hours ago in Basingstoke Hospital. His whole family is gathered together, and we are all totally bereft. – ALW”

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Lord Webber had recently revealed that his composer son Nicholas, 43, had been moved to a hospice where he was “battling” gastric cancer.

Nicholas had scored music for an adaptation of The Little Prince. He had been nominated for a Grammy for musical theatre alongside his father, and Greg Wells and David Zippel for Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Cinderella.

The news followed a video posted to Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Instagram account on Thursday, in which the composer had said his son was “over the worst of this first bout of pneumonia” which he caught as a result of his “ghastly” cancer.

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He said in a video on Instagram: “We’re all here and the family here has gathered around, and it was the right place for us all to be I think.”

In the video, he thanked the people of Ukraine who had sent him a Cats T-shirt following the announcement that his son was ill.

He said: “I know that they’ve been performing Cats there in a bunker, a makeshift production. It’s incredibly moving … everything they’re going through they have been so incredibly thoughtful about dearest Nick.

“I’m going to go and see Nick in a minute. I’m going to pass on all of the fantastic wishes that I’ve had for him all the way from everywhere all around the world.”

Lord Lloyd-Webber’s first wife, Sarah Hugill, is the mother of Nicholas. They also share a daughter, Imogen.