Sir Charles Mark Palmer, 5th Baronet (born 21 November 1941) is a British modelling agency manager 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. His godmother was

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 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. ...

. Palmer was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and spent a year at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

."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 only ...

to Queen Elizabeth II.

Career

In 1966, Palmer and Alice Pollock founded the early male modelling agency ''English Boy'' in Chelsea, 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'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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), widely known by the nickname Twiggy, is an English model, actress, and singer. She was a Culture of the United Kingdom, British cultural icon and a prominent teenage model during th ...

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''. 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 Cold War (1953–1962), height of the ...

, 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 musician and founder of the Rolling Stones. Initially a slide guitarist, he went on to sing backing vocals and played a wide variety of instruments on Rolling Stones r ...

and

Anita Pallenberg Anita Pallenberg (6 April 1942 – 13 June 2017) was an Italian-German film 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 ...

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 (synonymous with and otherwise known as New Travellers) are people located primarily in the United Kingdom generally espousing New Age beliefs with hippie or Bohemian culture of the 1960s. New Age Travellers used to travel be ...

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 vari ...

, the house and estate in

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

, Hampshire, owned by

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

. In 1972, Palmer helped

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

's wife June with a wide-ranging search for a country house, and they bought the Grade II listed Old Rectory at Weston-under-Penyard, near

Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye is a market town and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, near the border with Wales. It had a population estimated at 10,978 in 2021. It lies in the south-east of the county, on the River Wye and on the northern edge of the Fore ...

, 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 since 1852 the first (and only) London cemetery to be Crown Estate, Crown property, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington a ...

of the artists' model and memoirist

Henrietta Moraes Henrietta Moraes (born Audrey Wendy Abbott; 22 May 1931 – 6 January 1999) was a British artists' model and memoirist. During the 1950s and 1960s, she was the muse and inspiration for many artists of the Soho subculture, including Lucian Freu ...

, 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 ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

s magazine.

Arms

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Mark 1941 births Living people

505 Year 505 ( DV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Theodorus and Sabinianus (or, less frequently, year 1258 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 505 for t ...

Pages of Honour People educated at Eton College People from Cirencester People from East Woodhay