Melvin Flyer 1929-2024

 Melvin Flyer died 7 February, 2024, at San Francisco United States. He was 94.

He was born in New York, 28 April, 1929, son of Philip Flyer and his wife the former Sadie Weiss, and married 4 June, 1953, Jill Mary FitzClarence (born 6 February, 1928), descended from King William IV and the actress Dorothea Jordan, daughter of Edward Charles FitzClarence (1899-1983), and his wife the former Monica Sheila Harrington Grayson (who died 5 Oct, 1958). 

His marriage to Jill FitzClarence was annulled in 1960, and she became Lady Jill on her father's succession to the earldom of Munster, 26 August, 1975. 

He married 2ndly, 1961, Violet Derry.

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The Hon Moyra Jean Campbell 1924-2024

The Hon Moyra Jean Campbell, who died 18 June, 2024, aged 99, was a scion of the Barons Stratheden.

Moyra was one of the last Wrens of the highly secret Y-Service who in the Second World War listened to German VHF voice messages in the North Sea and fed coded HF transmissions to Bletchley Park...Fluent in German, she listened to enemy VHF voice messages in the North Sea, and fed coded HF transmissions to Bletchley Park ...in later years she worked for Moët et Chandon. 

She was born 14 July, 1924, the eldest of the three daughters of the 4th Baron Stratheden, CBE, JP (1899-1981), and his first wife the former Jean Helen St Clair Anstruther-Gray, CBE (1901-1956), scion of the Anstruther baronets. She had younger sisters, (2) the Hon Clayre Campbell (1927-2015), who  was wife of (1) the Rt Hon Nicholas Ridley, PC, scion of the Viscount Ridley (he was later Baron Ridley of Liddesdale 1929-1993), a Conservative MP and government minister, and (2) Capt Lord Richard Charles Percy (1921-89), 3rd son of the 8th Duke of Northumberland; and (2) the Hon Fiona Campbell (born 4 Feb, 1932).

She was unmarried. 

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Henry Philip Seymour (born 2024)

Lady Edward Seymour (nee Felicity Helen Huntley, born 1995), wife of Lord Edward George Seymour (born 24 January, 1995), gave birth to a son, Henry Philip, in 2024.

Lord Edward is the second son of the 9th Marquess of Hertford (born 6 July, 1958), of Ragley Hall, Alcester, Warwickshire, by his wife the former Beatriz Karam, daughter of Jorge Karam, of Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Nicholas Anthony Gray 1934-2024

 Nicholas Anthony Gray, who died 24 June, 2024, aged 90, was a scion of the Gray baronets (cr UK, 1917); born 21 June, 1934, the second son of Sir William Gray, 2nd Baronet (1895-1978), and his first wife the former Josephine Eveleigh (1904-1943); and married 29 June, 1956, Amanda Edwards, daughter of Harold William Edwards, of Newbury, Berkshire, by whom he had issue, a daughter, Daisy (born 1970).

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Melanie Fiona Louisa Black (née Lowson) 1940-2024

 Melanie Fiona Louisa Black (née Lowson), who died 23 June, 2024, aged 84, was a scion of the Lowson baronets, a daughter of Sir Denys Lowson, 1st Baronet (1906-1975), Lord Mayor of London, 1950-51.

She was born 12 June, 1940, the younger daughter of Denys Colquhoun Flowerdew Lowson, and his wife the former Hon Ann Patricia Macpherson (1919-2003), daughter of the 1st Baron Strathcarron (1880-1937); her elder sister, Gay (1938-2016), was wife of the 15th Earl of Kinnoull (1935-2013).

She married 17 September, 1964, Charles Archibald Adam Black (1937-2013), son of Archibald Adam Gordon Black (1907-1990), and his wife the former Violet Rosamund Hyde Villiers (1911-1985), scion of the Earls of Clarendon, by whom she had issue, a son, Adam Sebastian Black (born 25 Aug, 1965), and a daughter, Holly Patricia Black (born 27 January, 1968).

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Minna Alexa Henley (born 2024)

 Antonia Grace Henley [nee Magor, born 1990], wife of Richard James Henley [born 1989], scion of the Barons Henley, gave birth to a daughter, Minna Alexa, 19 June, 2024, a sister for Oscar Robert Charles, who was born 12 January, 2022.

Antonia is a daughter of Philip Magor, of Stype, Wiltshire, and his wife the former Alexa Catherine Vaughan-Lee, scion of that landed gentry family.

Richard is a son of Robert Anthony Nigel Henley [born 23 August, 1942], of Boldre, Hampshire, and his wife the former Anne Beadle.

Robert, 2nd Baron Henley > Rev Hon Robert Henley > Capt Charles Beauclerk Henley > Robert Stephen Henley > Robert Anthony Nigel Henley > Richard James Henley '> Minna Henley

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Alexander Fraser to marry Chloe Gillespie

  The engagement was announced 27 June, 2024, between Alexander William Malise Fraser (born 5 July, 1990), the only son of Capt Mark Malise Nicolson (born 24 Sept, 1954), of Cairnbulg Castle, Fraserburgh, by his wife the Hon Katharine Ingrid Mary Fraser (born 11 Oct, 1957), eldest daughter and heir presumtpive to the 21st Lady Saltoun (born 18 October, 1930), and Chloe S. Gillespie, 27, the only daughter of Mr John Davies Gillespie, of Harrison, New York, and Ms Andrea Varrell Borden, of Barrington, Rhode Island.

Alexander Fraser, a future Lord Saltoun, is a descendant of Queen Victoria:-

Queen Victoria (1819-1901) > Prince Arthur Duke of Connaught (1850-1942) > Princess Patricia of Connaught (1886-1974) > Capt Alexander Ramsay of Mar (1919-2000) > Hon Katharine Fraser (b 1957) > Alexander Fraser (b 1990)

The bride-to-be's mother, Andrea Varrell Borden, married John Davies Gillespie, on 18 June, 1989, at North Stonington, Connecticut. Mr Gillespie is a son of George J. Gillespie III, a US lawyer. They divorced in 2019. 

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Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon found guilty of concealing birth of their baby daughter and perverting the course of justice

Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon have been found guilty of concealing birth of their baby daughter and perverting the course of justice.

The baby of wealthy aristocrat Marten, 36, and Gordon, 49, named Victoria died after they went off-grid on the South Downs.

The couple had fled authorities last January in an attempt to keep their newborn child after four other children were taken into care, the trial heard.

They were arrested in Brighton last February 27, two days before Victoria’s decomposed body was found inside a Lidl bag in a disused allotment shed.

The cause of the child’s death could not be established.

Marten had claimed her daughter died by accident when she fell asleep holding her under her jacket the day after pitching a tent.

But the prosecution suggested that Victoria could have died after being exposed to cold conditions with inadequate clothes.

Perverting the course of justice carries a maximum term of life imprisonment, with the average sentence being between a community order and seven years in custody.

Miss Marten is a great-granddaughter of the 3rd Baron Alington. 

The couple abandoned their burning car on the hard shoulder of the M61 and fled – an aristocrat, a sex offender, and their baby, born just one or two days before. From the inferno near Bolton, thought to have destroyed all their belongings, they travelled first to Liverpool, then to Harwich in Essex, to Colchester and on to East Ham station in east London, over the course of two days.

That blurry CCTV footage from 7 January, 2023, is the last confirmed sighting of 35-year-old Constance Marten, the heiress’s face wrapped in a red scarf, her baby swaddled inside her coat. Alongside her is 48-year-old convicted rapist Mark Gordon, his head covered and bowed away from the camera. Police, concerned for the health of the baby, have been searching for the couple, but they are thought to have with them a large amount of cash, allowing them to stay off the grid.

So just how did Marten, whose father was a page of honour to Queen Elizabeth II, go from gracing the pages of society bible Tatler to being on the run with a man who, after burgling and raping a woman as a teenager, spent 20 years imprisoned in Florida before being deported to Britain?

Marten’s father, Napier Anthony Sturt Marten (born 28 March, 1959) points to an estrangement that began when his daughter met Gordon, tearing her away from family and friends to embark on an itinerant life. Making a heartfelt plea to Constance through The Independent newspaper, Napier – his voice wavering with emotion – told his daughter: “Darling Constance, even though we remain estranged at the moment, I stand by, as I have always done and as the family has always done, to do whatever is necessary for your safe return to us.

Constance is a granddaughter of the Hon Mary Anna Sibell Elizabeth Marten, OBE, (nee Sturt), who died at Crichel, Wimborne, Dorset, 18 January, 2010, aged 80. She was a a scion of the extinct Barons Alington (dau of the 3rd Baron), & was a goddaughter of HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother & was a close friend of the Queen & Duke of Edinburgh; she was born in London 12 September, 1929, as the Hon Mary Anna Sturt, dau of the 3rd Baron Alington (1896-1940), by his wife the former Lady Mary Sibell Ashley-Cooper, dau of the 9th Earl of Shaftesbury, KP,GCVO, sometime Lord Steward to the Household of King George V & Queen Mary, by his wife Lady Constance Sibell Grosvenor (d 1957), a great friend of Queen Mary, dau of Earl Grosvenor, and sister of Bendor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, &c. Her marriage to Lieutenant-Commander George Gosselin Marten, MVO, DSC, RN, son of Vice-Admiral Sir Francis Marten, KBE, CB, CMG, CVO, took place at Holy Trinity Church, Brompton, 25 Nov 1949. He was an equerry to King George VI, and the marriage was attended by King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duchess of Kent, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone and Major-General the Earl of Athlone. The Hon Mrs Marten was High Sheriff of Dorset in 1989. 

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The King's first appointment to his family order

 The King’s new Family Order has been worn for the first time by the Queen at the state banquet for the Emperor of Japan this evening.

Queen Camilla stepped out wearing the diamond-encased miniature portrait of her husband topped with a tiny gold and enamel Tudor crown and suspended on a pale blue silk bow on her left shoulder for the glittering event in the Buckingham Palace ballroom.

The unveiling of the new King Charles III’s Family Order comes nearly two years after the King's accession. 

Family Orders badges are worn at formal evening occasions by female members of the royal family and personally bestowed by the sovereign, and are a sign of the importance of the wearer within the royal household.

The King will have privately presented the Order to his “darling wife” and Queen consort, Camilla – whom he praised in his first televised address as monarch for her “steadfast devotion to duty on which I have come to rely so much”.

The couple faced the challenge together this year of the King being diagnosed with cancer and having ongoing treatment, with the Queen urging her husband to take it easy but revealing he “won’t slow down and won’t do what he’s told”.

More than one Family Order can be worn at the same time and Queen Camilla was also wearing the late Queen Elizabeth II’s which is mounted on a chartreuse yellow ribbon, below that of the King’s.

King George IV started the tradition of presenting Family Orders – miniature portraits of the sovereign set in diamonds suspended from a ribbon – to female members of the family more than 200 years ago.

But the King has modernised some of the elements of his own, while keeping to the traditional appearance. His miniature portrait is painted on a synthetic material called polymin, rather than on ivory as was the tradition, and the diamonds are spare ones – existing loose jewels from the Royal Collection rather than newly acquired.

Polymin is a translucent treated plastic sheet similar in texture to ivorine, which is a synthetic ivory made from cellulose nitrate.

The diamonds are brilliant-cut and have a total weight of 10.41 carats – and the Order, designed by the Crown Jeweller Mark Appleby, was crafted in 18 carat white and yellow gold which was already in royal possession.

The King personally selected the pale blue colour of the ribbon which is based on the bow on the Family Order of his great-grandfather King George V.

Sovereigns presenting jewelled portraits of themselves have tended to use different-coloured ribbon from other monarchs.

King George V’s was pale blue, George VI’s was rose pink, and Queen Elizabeth II’s was chartreuse yellow.

The painting of the King – depicting the monarch wearing the uniform of Admiral of the Fleet, the Sash of the Royal Victorian Order, the Garter Star and Thistle Star and the Garter Collar and Neck Orders of the Order of the Bath and the Royal Victorian Order – was by portrait miniaturist Elizabeth Meek.

Meek previously painted a miniature portrait of the King when Prince of Wales in 2005, and the new image was based on a photographic portrait by Hugo Burnand, taken in 2023.

Before 1820, the sovereign’s portrait set in a jewelled frame had been worn by both ladies and gentlemen at Court, but especially by female members of the royal family.

Queen Camilla was given the late Queen’s Family Order by her mother-in-law on her 60th birthday in July 2007.

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother used to wear the Orders of both her daughter and late husband King George VI, while Queen Elizabeth II wore George VI’s Order and George V’s Order together.

The silk bow was made by the milliner Philip Treacy.

The Order’s reverse, in yellow gold, has an engine-turned ground engraved with a sunray pattern, superimposed with the King’s crowned cipher.

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The Emperor of Japan appointed a Knight of the Garter

 His Majesty the King has appointed the Emperor of Japan to be a Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.

The Emperor and Empress of Japan arrived in London today at the start of their State Visit to the United Kingdom. At the state banquet at Buckingham Palace this evening, Emperor Naruhito wore the Garter star and sash for the first time.  New members join the Order, England's highest order of chivalry, at the sole discretion of the sovereign.

The Garter Star, which signifies membership in the Order of the Garter, is "worn on full dress uniforms, court dress, morning coat, full evening dress coat, or dinner jacket," per the Journal of Heraldry, and it was first introduced by King Charles I in 1629. "At first, the star was embroidered, but fairly soon it was made of silver and enamel, and in some cases acquired diamonds and rubies. In 1946 the original Stuart shape was re-introduced," the Journal notes. On Garter Day, which takes place every June, members wear their insignia as they parade from Windsor Castle to St George's Chapel.

Emperor Naruhito joins four other Japanese emperors to have received the Garter; his father, Emperor Akihito, was appointed to the Order, the 985th member, by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 1998. King George V appointed two different Emperors to the Garter—Emperor Hirohito, in 1929, and Emperor Yoshihito, in 1912—and King Edward VII appointed Emperor Meiji (Naruhito's great-great-grandfather) in 1905.

Emperor Naruhito is the 1,022nd individual to be appointed to the order since the creation of the order by King Edward III, and the seventh knight to be created in the reign on King Charles III.

Also today, Emperor Naruhito presented the King with the Collar of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum, the highest honor in Japan. (He was awarded it back in October 1971, but had yet to formally receive the Collar.)

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Sarah Ursula Scoular (née Spencer-Nairn) 1937-2024

 Sarah Scoular, who died 16 June, 2024, aged 87, was a scion of the Spencer-Nairn baronets.

Sarah Ursula Spencer-Nairn was born 13 June, 1937, elder daughter of Major Michael Alastair Spencer-Nairn, TD (1909-2002), and his wife the former Ursula Helen Devitt (1912-2011), scion of the Devitt baronets; and was a granddaughter of Maj Sir Robert Spencer-Nairn, 1st Baronet (1880-1960); and married 28 April, 1967, John Richard Scoular (1931-2020), son of the Rev John Greenshields Scoular, by whom she had issue, a son, Alastair (born 24 Dec, 1972), and a daughter, Anys (born 1978).

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Sir Andrew Milne-Watson, 4th Baronet 1944-2024

  Sir Andrew Milne-Watson, 4th Baronet, died 20 June, 2024. He was 79.

He was proprietor of A.D.R. Associates Ltd from 1993; sales and management trainee, Sidney Flavel and Co Ltd 1965-68; management trainee East Midlands Gas Board 1968-69; with Ogilvy & Mather, 1969; Account Manager, 1970; Account Director 1973-79; Managing and Client Service Director, Mathers Advertising Ltd 1979-82; Phoenix Advertising Ltd 1982-84; Deputy Chairman, Lewis Broadbent Advertising Ltd 1984-87; founded: Minerva Publications Ltd  1987-89; MW Communications Ltd 1989-90; Director of Advertising  and Marketing, Inc Publications 1990-1993; Liveryman, Grocers' Co. 

Andrew Michael Milne-Watson was born 10 November, 1944, son of Sir Michael Milne-Watson, 3rd Baronet, CBE (1910-1999), and his wife the former Mary Lynette Gunion Bagnall (1914-1993), and succeeded to the baronetcy on his father's death, 27 April, 1999.

The baronetcy was created in 1937 for his grandfather David Milne-Watson, DL (1869-1945), 'gas industrialist'.

Andrew Milne-Watson married firstly, 3 April, 1970 (div 1981) Beverley Jane Gabrielle Cotton, daughter of Philip Cotton, of Majorca; and married 2ndly, 1983, as her second husband, Gisella Tisdall (born 1948), daughter of Hans John K. Tisdall (1910-1997), and his wife the former Isabel C.A. Gallegos (1911-2007).

Sir Andrew leaves issue from both marriages. His son from his first marriage, David Alastair Milne-Watson (born 24 August, 1971), now succeeds as the fifth baronet.

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Stopford Sackville/Pops marriage

 The marriage took place 22 June, 2024, at St Peter's Church, Lowick, Northamptonshire, between  Luke Mordaunt Stopford Sackville (born 3 June, 1993), scion of the Earls of Courtown, only son of Charles Lionel Stopford Sackville (born 14 February, 1961), of Lowick, Northamptonshire, and his former wife the former Shona McKinney (born 6 Apr, 1960 - now Mrs Shona Wilkinson, of Battersea, London), & Miss Anna L. Pops, only daughter of Mr and Mrs Richard Pops, of Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States.

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Viscount Melgund and Kirsty Ramshaw marry

  The marriage took place 22 June, 2024, at Ellingham Hall, Northumberland, between Gilbert Francis Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, styled Viscount Melgund (born 15 August, 1984), son and heir of the 7th Earl of Minto (born 1 Dec, 1953), of Minto, Hawick, Roxburghshire, and the Countess of Minto (nee Diana Barbara Trafford, born 1953); and Kirsty Ramshaw (born 1989), daughter of Paul Ramshaw, of Jarrow, Tyne & Wear, and his wife the former Karen Hayes.

Viscount Melgund is heir to the earldom of Minto (Peerage of the UK,  cr 1813), to the viscountcy of Melgund (Peerage of the UK cr 1813), the Barony of Minto (Peerage of GB cr 1797), and the baronetcy of Headshaw (cr Nova Scotia, 1700).

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Capt Sir David Younger, KCVO 1939-2024

 Captain Sir David Younger, KCVO, who died 14 June, 2024, aged 85, was Lord Lieutenant of Tweeddale from 1994 to 2014. He retired on reaching the age of seventy-five.

(John) David Bingham Younger was born 20 May, 1939, son of Maj Oswald Bingham Younger, MC, and his wife the former Dorothea Elizabeth Hobbs, and was educated at Eton and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

He married in 1962, Anne Rosaleen Logan, by whom he had a son and a daughter.

Younger was commissioned into the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1959, and served in Borneo and Singapore before joining the Directorate of Military Operations at the Ministry of Defence in 1967. He retired from the Army in 1969 and was with Scottish and Newcastle Breweries from 1969 to 1979 before becoming one of the founding partners of the Broughton Brewery in 1979.

In 1969 he became a member of the Royal Company of Archers, which is the Queen's Bodyguard for Scotland, and was its Secretary from 1993 to 2007. He was vice-president of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland in 1994, and became Vice-Lord Lieutenant of Tweeddale in 1992, before becoming Lord Lieutenant in 1994.

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Fergus Brodie Maitland Jewell (born 2024)

Alexandra Heriot-Maitland [born 1989], scion of the Earls of Lauderdale, wife [?] of Calum Jewell, gave birth to a son, Fergus Brodie Maitland, 13 May, 2024.

Alexandra is a 5 x gt-granddaughter of the 6th Earl of Lauderdale [who died in 1744], and is the third daughter of Mr Patrick Richard Heriot-Maitland [born 23 April, 1947], of Dunning, Perthshire, by his wife the former Marilyn Lois Grant.

 Calum Jewell is the younger son of Mr Stanley Jewell, and Mrs Ann McKinsley, both of Dunfermline.

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Toshiko, Baroness Marks of Broughton (died 2024)

 Toshiko, Baroness Marks of Broughton, died 15 June, 2024. She was the 3rd wife of the 2nd Baron Marks of Broughton.

The former Toshiko Shimura, she married Michael Marks, 2nd Baron Marks of Broughton, as the third of his five wives, in 1976. They divorced in 1985.

The 2nd Baron Marks of Broughton died 9 September, 1998.

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Fielder/Hewitt engagement

  The engagement was announced 19 June, 2024, between Edward T.F. Fielder (born 1994), descended from the Viscounts Falmouth, son of the late Nigel Roger Fielder [1958-2012], of Bolney, West Sussex, and his wife the former Diana Mary Boscawen [born 14 July, 1962], and Isobel C. Hewitt, daughter of Mr and Mrs Christopher Hewitt, of Harbridge, Hampshire.

Edward Fielder has descents from the Dukes of Manchester, Hamilton, and Montrose.

William Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester > Lady Mary Louise Elizabeth Montagu > Lady Mary Louise Douglas-Hamilton > Lady Mary Helen Alma Graham > James Townshend Boscawen > Diana Mary Boscawen > Georgina Louise Fielder.

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Hon Mrs David Erskine 1928-2024

 The Hon Mrs David Erskine, who died 12 June, 2024, aged 96, was a scion of the Earls of Harewood, a daughter of Sir Alan 'Tommy' Lascelles.

The former Caroline Mary Lascelles was born 15 February, 1928, the younger daughter of the Rt Hon Sir Alan Frederick 'Tommy' Lascelles, PC, GCB, GCVO, CMG, MC (1887-1981), & his wife the former Hon Joan Frances Vere Thesiger (1895-1971), daughter of the 1st Viscount Chelmsford.

Her father, the formidable Tommy Lascelles, served as assistant private secretary to King George V, 1935, and to King George VI 1936-43, Private Secretary to King George VI 1943-52, Keeper of the King's Archives 1943-52, Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II 1952-53, Keeper of the Queen's Archives 1952-53, &c.

Sher married firstly, 20 May, 1949, the Hon Antony Alfred Lyttelton (born 23 Oct, 1920), son of the 1st Viscount Chandos (1893-1972), and his wife the former Lady Moira Godolphin Osborne (1892-1976), daughter of the 10th Duke of Leeds (1862-1927). Her 1st husband succeeded his father as 2nd Viscount Chandos, 21 January, 1972, and died 28 November, 1980.

As Caroline, Viscountess Chandos, she married 2ndly, in 1985, as his second wife, the Hon David Hervery Erskine (born 5 November, 1924), scion of the Earls of Mar & Kellie, 3rd son of Major Lord Erskine (1895-1953), by his wife the former Lady Marjorie Hervey (1898-1967), daughter of the 4th Marquess of Bristol (1863-1951), and a yr brother of the 13th Earl of Mar & Kellie (1921-93).

Caroline Erskine leaves issue from her first marriage to Viscount Chandos, two sons, Thomas and Matthew, and two daughters, Laura and Deborah. Her elder son is the 3rd Viscount Chandos.

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Amelia Rosemary Hind (born 2024)

 Venetia Hind (nee Trotter, born 1991), wife of Capt Edward John M. Hind [born 1992], of the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, gave birth to a daughter, Amelia Rosemary, 23 May, 2024.

Capt Hind is a son of Mr Michael C. Hind, of Denbighshire, by his wife the former Angela Marshall.

Venetia Hind is a daughter of Mr Peter M.H. Trotter, of Aldsworth, Gloucestershire, and Mrs Janet Trotter [nee Buchanan-Dunlop, scion of that landed gentry family], of Andoversford, Gloucestershire.

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