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Wednesday, January 24, 2024

The Dowager Duchess of Rutland 1937-2024

 The Dowager Duchess of Rutland, who died 21 January, 2024, aged 86, was the second wife and widow of the 10th Duke of Rutland, mother of the 11th Duke, and daughter of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll.

She was for forty years the chatelaine of Belvoir Castle, Rutland.

She was born 19 June, 1937 at Frances Helen Sweeny, daughter of Charles Francis Sweeny (1909-1993), the American golfer and socialite, and his 1st wife (Ethel) Margaret Whigham (1912-1993), the Scottish debutante, who after her divorce from Sweeny married secondly, 22 March, 1951, as his third wife, the 11th Duke of Argyll (1903-1973), and went through a scandalous divorce from the peer in 1963.

Frances Sweeny, a beautiful debutante in the 1950s married 15 May, 1958, as his second wife, Charles John Robert Manners, the 10th Duke of Rutland, CBE (1919-1999), of Belvoir Castle, Rutland, by whom she issue three sons, David Charles Robert, the 11th Duke (born 8 May, 1959), Lord Robert George Manners (1961-1964), and Lord Edward John Manners (born 29 May, 1965), and a daughter, Lady Helen Theresa Margaret Manners (born 11 November, 1962).

She was widowed 2 January, 1999, and took the style Dowager Duchess of Rutland.

Her grandchildren include the socialites Lady Violet, Lady Alice and Lady Eliza Manners, Charles, styled Marquis of Granby, and Lord Hugo Manners, twins Ivor and Warwick Chipman, and twins Ivo and Vesey Manners.

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