Leslie Robin Medforth-Mills (8 December 1942 – 2 February 2002) was a British professor of Geography at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

and a United Nations official.

Family

Medforth-Mills was the son of Cyril Mills (1908–1989) and Nora Medforth (1909–1990). He married Princess Elena of Romania at a civil ceremony on 20 July 1983 in Durham, England, which was followed by a religious ceremony on 24 September 1983 at the Greek Orthodox Church in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland. The family lived at Flass Hall, Esh Winning, Durham. The couple divorced on 28 November 1991 in

Sutherland Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, after having two children, Nicholas Michael de Roumanie Medforth-Mills (b. 1 April 1985), and Elisabeta ''Karina'' de Roumanie Medforth-Mills (b. 4 January 1989), whose godmother was the novelist Dame Catherine Cookson.

Education

Medforth-Mills was educated at South Holderness County Secondary School near Preston, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, where in 1960 he was Head Boy. He graduated from

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

with a BA degree in Geography. He subsequently obtained a PhD degree, and later became a professor of geography at Durham.

Career

He was a lecturer in Geography at Durham from 1974 to 1983 and subsequently a Research Fellow in the same subject from 1983 to 1990. In addition to his Geography work in Durham, he also worked for the United Nations system, serving as a UN expert in a manpower project implemented by the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...

in Sudan in the mid-1970s, in

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

in its fund-raising office in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

in the early 1990s, and later in its humanitarian operations in northern

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, in the mid-1990s after the first

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

. According to the security chief of the UNGCI, Poul Dahl, during that time Medforth-Mills was sexually harassing the male UN guards by offering them high-paying UN jobs in return for sex, and threatening them when they reported him. He was later posted with UNICEF again in Geneva, and also briefly in New York in the late 1990s. For several years after the fall of the Ceauşescu regime, he was involved in efforts to bring humanitarian aid to institutionalised orphans and other destitute people in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, and was a founder-member of the North-East Relief Fund for Romania, set up with Princess Elena of Romania, and the then- Lord Mayor of Newcastle upon Tyne, Terry Cooney, and Harry Charrington."Princess pleads for aid to Romania", article in the ''Northern Echo'', 27 February 1990

References

* Weir, Alison. ''Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy'' (The Bodley Head, London, 1999) * Mosley, Charles. ''Blood Royal – From the time of Alexander the Great to Queen Elizabeth II'' (Ruvigny Ltd, London, 2002) () (page 288) {{DEFAULTSORT:Medforth-Mills, Robin English geographers 1942 births 2002 deaths House of Romania People from Holderness British officials of the United Nations Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham Academics of Durham University People from Esh Winning Robin