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Monday, April 20, 2020

Elizabeth, Baroness Grimthorpe, DCVO 1925-2020

_. Elizabeth, Baroness Grimthorpe, DCVO, who died 15 April, 2020, aged 94, was for almost thirty years a senior member of the Household of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

Lady Grimthorpe, a scion of the Earls of Scarbrough, was the widow of the 4th Baron Grimthorpe [1915-2003], of Westow Hall, near York.

She was born Elizabeth Lumley, 22 July, 1925, daughter of the then Lawrence Roger Lumley, MP for Kingston-upon-Hull, by his wife the former Katherine Isobel McEwen, DCVO [1899-1979], a childhood friend Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon [later Duchess of York, and Queen], who served as an Extra Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

Elizabeth Lumley's father, Lawrence, succeeded his uncle, as 11th Earl of Scarbrough, 4 March, 1945, and Elizabeth became Lady Elizabeth Lumley. Her father was Lord Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth II, 1952-63, and was Grand Master, United Grand Lodge of England, 1951-67.

Lady Elizabeth married 17 Feb, 1954, at the Queen's Chapel, Malrborough Gate, London, the then Hon Christopher Beckett [1915-2003], son and heir of the 3rd Baron Grimthorpe [1891-1963], by his first wife the former Mary Alice Archdale [died 28 Apr, 1962]. The wedding, attended by the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, was followed by a reception at St James's Palace.

Her husband succeeded his father, 22 Feb, 1963, as 4th Baron Grimthorpe. He died 6 July, 2003, aged 87.

Lady Grimthorpe was appointed a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 1973, and served Her Majesty until her death in 2002. She was appointed CVO in 1983, and advanced to DCVO in 1995. She followed her mother, Lady Scarbrough, into Queen Elizabeth's household, and was also joined in the mid 1990s, by nephew's wife, Elizabeth, wife of the 12th Earl of Scarbrough.

Lady Grimthorpe leaves two sons, Edward and Ralph, and a daughter, Harriet. The elder son, Edward, 5th Baron Grimthorpe, is a Newmarket racehorse trainer.

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