The engagement was announced 29 May, 2026, between Henry Jack Adelston (born 1992), son of David H. Adelston (born 1957), of Eastbourne, East Sussex, and his wife the former Petra Schute, & Lavinia Juliet Harrington (born 1994), daughter of David William Ronald Harrington (born 1960), of Weeley, Essex, and his wife the former Isabella Anne Palmer (born 1962), daughter of Sir Geoffrey Christopher John Palmer, 12th Baronet (born 1936).
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The Hon Harriet Lydia Rose Llewelyn-Davies, OBE, who died 23 May, 2026, aged 71, was the daughter of two holders of life peerages.
She was born 7 January, 1955, daughter of life peer the Baron Llewelyn-Davies (1912-1981), and his wife the Baroness Lleweyln-Davies of Hastoe (1915-1997); and married 13 July, 2002, as his second wife Christopher John Holmes, CBE (1942-2014), and had issue, a son, and a daughter.
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The Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale died 28 May, 2026. She was 89.
Described as Scotland's 'Queen of spies', Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale was a Glasgow-born former senior MI6 officer and Labour life peer.
Slim, intelligent, coquettish but with a hint of steel, Meta Ramsay built a formidable reputation in 22 years with the Foreign Office. Indeed, there was speculation in the early 1990s that she would succeed Sir Colin McColl to become the first female “C” – just ahead of the fictitious appointment of Dame Judi Dench as “M” in the Bond films. It was rumoured that her candidacy was harmed when she was sighted at a Labour Party conference.
The furthest she would then go to confirm her involvement with MI6 was to note that others had touted her for the directorship. She was, however, dismissive of some higher-profile women in the security services, observing that they had “no real field experience”.
Meta Ramsay acquired hers as a Scandinavian specialist, which at the height of the Cold War was synonymous with “Moscow-watcher”. Intriguing gaps in her CV alternated with postings to Stockholm (1970-73) and Helsinki (1981-85).
As station chief in Finland she infiltrated agents –and probably herself – into the Soviet Union, and got defectors out. Most notable was Oleg Gordievsky, who as a KGB officer in London had turned double agent and was betrayed by the CIA traitor Aldrich Ames. In 1985, returning to Moscow, he realised he faced execution, and MI6 had to extract him in a hurry.
Meta Ramsay sent an MI6 officer, with his wife and baby, to rescue Gordievsky. When they arrived at the border, the wife distracted Soviet frontier guards by changing the baby’s nappy on the boot, with Gordievsky inside.
Meta Ramsay was born in Glasgow on July 12 1936. Her father, Alexander Ramsay, was a Protestant shipyard pattern-maker; her mother Sheila’s Jewish family had escaped from Russian pogroms in the Ukraine. She remembered the household as “very Labour”.
From Hutchesons’ Girls’ Grammar School, she went to Glasgow University, reading Russian alongside Smith’s future wife Elizabeth; staying on for a Master’s in Education, she chaired its Students’ Representative Council. Donald Dewar, who would be Scotland’s inaugural First Minister under Blair, was the council’s secretary, and Smith and the future Lord Chancellor “Derry” Irvine (who would capture Dewar’s wife) were also part of the set.
After a year as president of the Scottish Union of Students, she joined the secretariat of the National Unions of Students, based in Leiden in the Netherlands, moving on in 1963 to manage the Fund for International Student Co-operation. She also graduated from the Institute of International Studies in Geneva.
Meta Ramsay never married. “There just wasn’t the right man at the right time,” she said. “Or if the time was right, the men weren’t.”
After a year as president of the Scottish Union of Students, she joined the secretariat of the National Unions of Students, based in Leiden in the Netherlands, moving on in 1963 to manage the Fund for International Student Co-operation. She also graduated from the Institute of International Studies in Geneva.
She joined the Diplomatic Service in 1969, and the next year was posted to Stockholm. Her service in the field officially ended when she was promoted to counsellor, with a senior MI6 headquarters role, in 1987.
Retiring at the mandatory age of 55 after the Gulf War as the most senior woman in the service, she worked briefly for Control Risks as a consultant specialising in kidnap. Then, after Smith’s election as Labour leader, she took a key role in his team. For two years she worked to build a trust between Labour and the intelligence and diplomatic communities that had been lacking, and was a valued member of Smith’s inner circle as they prepared for government.
When Smith died suddenly in May 1994, she helped his family through a trauma intensified by the level of media attention, then became special adviser to Robin Cook, Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary.
In 1996 she was given a life peerage on Blair’s recommendation, and when Labour came to power she was appointed a Baroness in Waiting (whip in the Lords). Throughout Labour’s first term she spoke for the Government on several areas of policy, including foreign affairs, and was disappointed when, before the 2001 election, Blair asked her to stand down.
Her life peerage was gazetted as Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale, of Langside in the City of Glasgow.
She worked as an aide to Labour’s “key campaigners”. For much of the 2001 campaign she criss-crossed Scotland in a people-carrier with the Secretary of State, Helen Liddell, armed with copious supplies of Red Bull for stamina and bananas for nutrition.
She had co-chaired the Scottish Constitutional Convention during 1997-99, as its recommendations for devolution were implemented almost in full by Blair and Dewar. Out of government, she became a deputy Speaker, a delegate to the Nato Assembly, and chaired the Atlantic Council of the UK, Scotland in Europe and the Labour Friends of Israel in the Lords.
Meta Ramsay supported Tony Blair’s decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003, and two decades later said she still believed he had been right to. “I’m one of the few people around who do,” she told the Herald.
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Olivia Rose Thompson (born 1991, nee Lewis), wife of Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan 'Jonny' Thompson (born 1984), senior Equerry to the King, has given birth to a daughter Theodora, 20 May, 2026.
Lt-Col Thompson is a son of Mr & Mrs Alan Thompson, of Morpeth, Northumberland.
Olivia Thompson, a PR executive, is daughter of Mr Simon David Lewis, OBE (born 8 May, 1959), of Primrose Hill, London, and his wife the former Claire E.A. Pendry (born 1959).
Thompson, "Super" Equerry to the King, is an officer from the 5th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland was front and center for many milestones of the first year of the King's reign, from joining the King and Queen on their first state visit abroad to playing a prominent role during the coronation at Westminster Abbey in 2023, where he watched over Prince George and His Majesty's other three Pages of Honour as they carried his ceremonial robes.
Thompson is divorced from his first wife Caroline, whom he married in 2010, and by whom he has a son.
Olivia's father Simon Lewis is the former chief executive of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe. He was formerly Director of Communications for the former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He previously held this position for the Queen, Vodafone, and Centrica. He attended Whitefield School before studying PPE at Brasenose College, Oxford. Lewis was appointed an OBE in the 2014 New Year Honours List for public service and services to international education through the Fulbright Commission.
Olivia's uncle is the former Daily Telegraph editor-in-chief, Sir Will Lewis (born 2 Apr 1969).
Olivia Lewis has a brother, Thomas Paul Lewis (born 1982), also a PR executive.
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Commander Michael Bernard Casement, OBE, RN, who died 15 May, 2026, aged 93, was a scion of that Irish landed gentry family.
He was a kinsman of Sir Roger Casement (1864-1916), the diplomat and Irish nationalist executed for treason in the First World War.
He was born 23 January, 1933, the elder son of Capt Roddie Casement, OBE, RN (1907-87), and his wife the former Elisabeth Kathleen Greenwell (1908-2002), daughter of Sir Bernard Greenwell, 2nd Baronet (1874-1939); and married 3 November, 1956, Christina Rose Maclean (born 1933), daughter of Capt John Cassilis Maclean, CB, RN (1893-1983), and his wife the former Margaret Isobel Randolph, scion of that landed gentry family, by whom he had issue, a son, William (born 27 January, 1961), and two daughters, Rachel (born 18 September, 1957), and Flora (born 1959), Viscountess Hood, wife of the 8th Viscount.
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Daphne Vera Hamilton-Fairlie, OBE, died 15 May, 2026. She was 95.
Mrs Hamilton-Fairlie was the founder of a school for dyslexic children who lost her husband in an IRA bomb outrage.
She was born Daphne Vera Hillier-Holt, 5 April, 1931, daughter of Geoffrey Noel Hillier-Holt (1893-1951), of Hope Court, Crowborough, Sussex, by his wife the former Vera Leah Henrietta Samuel (1893-1987), daughter of Sir Edward Levien Samuel, 2nd Baronet (1862-1937).
She married in Jan, 1953, at Uckfield, Sussex, the Australian-born Gordon Hamilton-Fairlie, DM, FRCP (born 20 April, 1930), of Campden Hill Square, London. Her husband was a professor of medical oncology. Hamilton-Fairlie was born and raised in Australia, he moved to the United Kingdom, where he studied and worked. He was killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb intended to assassinate Sir Hugh Fraser, on 23 October, 1975.
Mrs Hamilton-Fairlie, was appointed OBE in 1990. She leaves issue, a son, Geoffrey (born 1961), and three daughters, Diana (born 1956), Sarah (born 1958), and Fiona (born 1963).
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Patrick Henry Sclater, who died 12 May, 2026, aged 82, was a scion of that landed gentry family.
He was born 9 January, 1944, son of Henry Nicolai Sclater (1912-2003), and his wife the former Suzanna Mary Agnew (1907-1993), scion of the Agnew of Lochnaw baronets; and married 6 July, 1968, Rosalyn Heather Stephenson, daughter of Urban George Eric Stephenson, by whom he had four children, William, Alastair, Peter and Heather.
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Bridget Mary Foot (née Malcolm), who died in France, 17 May, 2026, aged 90, was a scion of the landed gentry family of Malcolm of Poltalloch.
She was born 12 June, 1935, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel George Ian Malcolm, 18th of Poltalloch (1903-1976), and his first wife the former Enid Sybil Gaskell (1907-2006); and married 26 September, 1956, Dennis Frederick Foot, son of Frederick Foot, by whom she had issue, two sons, Nicholas Rupert Ian (1958-2017), and Mark Jonathan Malcolm (born 25 Apr, 1960).
Bridget is alleged to be descended from Prince Louis of Battenberg and Lillie Langtry:-
Louis Battenberg, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven = Lillie Langtry > Jeanne Marie Langtry = Sir Ian Malcolm > Lt-Col George Ian Malcolm = Enid Gaskell > Bridget Mary Malcolm (d 2026)
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The engagement was announced 23 May, 2026, between Daniel J.S. Thomson, son of Sir Adam McClure Thomson, KCMG (born 1 July, 1955), of Chiswick, London, who served as Permanent Representative to NATO, 2014-2016, by his Iranian-born wife, Fariba Shirazi, and Camilla Rose Bradstock (born 29 June, 1996), scion of that landed gentry family, daughter of Rupert John Bradstock (born 8 October, 1958), of Trinity, Jersey, and his wife the former Anna Louise Riley (born 18 October, 1962), descended from the Viscounts Molesworth.
Daniel Thomson comes from a line of distinguished knights:
Sir Joseph John Thomson (1856-1940), physicist > Sir George Paget Thomson (1892-1975), Nobel Prize winning physicist > Sir John Adam Thomson, GCMG (1927-2018), diplomat >Sir Adam McClure Thomson (b 1955)
Jacqueline Florence Drury [née Clifton-Brown, born 1983], wife of Jonathan Hugh Drury [born 1982], gave birth to a second daughter, Cara Alexandra Hue, 11 March, 2026, a sister for Elizabeth Catherine Rose, who was born 31 December, 2017, and for Alice Florence Yolande, born 31 December, 2020.
Jonathan Drury is a son of Reginald Hugh Drury [1939-2015], of Farley Hill, Berkshire, and his wife the former Sarah E. Rowe. Jonathan married in 2015, Jacqueline Clifton-Brown, scion of the Brown baronets [cr 1863], daughter of Geoffrey Robert Clifton-Brown, MP [born 23 March, 1953], Conservative MP for the Cotswolds, and his former wife Alexandra Mary Peto-Shepherd.
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Lucinda Sophie Rose O'Conor (née James, born 1989), wife of Matthew David O'Conor (born 1989), gave birth to a son, Orlando Arthur James, 5 May, 2026.
Lucinda is a daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Cullen Daron James, and his wife the former Fiona Martha Alison Rhys (born 28 June, 1962), scion of the Barons Dynevor.
Matthew David O'Conor is a twin son of Richard Shawn O'Conor (born 30 September, 1951), and his wife the former Julia Mary Myfanwy Williams (born 13 April, 1952), scion of the Williams baronets, daughter of Sir (Michael) Osmond Williams, 2nd and last Baronet (1914-2012).
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Georgiana Isabella Clifton-Brown [née Heneage, born 1988], wife of Edward Robert Clifton-Brown [born 1985], scion of the Brown baronets, gave birth to a daughter, Flora Isabella Jean, 1 May, 2026, a sister for Arthur Robert, who was born 15 June, 2020, and for Rory Benedict, born 10 April, 2022.
Edward Clifton-Brown is a son of Sir Geoffrey Robert Clifton-Brown, MP, FRICS [born 23 March, 1953], Conservative MP for The Cotswolds, of Daglingworth, Gloucestershire, by his former wife wife the former Alexandra Mary Peto-Shepherd [born 1955], of Lechlade, Gloucestershire.
Georgiana is a daughter of Robert John Heneage [born 1956], of North Carlton, Lincolnshire, by his wife the former Mayann Louise Milne. The Heneages descend from the Earls of Morton.
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Sarah, Lady Wiggin, who died 9 May, 2026, was the second wife and widow of Major Sir John Henry Wiggin, 4th Baronet, MC (1921-1992).
She was born in 1937 daughter of Brigadier Stewart Arthur Forster (1899-1965), Coldstream Guards, and his wife the former Dorothy Helena Charles Gervers (1905-1964), and married 8 February, 1963, John Henry Wiggin (born 3 March, 1921), son of Colonel Sir Charles Richard Henry Wiggin, 3rd Baronet (1885-1972), and his wife the former Mabel Violet Mary Jaffray (1890-1961), daughter of Sir William Jaffray, 2nd Baronet (1852-1914), Her husband succeeded to the baronetcy on his father's death, 16 September, 1972, and died in 1992.
Lady Wiggin leaves two sons, Daniel (born 21 Jan, 1964), and Jeremy (born 16 July, 1966).
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| Jordan Brudenell. |
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Viscount Corry is a maternal grandson of the 6th Earl of Clanwilliam (1914-1989).
It will be Viscount Corry's second marriage. He married firstly, 30 July, 2016, Francesca Vasapolli, daughter of Guido Vasapolli, of Turin.
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Clare is a daughter of Anthony R. Allan (born 1958), of Wandsworth, London, and his wife the former Gillian Patricia Anne Newman (born 1960).
Johnnie Puxley is a son of Charles John Lavallin Puxley, of Easton, Berkshire, by his wife the former Sarah Elizabeth Gamon.
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