ASTOR, Mrs Michael (Daphne nee WARBURG) 1949-2024
Richard R
Obit in the Times of 24 July 2024:
E X T R A C T
Daphne Warburg Astor obituary: artist and poetry editor
Despite her illustrious American heritage she insisted she had to work for a living and made England her home
Daphne Warburg Astor may have borne the names of two of the wealthiest families in American history, but she wore the pedigree lightly. Her disarmingly unconventional style was wedded to an expression of wryly amused detachment, perhaps derived in part from the fact she was an American by birth domiciled in rural England.
She had moved across permanently in 1979, at the time of her second marriage, to Micky Astor — a scion of the English branch of the Astor family, and grandson of the Virginian-born society hostess Nancy Astor, who became the first female MP to take her seat in parliament. Daphne and Micky adopted three children and settled at Hatley Park, in Cambridgeshire, a Georgian mansion with 1,800 acres of land.
…She was born in New York in 1949. Her father was Edward “Eddie” Warburg, a prominent philanthropist, collector and patron of the arts who co-founded the American Ballet and the School of American Ballet, and donated many works to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Her paternal grandmother was a Schiff — probably an even wealthier family than the Warburgs.
Meanwhile her mother, Mary, came from a far humbler background… After a failed marriage to an artist at the age of 17, Astor’s mother met and married Eddie Warburg. Their only daughter Daphne was brought up in the kind of gilded milieu that might be expected of such a dynasty….
…The reality was that Astor rarely talked of her parents, to whom she always felt distant. She was effectively brought up by an Irish nanny. Perhaps the most important relationship in her youth was with Stephen Currier, her mother’s son by her first marriage. He was 20 years older and became something of a father figure. Currier and his wife lived at Kinloch Farm, Virginia, not far from Astor’s boarding school, and from about the age of six she spent weekends and holidays there…
…When she and a friend were visiting Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, they were robbed of all their possessions. Desperate and with no money, they knocked on the door of a house they knew was owned by a British couple. And so she unexpectedly found herself staying with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor for two weeks. Contrary to their volatile reputations, the stars were the epitome of kindness…
…Astor enjoyed her life on the estate in England and had no qualms about taking full British citizenship, though she never lost her accent…
…Her husband Micky, a fund manager and farmer, survives her along with their children Jessica, a child sleep therapist, Luke, a musician, and Eloise, an events manager. A brother, David, also survives her.
Daphne Warburg Astor, artist, poet and curator, was born on December 22, 1949. She died of cancer on July 14, 2024, aged 74
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/daphne-warburg-astor-obituary-death-kzzvt6lp3
