Georgina, Lady Kennard (''née'' Wernher; formerly Phillips; 17 October 1919 – 28 April 2011) was a British aristocrat who was considered "one of the best connected women in the country." She was connected to many prominent families such as the royal family and the Mountbattens, Grosvenors, Hamiltons and Burnetts.

Early life

Born Georgina Wernher in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, on 17 October 1919, she was the second child and elder daughter of Sir Harold Augustus Wernher, 3rd Bt, and Countess Anastasia de Torby. She was a maternal granddaughter of

Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia (Russian: Михаил Михайлович; 16 October 1861 – 26 April 1929) was a son of Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia and a grandson of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. He was raised in the ...

(grandson of Tsar Nicholas I and first cousin of Tsar Alexander III), and also claimed direct descent from the Russian writer

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

and the

Afro-Russian Afro-Russians (russian: Афророссияне, Afrorossiyane) are people of African descent that have migrated to and settled in Russia. The Metis Foundation estimates that there were about 30,000 Afro-Russians in 2013. Terminology Represen ...

military officer Abram Petrovich Hannibal. The family's country home was

Luton Hoo Luton Hoo is an English country house and estate near Luton in Bedfordshire and Harpenden in Hertfordshire. Most of the estate lies within the civil parish of Hyde, Bedfordshire. The Saxon word Hoo means the spur of a hill, and is more common ...

. Gina "came out" as a debutante in the 1937 "coronation"

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

, aged only 17 but already having completed her education with studies in domestic science. On 10 October 1944, Gina Wernher married Lt.-Col. Harold "Bunny" Phillips (1909–1980), a former lover of Edwina, Countess Mountbatten of Burma. They had five children: * Alexandra Anastasia Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn known as 'Sacha' and was god-daughter of

Lord Louis Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of Germa ...

(27 February 1946 – 9 December 2018) * Nicholas Harold Phillips (23 August 1947 – 1 March 1991) * Fiona Mercedes Burnett (born 30 March 1951), mother of Alexander Burnett * Marita Georgina Crawley (born 28 May 1954) * Natalia Ayesha Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster (born 8 May 1959), mother of Lady Edwina Snow and

Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster Hugh Richard Louis Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster (born 29 January 1991), styled as Earl Grosvenor until August 2016, is a British aristocrat, billionaire, businessman, and owner of Grosvenor Group. He became Duke of Westminster on 9 August ...

Lady Kennard's first husband, Harold Phillips, died in 1980. She was remarried in 1992 to Sir George Arnold Ford Kennard, 3rd Bt. (1915–1999). Lady Kennard died at her home in London on 28 April 2011 aged 91 years old.

Ancestry

References

Sources

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great ...

Who's Who 2009 ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a group of nota ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennard, Georgina 1919 births 2011 deaths Daughters of baronets Wives of baronets

Georgina Georgina may refer to: Names * Georgina (name), a feminine given name Places Australia * Georgina, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Boulia, Queensland * Georgina Basin, a large sedimentary basin in Australia * Georgina River, a riv ...

Scottish people of German descent Scottish people of Russian descent Nobility from Edinburgh People from Central Bedfordshire District