Elizabeth Douglas-Home
Wife of Alec Douglas-Home
The Lady Home of the Hirsel
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As the
Countess of Home
in Holland, 1963
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Born |
Elizabeth Hester Alington
( 1909-11-06 ) 6 November 1909 |
Died | 3 September 1990 (1990-09-03) (aged 80) |
Nationality | British |
Known for | Former spouse of the prime minister of the United Kingdom (1963–64) |
Spouse | |
Children | 4, including David, 15th Earl of Home |
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Elizabeth Hester Douglas-Home, Baroness Home of the Hirsel ( née Alington ; 6 November 1909 – 3 September 1990) was the wife of British politician and prime minister Alec Douglas-Home .
Biography
She was born Elizabeth Hester Alington, [1] the second daughter of the Very Rev Cyril Alington [2] —headmaster of Shrewsbury School and Eton College successively, as well as chaplain to King George V [2] —and his wife, Hester Margaret Lyttelton, daughter of George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton . [2] Elizabeth was the first woman to become a fellow (governor) of Eton. [ citation needed ]
She married Alec Douglas-Home on 3 October 1936. [1] Thanks to her husband acquiring and renouncing various titles, she had, according to The Guinness Book of Records , more names successively in her lifetime than any other once-married, British-only woman. [3] [ page needed ]
The couple had four children:
- Lady (Lavinia) Caroline Douglas-Home DL (b. 11 Oct 1937), who served as a Lady-in-Waiting to various members of the Royal Family
- Lady Meriel Kathleen Douglas-Home (b. 27 Nov 1939), m. Adrian Darby, Bursar of Keble College , Oxford
- Lady Diana Lucy Douglas-Home (b. 18 Dec 1940), m. James Wolfe Murray
- David Alexander Cospatrick Douglas-Home, 15th Earl of Home (20 Nov 1943-22 Aug 2022).
She died on 3 September 1990 at the age of 80. [4] Her husband outlived her by just over five years. [5] They had been married for 53 years.
References
Bibliography
- Blair, Cherie ; Cate Haste (2005). The Goldfish Bowl: Married to the Prime Minister 1955–1997 . Vintage. ISBN 978-0-09-946202-6 .
- Card, Tim (2004). "Alington, Cyril Argentine". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi : 10.1093/ref:odnb/30379 . (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- Guinness Book of Records 1985 . Guinness World Records Limited (published 19 October 1984). 1985. ISBN 978-0-85112-419-3 .
- Hurd, Douglas (2004). "Home, Alexander Frederick [ Alec ] Douglas-, fourteenth earl of Home and Baron Home of the Hirsel" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.
External links
- Media related to Elizabeth Douglas-Home at Wikimedia Commons
- Portraits of Elizabeth Douglas-Home at the National Portrait Gallery, London
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