Personal Life
Cecil married Julie Murless, the daughter of the noted trainer Sir Noel Murless, in 1966. The couple had two children but divorced in 1990. Cecil had been conducting an affair with Natalie Payne, whom he married two years later. When they met Cecil was 46 and his future second wife was 22.
Cecil's second marriage broke down very publicly. Newspaper reports alleged that his wife was being unfaithful, including with an unidentified jockey, while a front page story in the News of the World suggested that Cecil had stayed at the Grand Hotel in Brighton with an £800-a-night prostitute. Days after the story broke Cecil dismissed his stable jockey Kieren Fallon for "personal reasons". Fallon issued a statement denying that he was involved in the breakdown of the Cecil marriage and began legal proceedings for breach of contract; the case was settled out of court. Cecil and his wife divorced in 2002.
In 2008 Cecil married Jane McKeown.
Cecil continues to receive treatment for stomach cancer. He was unable to be at Goodwood for Frankel's second victory in the Sussex Stakes in August 2012, but did attend the Ebor Festival at York later that month, describing Frankel's victory in the International Stakes as having made him feel "20 years better".
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