STEVENS, Mrs Jane LVO (Jane Armyne nee SHEFFIELD) 1937-2022
Richard R
Notice placed by her son-in-law Marcus Pearse.
She was d of John Vincent SHEFFIELD 1913-2008 (s of Sir Berkeley Digby George SHEFFIELD 6th Bt 1876-1946 and Anne Margaret 1913-68 d of Sir Lionel Lawson Faudel FAUDEL-PHILLIPS 3rd Bt 1877-1941 and scion of the HUNTLY marquesses etc). She m 1956 (div 1979) as his 1st w Sir Jocelyn Edward Greville STEVENS 1932-2014 s of Maj Charles Greville B STEWART-STEVENS and Frances Mary (Betty) 1909-32 d of Sir Edward HULTON 1st Bt 1869-1925 and his 2nd w (m 1916 as 2nd of 4 h (the last was Czech nobleman Baron Otto Sklenář von Scaniel) the music hall performer Millie LINDON) (Florence Elizabeth) Millicent WARRISS 1869-1940, and had two sons and two daus.
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She was once called upon to drive for the Princess – who told her, when she crashed into their motorcycle escort, to simply carry on
Janie Stevens, who has died aged 85, was the former wife of Jocelyn Stevens, and a long serving lady-in-waiting and close friend of Princess Margaret. A glamorous debutante herself in the 1950s, she had the additional late-life distinction of being the grandmother of the Delevingne super-models.
She was born Jane Armyne Sheffield on March 4 1937, the daughter of John Sheffield, CBE, of Laverstoke House, Hampshire, whose ingenious company, Norcros saved his family fortune and offered an umbrella under which former private companies could remain under the management of their original owners while gaining the advantages of being part of a group that was listed on the Stock Exchange. Her mother was Anne Faudel-Phillips (who died in 1969).
Janie was educated at Southover Manor School in Sussex and came out in 1955 with a dance at Laverstoke. She was soon being described as “top deb” of the year. In the course of that summer she could be found in the company of the likes of Ronald Ferguson, Billy Abel Smith, Lord Howard de Walden and Marquess Townshend, and was famously photographed receiving a kiss from the Duke of Kent in a skiing party of 29 at the Gasthaus Wyneck, in Klosters.
But if the world hoped for a royal romance they were soon disappointed as she stayed on at the villa of Edward Hulton, whose nephew, Jocelyn Stevens (then a supremely fashionable magazine man, and about to become owner and publisher of Queen magazine) had lately broken his ankle and was also a guest.
That year, 1956, was a leap year, so she nearly proposed to him, but as things turned out he proposed on her 19th birthday. She was soon spotted by William Hickey choosing her trousseau and sporting a gold brooch of a rose with a diamond dewdrop given her by Stevens, along with a gold on onyx owl brooch with ruby eyes. In May 1956 her engagement photograph by Tony Armstrong-Jones was the frontispiece of The Sketch. She married Jocelyn Stevens at Holy Trinity, Brompton, on 14 June 1956.....
Jocelyn Stevens had hired Snowdon as his photographer when he revamped Queen in the late 1950s. He thus observed the courtship between him and Princess Margaret and told him that he did not think he would fit into the Royal family.
This caused something of a rift between them but Princess Margaret brought them together again about a year after the marriage, and as a result Jocelyn and Janie became close friends with the royal couple, enjoying in particular cultural holidays, when they travelled round Italy together, looking at churches or buildings of particular interest, and in London going to the theatre or cinema....... Janie was godmother to Princess Margaret’s daughter, Lady Sarah Chatto.
Jocelyn and Janie parted, divorcing in 1979. Three years later, Princess Margaret invited Janie Stevens to be one of her ladies-in-waiting, and the friendship developed, Janie accompanying her on numerous engagements, including overseas travel, and moving into the children’s nursery at Kensington Palace, her London base until 2002....
She witnessed first hand the positive approach Princess Margaret took to her duties, as opposed to the tabloid image (cruelly exaggerated in The Crown), found her assiduous in her loyalty to her regiments, devoted to the NSPCC, knowledgeable about the Bible and Prayer Book and above all loyal to her sister, the Queen....
At the Mill House Janie Stevens created a beautiful garden, which was bordered by the Thames, and when she moved to Shellingford she created another lovely garden. A close friend of Jeanie, Countess of Carnarvon, she was a keen patron of the Newbury Music Festival.
Above all she was devoted to her family, which in due course expanded to include the famous Delevingne granddaughters, and two great-grandchildren. She cared for her son, Rupert, who died of heart disease at the age of 24, but she is survived by her other son, Charles, and two daughters, Pandora and Melinda.
She was appointed LVO for her services as an Extra Lady-in-Waiting to Princess Margaret in 1993.
Jane Stevens, born March 4 1937; died April 15 2022