NEVILL, Lady Rupert (Lady Anne Camilla Evelyn nee WALLOP) 1925-2023
Richard R
Lady Rupert was married for over 38 years & two months and widowed for over 40 years & six months.
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Ivan Prekajski
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The monarch often phoned her friend ‘Micky’ for a chat or to discuss a problem, and Lady Rupert knew more royal secrets than any outsider
Lady Rupert Nevill, who has died aged 97, was a childhood friend of the late Queen Elizabeth II and remained an intimate of the Royal family for the best part of a century; her husband, Lord Rupert Nevill, was also close to the family, serving as treasurer and later private secretary to the Duke of Edinburgh.
It was said that the nearest the Queen could get to “popping in on a friend” was when she called on Lady Rupert Nevill, sometimes giving as little as 24 hours notice that she would be visiting her grace-and-favour apartment in St James’s.
“The Queen often phones Lady Rupert for a chat or to discuss a problem; they always exchange Christmas presents and the Queen likes to call her by her nickname, Micky,” a source once said, adding that Lady Rupert Nevill probably knew more royal secrets than any other “outsider”.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were frequent weekend visitors to the Nevills’ country home, Horsted Place, a magnificent Tudor revivalist house in East Sussex built in 1850 by George Myers for Francis Blanchard with detail by Augustus Pugin. It is conveniently close to Glyndebourne, where Lady Rupert Nevill, who enjoyed all the arts, was a stalwart of the opera company.
“There is probably no other house in England where the Royal family come nearest to being ordinary people,” a friend recalled. “There’s supreme loyalty and trust there,” another said. “The Nevills would lay down their lives for the Royal family. It’s as deep as that.”......
Lady Anne Camilla Eveline Wallop, known as Camilla, was born on July 12 1925, the younger of two children of Gerard Wallop, the 9th Earl of Portsmouth (one of whose ancestors had married into Sir Isaac Newton’s family) and his American-born first wife, Mary Post; her parents divorced in 1936 and her father married Bridget Crohan, subsequently presenting Anne with two half-sisters and a half-brother.
She was nine months older than Princess Elizabeth and five years older than Princess Margaret. In 1937 she was one of 14 cousins and friends invited to join the young princesses at Buckingham Palace for a meeting with the leading Girl Guide Violet Synge. That led to the formation of the 1st Buckingham Palace Guides, using a summer house in the garden as their base. During the war the unit moved to Windsor Castle, by which time Elizabeth and “Micky” were firm friends....
In 1944, aged 19, she married Lord Rupert Nevill, the youngest son of the 4th Marquess of Abergavenny, at St George’s, Hanover Square. He was serving in the Life Guards with the unit providing a personal bodyguard for George VI. Later he was aide-de-camp to Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Horrocks during the Allied advance of 1945. From 1966 to 1977 he was chairman of the British Olympic Association and then president.....
She was fond of Uckfield [Lord and Lady Rupert's former country house] and the surrounding area. But when Julian Fellowes, a distant relation whom she otherwise rather liked, published his debut novel Snobs (2004) it featured a “Marchioness of Uckfield”, or Googie to her friends, who was clearly modelled on her, and she expressed her annoyance at the way she had been characterised....
Her husband died in 1982. Soon afterwards, Horsted Place was sold and converted into a hotel, while Lady Rupert Nevill moved to nearby Glynde. They had four children: Guy, who was Elizabeth II’s first godson and who died in 1993; Angela, who was a bridesmaid to Princess Margaret in 1960 and is an art dealer; Christopher, the 6th Marquess of Abergavenny; and Henrietta, who was a goddaughter of the Duke of Edinburgh.
Lady Rupert Nevill, born July 12 1925, died January 25 2023
Richard R
Obit in the Times of 1 Feb 2023:
E X T R A C T
Lady Rupert Nevill obituary
Lifelong confidante of Queen Elizabeth II known for her sense of mischief as well as her infamously haughty manner
…Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) was an early supporter of the Guiding movement and keen for her daughters, princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, to join. In 1937 a Guide leader called Miss VM Synge was invited to form a troop at the Palace involving not only the princesses but also a dozen or so friends...
Camilla Wallop, known as Micky, was among their number and she and Elizabeth were soon close friends. Over the years Lady Rupert Nevill…was able to provide the future Queen with the nearest she could ever experience to a normal life, including relaxing weekends in the country and incognito visits to the theatre.
Uckfield House, the Nevills’ home in East Sussex, was a bolt-hole for Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend as they were forced to end their romance in 1955. Other guests included …Lord Porchester (the Queen’s racing manager and later 7th Earl of Carnarvon), who proposed there to Micky’s third cousin, Jeanie Wallop.
… the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were able to shed many of the trappings of royalty [at the Nevills’ Horsted Place home]. “There is probably no other house in England where the royal family come nearest to being ordinary people,” one friend said.
During the week Nevill spoke regularly by phone to the Queen, who often visited her friend’s grace-and-favour apartment in St James’s for lunch…Although Nevill enjoyed sharing gossip and seemingly knew or was related to everyone with a title, she never spoke about her royal friendship; nor did she ever give an interview.
…Guests at her dinner parties never knew if the Queen would be among their number, though they could count on the company being distinguished. .. Visitors were unable to leave without signing the guest book, which often happened to be open on a recent page bearing the words “Elizabeth and Philip”.
Anne Camilla Eveline Wallop was born in 1925, the younger of two children of Gerard Wallop, Viscount Lymington, who in 1943 succeeded as the 9th Earl of Portsmouth, and Mary Post, his wife; her older brother, Oliver, died in 1984 and her nephew, Quentin, is the 10th Earl of Portsmouth.
…She met Lord Rupert Nevill, second son of the 4th Marquess of Abergavenny, when he was serving with the Life Guards at Windsor providing the personal bodyguard for George VI, which marked the beginning of his own friendship with the royal family. They were married in 1944 and he later became treasurer and then private secretary to the Duke of Edinburgh.
After moving to Horsted Place in 1966 Nevill set about restoring both the buildings and the four-acre garden, which includes a myrtle bush grown from a sprig in Queen Victoria’s wedding bouquet… [it] was sold after her husband’s death in 1982 and is now a hotel. She is survived by three of their children: Angela, an art dealer; Christopher, the 6th Marquess of Abergavenny; and Henrietta, an antiques dealer and a goddaughter of the Duke of Edinburgh. Their eldest son, Guy, an art dealer who was the late Queen’s first godchild, died of an Aids-related illness in 1993.
…She had to move out of the St James’s apartment, but remained living in a different era and unable to imagine a world without servants…
Lady Rupert Nevill, confidante of Queen Elizabeth II, was born on July 12, 1925. She died on January 25, 2023, aged 97
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lady-rupert-nevill-obituary-lkgs9xp6q