Tuesday, December 01, 2020

Lady Vestey, the Duke of Sussex's godmother, dies suddenly, aged 71

 _.The Baroness Vestey, who died suddenly, 28 November, 2020, aged 71, was the wife of courtier, Sam Vestey, the 3rd Baron, former Master of the Horse to the Queen. She was a godmother of the Duke of Sussex, standing sponsor at his christening almost 36 years ago.

Lady Vestey was a close friend of the Queen and Prince of Wales, a member of their 'racing circle'.

She was born at Oxford in 1949, as Celia Elizabeth Knight, a daughter of Major [Hubert] Guy Broughton Knight, MC [1917-93], head of that landed gentry family, of Lockinge Manor, Wantage, and his wife the former Hester Loyd [1920-2002], scion of the Loyds of Lockinge. Celia's elder sister, Henrietta [born in 1946], is the retired English Thoroughbred racehorse trainer, best known as a trainer of National Hunt racehorses, wife of Terry Biddlecombe [1941-2014], the champion jockey.

She married in 1981, as his second wife, Samuel George Armstrong Vestey, 3rd Baron Vestey, GCVO [born 19 March, 1941], of Stowell Park, Gloucestershire, the billionaire landowner, who served the Royal Household as Master of the Horse, in attendance on the Queen at the annual Birthday Parade.

She stood sponsor at the Christening of Prince Harry at Windsor, on 21 Dec, 1984. Harry's other godparents were his uncle, the Duke of York, his father's cousin, Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, Mrs William Bartholemew, a former flatmate of Diana, Princess of Wales, Bryan Organ, the portrait painter, and Gerald Ward, scion of the Earls of Dudley, a landowner chum of the Prince of Wales.

Lady Vestey was the mother of two sons, the Hon William Vestey [born 27 Aug, 1983], and the Hon Arthur Vestey [born in 1985], and a daughter, the Hon Mary Henrietta Vestey [born in 1992]. 

Her eldest son served the Queen as a Page of Honour, 1995-98. 

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