The sex bomb that shook Britain has passed away.

Kristine Keeler, the woman at the center of the infamous Cold War sex and espionage scandal, has died in England. Few people today remember the beauty who shook an entire nation.

Christine Keeler sunbathing in Spain, 1963. File photo

Writing on Facebook, Mr. Seymour Platt - Mrs. Kristine Keeler's son - announced that his mother passed away on December 4 at the age of 75 at a hospital near the town of Farnborough, southern England, after many years of fighting chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

"My mother, Christine Keeler, fought many battles in her eventful life. Some she lost, others she won. She earned her place in British history, but at great cost. We are all proud of her," Mr Platt said.

Back a little to the mid-20th century...

A girl changes history

Kristine Keeler was born in 1942 in Uxbridge, Middlesex, to a mother and stepfather. At the age of 15, Keeler dropped out of school and began working as a model and nightclub dancer in Soho, a famous entertainment district in London.

There, Keeler met Stephen Ward, a doctor who catered to the upper class. Ward was actually a pimp. With his connections, he introduced Keeler to the debauched parties of the British aristocracy and political elite.

It is a world described as reeking of cigarettes, alcohol and no shortage of group sex.

Christine Keeler in a bathing suit, 1963. File photo

In 1961, also through Dr. Ward, Keeler met two men who would change her life: British Secretary of War John Profumo (46 years old) and Russian military attaché Yevgeny Ivanov. She became lovers with both of them.

If all had gone well, Keeler's role in history might have been that of an ordinary woman.

It all started with Aloysius "Lucky" Gordon, a man obsessed with Keeler's beauty. According to family and friends, this man was abusive and stalked Keeler to commit acts of harassment.

One day, Gordon recklessly opened fire in Dr. Ward's house, where Keeler was hiding. The commotion attracted attention. During the investigation of this case, the British police interrogated and learned the dancer's whole story.

British Secretary of State for War John Profumo (left) and his wife in 1959. File photo

When Keeler's triangular relationship with Profumo and the Russian diplomat was exposed in 1963, it rocked the conservative government of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. It was the height of the Cold War and countries feared intelligence leaks.

Initially, Minister Profumo denied his relationship with Keeler, but the British media increasingly exposed it and he was forced to give up all positions in the British government and Parliament.

Profumo's fall is believed to have contributed to the Macmillan government's defeat of the British Labour Party led by Harold Wilson in the 1964 election.

As for the fate of Stephen Ward, the pimp was later prosecuted for making money illegally from women's bodies, of which Keeler was a victim. Before the court announced its verdict in August 1963, Ward committed suicide by taking sleeping pills.

At the height of the Profumo scandal, Keeler gave interviews to several British newspapers and even posed for a nude photo sitting on a chair. It was one of the most famous photographs of the time.

Kristine Keeler sitting naked on a chair - famous British photo of the 1960s - Photo: Lewis Morley/Sloane

I wish things didn't happen.

Keeler was jailed for nine months for "perjury" and "conspiracy to obstruct justice." She spent the rest of her life running from the unpleasant fame.

Keeler, who lived under the name Sloane for many years, went on to have two brief marriages. Both ended in divorce. She has two sons - James from her first marriage, and Seymour from her second - and a granddaughter.

"There was a lot of good in Chris's (Christine Keeler) unfortunate life because she had a very loving family. I think what happened to her was really hurtful," Mr Seymour, who lives in Ireland with his wife and daughter, told the Guardian.

Christine Keeler - the woman who forced a British government to resign. Photo: Archive

More than two decades after the Profumo incident, Ms Keeler expressed her regret in a 1986 interview: "I was just a happy-go-lucky 19-year-old girl. I loved every minute of it. But if I had known what was going to happen, I would have run away and never stopped until I got to my mother."

In 2018, the British BBC is set to start filming a film about the life of Christine Keeler and the infamous 1963 scandal.

According to Tuoi Tre