William Acton, Portrait of Loelia, Duchess of Westminster

Loelia Mary, Lady Lindsay, formerly Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' The Honourable Loelia Ponsonby (6 February 1902 – 1 November 1993), was a British socialite, needlewoman and magazine editor.

Family and first marriage

Lindsay was the only daughter of the courtier Sir Frederick Ponsonby, later 1st Baron Sysonby, and Victoria Lily (Kennard), Lady Sysonby, the well-known cookbook author. She spent her early years at

St James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Altho ...

, Park House at

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places * Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia * Sandringham, Queensland, Australia * Sandringham, Victoria, Australia **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station **Electoral district of Sandringham * Sand ...

, and

Birkhall Birkhall (from the Scots ''Birk Hauch'': "Birch River-meadow") is a estate on Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, owned by King Charles III. It is located alongside the River Muick to the south-west of Ballater. History The property wa ...

. One of the

Bright Young People __NOTOC__ The Bright Young Things, or Bright Young People, was a nickname given by the tabloid press to a group of Bohemianism, Bohemian young Aristocracy (class), aristocrats and socialites in 1920s London. They threw flamboyant costume party, f ...

, she met the twice-divorced

Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, (familiarly " Bendor"; 19 March 1879 – 19 July 1953) was a British landowner and one of the wealthiest men in the world. He was the son of Victor Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor, son of the ...

. They were married on 20 February 1930 in a blaze of publicity, with

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

as the best man, but were unable to have children.Anne Duchess of Westminster
/ref> Her marriage to the enormously wealthy peer failed, and was described by

James Lees-Milne (George) James Henry Lees-Milne (6 August 1908 – 28 December 1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses, who worked for the National Trust from 1936 to 1973. He was an architectural historian, novelist and biographer. His extensi ...

as "a definition of unadulterated hell". It was dissolved in 1947 after years of separation.Lady Lindsay of Dowhill
/ref>

Life after divorce

After her divorce, Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, established herself as a skillful hostess at

Send, Surrey Send is a village and civil parish in the Guildford borough of the English county of Surrey. Send acquired its name during the Great Vowel Shift from the word sand, which was extracted at various periods until the 1990s for construction and ...

, occupying herself with needlework and gardening, passions she had inherited from her mother. Her needlework collection was bequeathed to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. During the 1950s she worked as a feature editor for '' House & Garden'' magazine, and covered the wedding of

Prince Rainier III of Monaco Rainier III (Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi; 31 May 1923 – 6 April 2005) was Monarchy of Monaco, Prince of Monaco from 1949 to his death in 2005. Rainier ruled the Monaco, Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years, making him ...

and

Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956. Kelly ...

. Lindsay is believed to have popularised the aphorism (falsely attributed to

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

): "Anybody seen in a bus over the age of 30 has been a failure in life", which appears to have been coined by poet Brian Howard. Lindsay's second marriage, to the divorced explorer

Sir Martin Lindsay, 1st Baronet Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Martin Alexander Lindsay, 1st Baronet, (22 August 1905 – 5 May 1981) was a British Army officer, polar explorer, politician and author. He first came to national attention in the 1930s, as a Polar explorer in Greenla ...

, came as a surprise to her friends but was much more successful. The couple were married on 1 August 1969. Sir Martin, a devoted husband, died in 1981, and Lady Lindsay chose to spend her last years in nursing homes. Her memoirs, written in 1961 and titled ''Grace and Favour: The Memoirs of Loelia, Duchess of Westminster'', are a significant record of aristocratic life between the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Family and first marriage

Life after divorce

References

Further reading