The Countess of Wemyss & March 1943-2025

 The Countess of Wemyss and March died 22 May, 2025. She was 82.

The countess was the wife of the 13th Earl of Wemyss and 9th Earl of March, of Stanway House, Cheltenham, and Gosford House in East Lothian. 

The countess led a lifelong campaign for the approval of trepanation and research into the medical benefits of psychedelic drugs. Trepanning, as the operation is known, is an ancient practice. There is evidence of its existence in neolithic times. However, unsurprisingly, when a healthy and elegant upper-class young woman decided to self-trepan and have the operation filmed, it raised questions about her sanity. Within hours of completing the procedure, Feilding, dressed in a Moroccan kaftan, her bandages concealed beneath a silk turban, attended a cocktail party with her pet pigeon, Birdie, perched on her shoulder.

The combination of trepanning and her interest in researching the medical benefits of administering microdoses of LSD led her to being known for more than 60 years by such pejorative sobriquets as “Lady Mindbender” and “the Crackpot Countess” as well as laudatory ones such as “the Queen of Consciousness”. 

She was born 30 January, 1943, as Amanda Claire Marian Feilding, scion of the Earls of Denbigh, 3rd daughter of of Basil Percy Terence Henry Feilding (1903-86) (by his wife and cousin Margaret Mary Feilding (1908-89), 3rd dau. of Lt Col Rowland Charles Feilding DSO, of Stoke House, Slough, co. Berkshire), 1st son of Percy Henry Feilding (by his wife Clotilde Brewster, only dau. of Henry Brewster, of Rome, Italy), 2nd son of Gen Hon Sir Percy Robert Basil Feilding KCB, of Broome Park, Betchworth, co. Surrey (by his wife Lady Louisa Isabella Harriet Thynne, 1st dau.7of Henry Frederick [Thynne], 3rd Marquess of Bath), 2nd son of William Basil Percy [Feilding], 7th Earl of Denbigh. She married 1stly, 1968 (div 1993), Joseph Chase Hurt Mellen; & married 2ndly, 29 December, 1995, then then James Donald Charteris, styled Lord Neidpath (born 22 June, 1948), son and heir of the 12th Earl of Wemyss & March, KT (1912-2008), and his first wife the former Mavis Lynette Gordon Murray (who died 1988). Her second husband succeeded his father, 12 Dec, 2008, as Earl of Wemyss (Scotland, let. pat. 25 Jun 1633), Earl of March (Scotland, let. pat. 20 Apr 1697), Viscount of Peebles (Scotland, let. pat. 20 Apr 1697), Lord Wemyss of Elcho (Scotland, let. pat. 1 Apr 1628), Lord Elcho and Methhil (Scotland, let. pat. 25 Jun 1633), Lord Douglas of Neidpath, Lyne and Munard (Scotland, let. pat. 20 Apr 1697), Baron Wemyss, of Wemyss in the County of Fife (United Kingdom, let. pat. 17 Jul 1821). 

From her first marriage she leaves issue, 2 sons, Rock Basil Hugo Feilding Mellen (born 10 Apr, 1979), and Cosmo Birdie Feilding Mellen (born 25 January, 1985).

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