American actor and TV host RuPaul Charles opened RuPaul’s DragCon UK event by paying tribute to fellow drag queen The Vivienne as someone with a passion for “love and life”. James Lee Williams won the first series of the BBC’s RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and came third on the 2023 edition of ITV’s Dancing On Ice before they died aged 32 at the weekend.

James Lee Williams, a drag performer and winner of the inaugural season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” who was best known by the stage name The Vivienne, died over the weekend. They were 32. Williams’s death was announced in a statement by their manager, Simon Jones, which did not cite a cause.

The world of RuPaul's Drag Race has been left in mourning after the death of The Vivienne, with the drag queen's passing just the latest in a string of tragedies for the show