Heather Mills is the daughter of John Francis Mills, a former British paratrooper, and his wife, Beatrice Mary Mills, who was the daughter of a Colonel in the British Army. John was adopted at the age of seven and grew up in Brighton, where his adoptive parents had a grocery shop.
His adoptive father also worked as a mechanic for the Grand Prix racing team. Beatrice was born in India during World War II, and was educated at English boarding schools. John and Beatrice met at Newcastle University and were married against the wishes of her father, who did not attend the wedding and only saw her daughter once more before he died.
Beatrice wrote in her 1995 autobiography that the owner of a jewellery shop in Clapham gave her a job on Saturdays, but Jim Guy, the owner of Penrose Jewellers, later stated, “Everything she wrote about me was lies, I never gave her a job; she just hung around and made tea”.
