Annette Rosemary Macarthur-Onslow 1933-2026

Annette Rosemary Macarthur-Onslow, who died at Camden, Sydney, New South Wales, 25 April, 2026, aged 93, was a scion of the Earls of Onslow.

She was born 21 March, 1933, the eldest daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Macarthur-Onslow, DSO (1909-1980), and his wife Winifred Hall Owen (who died in 1987).

She became a recognised writer, illustrator and artist who was best known for the story of Uhu - a small tawny owl - for which she was awarded the 1970 Childrens Book of the Year Award.

She was unmarried.

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Harrington/Pearson engagement

The engagement was announced 2 May, 2026, between Nicholas Richard John Harrington (born 1997), daughter of David William Ronald Harrington (born 1960), if Weeley, Essex, and his wife Isabella Anne Palmer (born 27 August, 1962), scion of the Palmer baronets, & Dulcie Rose Pearson (born 1996), daughter of John M. Pearson, of Tunbridge Wells, and his former wife Janet Sylvia Davey (born 1955, now Mrs David Austin, of St Just-in-Roseland, Cornwall).

Nicholas Harrington is a grandson of Sir Geoffrey Christopher John Palmer, 12th Baronet (born 30 June, 1936).

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John Malcolm Agnew Wallace 1928-2026

 John Malcolm Agnew Wallace, of Lochryan House, Stranraer, died 26 April, 2926. He was 98.

He was born in 1928, son of Major John Alexander Agnew Wallace, MC, of Lochryan House, and married 26 February, 1955, Louise Arden Haworth-Booth (1933-2021), scion of that landed gentry family, a daughter (twin) of Michael Haworth-Booth (1896-1986), head of that landed family, and his wife the former Mabel Arden Bagot (1896-1965), scion of the Barons Bagot, by whom he had issue, a son, John Benjamin Agnew Wallace (born 24 May, 1958), and two daughters, Nicola (b 22 July, 1956), and Jonica (b 10 June, 1963).

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(Sara) Norina Marie Bowlby (nee Stewart Clark) 1932-2026

 (Sara) Norina Marie Bowlby (nee Stewart Clark) who died 29 April, 2026, aged 94, was a scion of the Stewart Clark baronets.

She was born 25 April, 1932, daughter of Sir Stewart Stewart-Clark, 2nd Baronet (1904-1971), and his wife Jane Pamela Clarke (died 1993): and married 23 September, 1961, Colonel Thomas Patrick Salvin Bowlby (1931-2020), scion of that landed gentry family, son of Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Edward Salvin Bowlby, MC (1904-1983), and his wife Joan Catherine Trotter (1903-1958), scion of the Trotters of Mortonhall, and a granddaughter of the 15th Earl of Eglinton (1848-1919),  by whom she had issue, two sons, Anthony and Michael, and a daughter, Karina-Jane.

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Lane Fox/St John engagement

 The engagement was announced 2 May, 2026, between Lt Harry Patrick Lane Fox (born 1998),  scion of that landed gentry family, of Bramham Park, fourth son of Capt (George Charles) Nicholas Lane Fox (born 25 December, 1963), of Bramham Park, Wetherby, and his wife the Hon Rachel  Monica Baring (born 29 June, 1967), eldest daughter of the 2nd Baron Howick of Glendale (born 30 Dec, 1937), &  Dr Lily Joy E. St. John (born 1998), daughter of John St. John, of Hildenborough, Kent, and his wife the former Melanie Mary Ramsay, daughter of Major Neil Ramsay, of St Anns, Alyth, Perthshire.

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Hugh Robert Myddelton 1938-2026

 Hugh Robert Myddelton, who died 13 April, 2026, aged 87, was a scion of that landed gentry family, of Chirk Castle.

He was born 17 October, 1938, the second son of Lieutenant-Colonel Ririd Myddelton, LVO, DL (1902-1988), of Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, and his wife the Lady Mary Margaret Elizabeth Petty-Fitzmaurice (1910-2003), sister of the 8th Marquess of Lansdowne (1912-1999).

He was twice married, firstly, 27 July, 1967 (div), the Hon Sarah Cecily Allsopp (1944-2009), daughter of the 5th Baron Hindlip (1912-1993), and his wife Cecily Valentine Jane Borwick (1910-2000), and married 2ndly, in 1994, Mrs Gaia Servadio Mostyn-Owen, former wife of William Mostyn-Owen (1929-2011), and daughter of Luxardo Servadio (1938-2021), and his wife Bianca Prinzi.

In 2001 he is reported to have assmed the surname of Myddelton Biddulph in lieu of his patronymic.

Gaia Myddelton, a writer, was sometime mother-in-law of the Rt Hon Boris Johnson, PC, Prime Minister, 2019-2022, who married her daughter Allegra Mostyn-Owen.

Hugh Myddelton leaves issue from his first marriage,  a son, Alexander (born 7 March, 1969), and a daughter, Claerwen (born 1972).

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Paul Everard Justus Focke, KC 1937-2026

His Honour Judge Paul Everard Justus Focke, KC, died 22 April, 2026, aged 88.

He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn , 1964 (Bencher 1992); appointed QC (1982), and was a Circuit Judge from 1997. Also Called to the Bar, NSW and to the New Zealand, 1982; QC, NSW, 1984, &c.

He was born 14 May, 1937, son of Frederick Justus Focke (1898-1959), and his wife Muriel Fisher (1904-1995); and married in 1973, the Lady Tana Marie Alexander (born 2 May, 1945), daughter of the late 6th Earl of Caledon (1920-1980), and his first wife Ghislaine Dresselhuys (1922-2000), by whom he had two daughters, Diana (born 1974), and Victoria (born 1976).

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The 14th Duke of St Albans 1939-2026

 The 14th Duke of St Albans died in London, 22 April, 2026. He was 87.

Murray de Vere Beauclerk, a direct descendant of King Charles II and Nell Gwynn, was the 14th Duke of St Albans (Peerage of England, 1684), 14th Earl of Burford (Peerage of England, 1676), and the 11th Baron Vere of Hanworth (Peerage of GB, cr 1750), and Baron Heddington.

He was the hereditary Grand Falconer of England. His predecessors were given the honour of taking a live bird of prey into the Coronation of the Sovereign. The last to do so was the 8th Duke at the Coronation of King George IV in 1821. In 1953, the eccentric 12th Duke asked the Coronation Committee to be granted permission to carry a falcon into Westminster Abbey, and, if not a live specimen, then a stuffed one. He was politely refused.

He was born 9 January, 1939, son of the 13th Duke of St Albans (1915-1988), and his first wife the former Nathalie Chatham Walker, and was styled Earl of Burford from the time of his father's succession to the peerages in 1964, until 8 October, 1988, when he succeeded as 14th Duke.

He married three times, firstly, 31 January, 1963 (1974), Rosemary Frances Scoones (born 1941), who afterwards married the 10th Viscount Exmouth; married 2ndly, 29 Aug, 1974, Cynthia Theresa Mary, Lady Hooper (died 12 May, 2002), former wife of Sir Anthony Robin Maurice Hooper, 2nd Bt (1918-1987), and daughter of Lt-Col William James Holdsworth Howard, DSO, and married 3rdly, 14 December, 2002, Gillian Anita Northam, daughter of Lt-Col Cyril George Reginald Northam.

The Duke of St Albans leaves two children from his first marriage, Charles Francis Tophan de Vere Beauclerk, styled Earl of Burford (born 22 February, 1965), who now succeeds as 15th Duke, and a daughter, Lady Emma Caroline de Vere Beauclerk (born 22 July, 1963).

A Memorial Service takes place at St Luke's Church, Chelsea, 25 June, 2026.

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Katharine Diana Hendriks (née Douglas) 1942-2026

Katharine Diana Hendriks (née Douglas), who died 23 April, 2026, aged 83, was a scion of the Douglas Earls of Morton.

She was born in 1942, daughter of Brigadier Patrick Sholto Douglas, MC (1917-1977), a grandson of the 19th Earl of Morton (1844-1935); and married in 1969, Peter Robin Campbell Hendriks (who died in 1997), son of Brigadier Nigel Campbell Hendriks (1902-1982), and his wife Hermione Leslie Case (1913-2011), by whom she had issue, a son Timothy and a daughter, Alice.

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Rt Rev The Baron Harries of Pentregarth 1936-2026

 Rt Rev The Baron Harries of Pentregarth, who died 29 April, 2026, aged 89, was, as the Rt Rev Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford from 1987 to 2006.

Richard Douglas Harries was born 2 June, 1936, son of Brigadier William Douglas Jameson Harries, CBE (1900-1991), of Saddlers Funtington, Chichester, and his wife the former Greta Miriam Bathurst Brown (1906-1987).

 He was the Bishop of Oxford from 1987 to 2006. From 2008 until 2012 he was the Gresham Professor of Divinity.

On his retirement as Bishop of Oxford it was announced that he was to be elevated to the peerage, and in June, 2006, he was gazetted as Baron Harries of Pentregarth, of Ceinewydd in the County of Dyfed. He sat in the House of Lords as a Crossbench peer. In 2006 he was appointed to the Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved for a period of five years.

Bishop Harries married in 1963, Josephine Bottomley, MA, MB, BChir, by whom he had one son and one daughter.

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Hall/Gell engagement

 The engagement was announced 30 April, 2026, between Rupert Dyson Hall (born 1991), descended from the Marquesses of Dufferin & Ava, son of Mr Edward St John Hall (born 10 January, 1960), of London, and his former wife the former Lucinda Katharine Thring (born 1963, scion of that landed gentry family, now Mrs John Ferguson, of Ham, Wiltshire), and Honor Constance Virginia Gell (born 29 October, 1998), daughter of (Philip) Adrian J.H. Gell (born 1960), of All Stretton, Shropshire, by his wife the former Henrietta Jane Rachel Loyd (born 31 January, 1959, now Mrs Henrietta Gell, of Tarrant Gunville, Dorset), scion of the Loyd landed gentry family, daughter of Major Peter Wyndham Loyd (1923-1974), and his wife the former Sally Elizabeth Jane Inglis (1931-2020), descended from the Nairn baronets.

The 3rd Marquess of Dufferin & Ava (1875-1930) > Lady Veronica Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood (1910-1971) > Marie Antoinette Hornby (1932-2020) > Edward St John Hall (b 1960) > Rupert Dyson Hall (b 1991)

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Son for the Earl and Countess of Bective

 Florence Lucy Taylour, styled Countess of Bective (born 1993, nee Greensted), wife of Thomas Rupert Charles Christopher Taylour, styled Earl of Bective (born 18 June, 1989), gave birth to a son and heir, Rafferty (Raffy) Taylour, 22 April, 2026.

The infant will use the courtesy title Baron Kenlis.

Lord Bective is the son and heir of the 7th Marquess of Headfort (born 10 February, 1959), of Oxfordshire, and his late wife the former Susan Jane Vandervell (1960-2008).

Lady Bective is a daughter of Jonathan (Jack) Greensted (born 1963), also of Oxfordshire, and his wife the former Shelley Edgson (born 1960).

The Marquess of Headfort is a peer of the UK as Baron Kenlis. The marquessate was created in 1800 in the Peerage of Ireland.

It was the fourth marquess who famously wed, in 1901, the Irish Gaiety Girl Rosie Boote (1878-1958). The marriage of the peer  with the comely actress caused something of a stir in Edwardian high society.

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Lord Claud Anthony Hamilton 1939-2026

 Lord Claud Anthony Hamilton, who died 27 April, 2026, aged 86, was a scion of the Dukes of Abercorn.

He was born 8 July, 1939, the second son of the 4th Duke of Abercorn (1904-1979), and his wife the Lady Mary Katherine Crichton (1905-1990), Mistress of the Robes to HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and scion of the Earls of Erne, daughter of Henry Viscount Crichton (1872-1914), and his wife Lady Mary Cavendish Grosvenor (1883-1959), daughter of the 1st Duke of Westminster (1825-1899).

Known as Lord Anthony he was a first cousin of John, 8th Earl Spencer (1924-1992), and thus a cousin twice removed of the Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex.

Lord Anthony was a former High Sheriff of County Fermanagh, appointed in 1990, and became a JP for the county in 1991. 

The Old Etonian joined the Irish Guards as a Lieutenant in 1957. His home was at Killyreagh House, Enniskillen.

He married 7 April, 1982, Catherine Janet Faulkner, daughter of Sir James Dennis Compton Faulkner, CBE, VRD, DL (1926-2016), and his wife the former Janet Cunningham (who died in 1994), and a niece of the Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, PC (1921-1977), the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, by whom he had issue, a son, Alexander (born 8 June, 1987), and a daughter, Anna (born 23 Aug, 1983).

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Peter Mackelcan Woodroffe 1927-2026

  Peter Mackelcan Woodroffe died 13th April, 2026. He was 98.

He was born in 1927, son of Kenneth Derry Woodroffe (1892-1972), and his wife the former Raby Alfreda Mackelcan Kroenig-Ryan (1902-1991),, and he married in Chelsea, London, in 1973, Amanda Aloysia Nicolette Forbes (born 4 April, 1950), daughter of Henry Forbes (1914-2002), and his wife the former Pamela Aloysia Tate (1923-2021), scion of the Tate baronets, by whom he had issue, two sons, Justin (born 1977), and Clifford (born 1979).

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Hillgarth/de Guzmán engagement

 The engagement was announced 29 April, 2026, between Sebastian Alan Henry Philip Hillgarth (born August, 1985), eldest son of Justin Francis Mariano Sebastian Hillgarth (born Nov, 1947),  and his late wife Nobil Donna Antonella Carlotta Maria Grabau di Livorno e di Volterra (born Dec. 1952), of Geneva, Switzerland, & Inés de Guzmán, eldest daughter of the late Don José Miguel de Guzmán Rendueles and of Doña María Covadonga Gutiérrez Merino, of the Principado de Asturias, Spain.

Sebastian Hillgarth is a grandson of Capt Alan Hugh Hillgarth (1899-1978), and his wife the Hon Mary Sidney Katharine Almina Gardner (1896-1994), daughter of the 1st & last Baron Burghclere (1846-1921), and his wife Lady Winifred Anne Henrietta Christina Herbert (1864-1933), daughter of the 4th Earl of Carnarvon (1831-1890).

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Penelope Mary Albinia Naylor (nee Buxton) 1939-2026

 Penelope Mary Albinia Naylor, who died 2 April, 2026, aged 87, was a scion of the Buxton baronets.

She was born 28 March, 1939, third daughter of Major John Fowell Buxton (1902-1970), and his wife the former Katherine Mary Bacon (1908-2000), daughter of Sir Nicholas Henry Bacon, 12th and 13th Baronet (1857-1947); and married 27 January, 1966, Richard Christopher Naylor (born 1936), son of Thomas Humphrey Naylor (1890-1966), and his wife Dorothy Isabel Holt (1902-1986), daughter of Sir Richard Holt, 1st Baronet, MP (1868-1941); by whom she had issue, a son, Thomas (born 1 March, 1967), and a daughter, Harriet Albina (born 1970).

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Timothy Miles Farmiloe 1935-2026

 Timothy Miles Farmiloe died 22 April, 2026. He was 91.

He was born 22 February, 1935, second son of Miles Bligh Damer Farmiloe (1903-1983), descended from the Barons Congleton, by his wife the former Cynthia Joyce Holt (died 1990).

The 3rd Baron Congleton > Colonel Hon Arthur Parnell > Bertram Damer Parnell > Myles Bligh Damer Parnell, who assumed the surname of Farmiloe in lieu of his patronymic > Timothy Miles Farmiloe

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Mark Gregory Littledale 1976-2026

Mark Gregory Littledale died 14 April, 2026, aged 49.

He was born in 1976, son of Gregory Bruno Littledale (1932-2004), and his second wife the former Naomi Abigail Martin. He was a descendant of the Stapleton family, and descended from the Bertie Earls of Abingdon.

Willoughby Bertie, 3rd Earl of Abingdon > Lady Mary Bertie > Thomas Stapleton > Bryan John Stapleton > Gregory Stapleton > Marie Josephine Stapleton > Gregory Bruno Littledale > Mark Littledale

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David Wynne-Morgan 1931-2026

 David Wynne-Morgan, former Daily Mail journalist, PR executive, has died aged 95.

He was born 22 Feb, 1931, and married at Kensington in April, 1966, as her second husband, Mrs Sandra Clare Douglas-Home (born circa 1940), former wife of Cecil Robin Douglas-Home (1932-1968), scion of the Earls of Home, and daughter of Wing Commander Saville Paul (1909-1964), and his wife the former Rosa Judith Stephens (1911-2001).

Sandra Paul, a mannequin, had married 1stly, 9 July 1959 (div. 1965), the abovementioned (Cecil) Robin Douglas-Home, who had a brief and passionate liaison with the late Princess Margaret. 

After divorcing Wynne-Morgan Sandra Paul married as her 3rd husband, in Oct 1971 (div.) Nigel John Grandfield (1938-1998), and she married 4thly, at Winchester, in July, 1975, Michael Howard, QC (later the Baron Howard of Lympne, PC, QC, sometime leader of the Conservative Party, &c.)

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The Baron Hunt of Chesterton, CB, FRS 1941-2026

The Baron Hunt of Chesterton, CB, FRS, who died 20 April, 2026, aged 84, was a life peer, a meteorologist,  who was the Director General and Chief Executive of the British Meteorological Office from 1992 to 1997. 

Julian Charles Ronald Hunt was born in India, 5 September, 1941, son of a diplomat Roland Hunt and his wife the former Pauline Garnett.

Hunt was raised to the peerage for life in 2000, as Baron Hunt of Chesterton, of Chesterton in the County of Cambridgeshire, and he sat as a Labour peer in the House of Lords until 30 October 2021.

He was the leader on the Labour group of Cambridge City Council in the 1970s, and Professor of Climate modelling in the Department of Space and Climate Physics and Department of Earth Sciences at University College London. In 1989 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was appointed CB in 1998.

He married in 1965, Marylla Shepherd, daughter of Rupert Shepherd, by whom he had three children, a son, Sir Tristram Hunt, a former Labour MP who was knighted earlier this year, and two daughters, Matilda, a doctor, and Jemima, a journalist and novelist.

He was a distant cousin of another life peer, the Baron Hunt of Fawley (1905-1987).

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The 5th Baron Derwent, LVO 1930-2026

The 5th Baron Derwent, LVO, of Hackness Hall, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, died 21 April, 2026. He was 95.

Lord Derwent was educated at Eton and served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, and as a lieutenant in the Queen Victoria's Rifles (Territorial Army.)

He was 3rd Secretary, in the Diplomatic Service from 1954  to1955. He was awarded the Chevalier, Legion of Honour in 1957, and served as 2nd Secretary, Foreign Office, 1957, and was 1st Secretary, Foreign Office, 1962. Lord Derwent was a director of N.M Rothschild from 1969 to 1985.

Derwent was appointed an Officier de l'Ordre Nationale du Mérite in 1978.1 He was managing director of Hutchison Whampoa (Europe) Ltd, 1985-98. He was appointed LVO, a honour in the personal gift of the sovereign.

Robin Evelyn Leo Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone was born 30 October, 1930, son of the 4th Baron Derwent (1901-1986), CBE, sometime Deputy Speaker, House of Lords, and his wife the former Marie Louise Henriette Picard (who died 3 November, 1985); and he succeeded to the barony (cr Peerage of the UK, 1881), and to the family baronetcy (cr 1795), upon his father's death, 2 January, 1986.

He married 12 January, 1957, Sybille Marie Louise de Simard de Pitray (who died 1 Aug, 2023), daughter of the  Vicomte de Simard de Pitray, and his wife Jeanine Hennessy, by whom he had issue, one son the Hon Francis Patrick Harcourt Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone (born 23 Sept, 1965), and three daughters, the Hon Emmeline (born 3 Nov, 1958), the Hon Joanna (b 1 March, 1962), and the Hon Isabelle (b 26 Nov, 1968).

His only son now succeeds to the baronetcy and barony.

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Lady Georgina Jocelyn Pelham 1942-2026

 The Lady Georgina Pelham, who died 25 April, 2026, aged 83, was a scion of the Earls of Chichester.

She was born 7 June, 1942, daughter of Capt the 8th Earl of Chichester (1912-1944), of the Scots Guards, who died in an accident on active service, 21 February, 1944, and his wife the former Ursula von Pannwitz (1911-1989, and married in 1974, Helios Alberto Caranci, by whom she had issue, a son, Helios (born 1983), and twom daughters, Cecilia (born 1976), and Ursula (born 1978).

Her mother married 2ndly, 1 8 May, 1957 (div. 1971),  Ralph Gunning Henderson.

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