Smash hit

“We discussed it with a handful of very close friends and only relatively late on,” Mr Downes said. “For most of the time that we were planning to do this, and going through the process of fulfilling the Dignitas requirements nobody shared it outside the family.”

The family researched the legal position and took advice from a family friend, a retired solicitor.

“It would not make any difference. Even if they arrest us and send us to prison it would have made no difference because it is what our parents wanted,” Mr Downes said.

The family also briefly discussed alternative ways in which his parents could end their lives if they stayed in Britain. “I don’t know if you can consider that as a plan B because the Dignitas option was there so we didn’t get very far in discussing it,” their son said. “There was a concern when we travelled to Zurich that if it had been anything like a couple of weeks later it would have been too late to go.”

He added: “It was a difficult decision but was very much in keeping with my parents philosophy towards life, which is very much the same kind of view my sister and I have. So while it was shocking when I found out it seemed a completely reasonable thing to do and we had no trouble supporting what they did.”

Mr Downes, a recording engineer, travelled with his parents from their home in Greenwich, southeast London, to Switzerland. His sister, Boudicca, met them in Zurich, having travelled from Rome, where she works for the United Nations.

He described his parents’ final moments as very calm and very civilised. “The actual final draught is a small glass of clear liquid. They both drank that and lay down on the bed and were both asleep in a couple of minutes. They held hands across the beds. It was a very sad but we were content that they had been given the opportunity to end their lives in the way they wanted to. It is a very good way to go and you are under control.

“When faced with a situation like that having control over your end is a very important thing and my parents were very keen on that.”

As the couple’s deaths reignited

the debate about euthanasia and raised fears about the pressures couples will face to die together, Mr Downes said he had no doubt that his parents were right.

“How you end your life is one of the most important decisions you can make. It seems to me reasonable that one should be allowed to do it without interference from people who frankly aren’t affected by that decision.”

The couple had no religious beliefs and requested that no funeral be held. The BBC Philharmonic is expected to dedicate its opening performance at next week’s Proms to its former conductor. Sir Edward’s manager, Jonathan Groves, who had known him for 35 years, said that his death was “typical of the way he lived his life”, adding: “I do not think there is anyone anywhere who has lived his life with more self-determination than Ted did. The decision that he and Joan made to end their lives in the way they did was a very typically brave and courageous decision. They were absolutely devoted to each.”

Antonio Pappano, music director of the Royal Opera, said: “Ted and Joanie Downes were the loveliest of people and incredibly supportive of my music directorship. Ted’s overwhelming knowledge of the entire repertoire and his inspirational leadership in Verdi and the Russians was an example for us all.”

Martin Wallington, a long-serving member of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, who knew Sir Edward and his wife, described them simply as “an inseparable couple and would not have survived one without the other”.

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