The last surviving member of the Trapp Family Singers has died, aged 99.

Maria von Trapp - whose family were the inspiration behind The Sound Of Music - passed away while sleeping at her home in Vermont on Tuesday (February 18th).

Maria was the third eldest of seven children in the von Trapp family, who left Austria during World War II to seek asylum in the United States.

Maria's step mother - Maria Kutschera von Trapp - made their story famous when she penned a memoir. That book inspired the hit 1965 film, starring Julie Andrews.