Sir Charles Mark Palmer, 5th Baronet (born 21 November 1941) is a British aristocrat, who formed one of the first modelling agencies devoted to the male image, and later adopted an alternative lifestyle, travelling around Britain in a horse-drawn caravan.

Early life

Mark Palmer is the son of Sir Anthony Palmer, 4th Baronet and

Henriette, Lady Abel Smith Dame Henriette Alice, Lady Abel Smith, ( Cadogan; 6 June 1914 – 3 May 2005) was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II from 1949 to 1987. Early life Henriette Alice Cadogan was the daughter of Commander Francis Charles Cadogan, a Royal N ...

. His godmother is

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

. Palmer was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and spent a year at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

."Hippies brighten British summer" by Dana Adams Schmidt in From 1956 to 1959, he was

Page of Honour A Page of Honour is a ceremonial position in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It requires attendance on state occasions, but does not now involve the daily duties which were once attached to the office of page. The onl ...

to Queen Elizabeth II.

Career

In 1966, Palmer and

Alice Pollock Alice Pollock (born 1942) is a British fashion designer and retailer who founded the boutique ''Quorum'', which featured the work of fellow designers Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell, and later started the male modelling agency ''English Boy'' in ...

founded the early male modelling agency ''English Boy'' in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, London, with Palmer as manager. As Palmer said, "to change the image of British manhood and put the boy, as opposed to the girl, on the magazine cover in the future." In 1967, the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' reported that Palmer's ''English Boy'' had 12 young men on its books, "they are lean in the

Twiggy Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949) is an English model, actress, and singer, widely known by the nickname Twiggy. She was a British cultural icon and a prominent teenaged model during the swinging '60s in London. ...

style and look as though they need a good night's sleep. They don't smile.", and that they often buy their clothes from ''

Hung On You Hung On You was a London fashion boutique, run by the designer Michael Rainey, particularly known for flowery shirts and kipper ties in bold colours. Rainey's customers included the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Kinks and the actor Terence ...

''. Other clients included

Christine Keeler Christine Margaret Keeler (22 February 1942 – 4 December 2017) was an English model and showgirl. Her meeting at a dance club with society osteopath Stephen Ward drew her into fashionable circles. At the height of the Cold War, she became s ...

, who Palmer wanted to represent for films and television as well as modelling, but according to Keeler, "nothing developed".

Brian Jones Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English multi-instrumentalist and singer best known as the founder, rhythm/lead guitarist, and original leader of the Rolling Stones. Initially a guitarist, he went on to prov ...

and

Anita Pallenberg Anita Pallenberg (6 April 1942 – 13 June 2017) was a German-Italian actress, artist, and model. A style icon and "It Girl" of the 1960s and 1970s, Pallenberg was credited as the muse of the Rolling Stones: she was the romantic partner of the ...

were also on the agency's books, but no work resulted. By the end of the 1960s and into the 1970s, he was the leader of a wealthy band of

New Age travellers New Age travellers, not completely synonymous with but otherwise shortened to New Travellers (often referred to as "crusties"), are people in the United Kingdom generally espousing New Age beliefs along with the hippie culture of the 1960s (over ...

who moved about in horse-drawn caravans and spent much time in the 1970s at

Stargroves Stargroves (also known as Stargrove House) is a manor house and associated estate at East Woodhay in the English county of Hampshire. The house belonged to Mick Jagger during the 1970s and was a recording venue for the Rolling Stones and variou ...

, the house and estate in

East Woodhay East Woodhay is a village and Civil parish (England), civil parish in Hampshire, England. The village is approximately south-west of Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury in Berkshire. At the 2011 census the parish had a population of 2,914. The parish ...

, Hampshire, owned by

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

. In 1972, Palmer helped

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted int ...

's wife June with a wide-ranging search for a country house, and they purchased the Grade II listed Old Rectory at

Weston-under-Penyard Weston under Penyard is a small village in Herefordshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 1,007. It lies on the A40 road two miles east of Ross-on-Wye. The Penyard is a prominent hill. The parish church of St ...

, near

Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye (Welsh: ''Rhosan ar Wy'') is a market town in England, near the border with Wales. It had a population of 10,582 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 11,309 in 2019. It lies in south-eastern Herefordshire, on the River Wye and ...

, which Bolan owned until 1977. He made by hand the coffin for the 1999 funeral at London's

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Estab ...

of the artists' model and memoirist Henrietta Moraes, who had spent time with Palmer in the early 1970s in his "cavalcade of horse-drawn caravans".

Personal life

Palmer was married to the astrologer Catherine Tennant, who wrote a weekly column for the ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

s magazine.

Arms

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Mark 1941 births Living people Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Pages of Honour People educated at Eton College People from Cirencester People from East Woodhay