ROBERTS, Hon Lady DCVO (Hon (Priscilla) Jane Stephanie nee LOW) 1949-2021

[Richard R]

From the Telegraph of 2 July 2021: ROBERTS Jane (The Hon. Lady Roberts, DCVO, FSA), very greatly loved wife of Hugh, mother of Sophie and Amelia and grandmother of Louis, Theo, Grace, Toby and Mary, died on 29 June 2021. The funeral will be private and a thanksgiving will be arranged when restrictions allow...

She was d of 1st Baron ALDINGTON KCMG CBE DSO TD PC 1914-2000 and Felicite Ann Araminta MACMICHAEL 1920-2012. She m Sir Hugh Ashley GCVO b 1948 s of Rt Rev Edward James Keymer ROBERTS 1908-2001 sometime Bishop of ELy and his 1st w Dorothy Frances BOWSER 1908-82, and had two daus as above.

[dpth...@gmail.com]

Emma Charlotte Leslie-Melville, d.29 Aug 1946, of the Earls of Leven and Melville; m.16 Jun 1887 Rev John Otter Stephens (d.14 Aug 1925)

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Agnes de Sivrac Edith Stephens (28 Apr 1888-1974); m.1919 Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael (1882-1969; gson of 4th Lord Scarsdale and nephew of Marquess Curzon of Kedleston)

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Felicité Anne Araminta MacMichael, d.26 Jan 2012; m.1st 15 Jun 1943 (div 1947) Sir Paul Humphrey Armytage Bowman, 5th Bt. (10 Aug 1921-6 Jan 2003); m.2nd 10 Apr 1947 Toby Austin Richard William Low, Lord Aldington (25 May 1914-7 Dec 2000)

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Hon. Priscilla Jane Stephanie Low (4 Sep 1949-29 Jun 2021); m.13 Dec 1975 Sir Hugh Ashley Roberts

[www.lordmountbattenofburma.com]

When I worked at Windsor Castle, I met Lady Roberts many times in the Library, and often when I was walking my dog... She and Sir Hugh lived in Adelaide Cottage within with Home Park Private on the Windsor Castle estate.  They were a lovely couple and Lady Roberts (despite being treated as almost the 2nd important lady in the Castle!) she was so charming, polite and non-snobby.  She was incredibly knowledgeable - as you would expect the Librarian of the Royal Archives to be.... she was always kind to me personally.  

[Richard R]

Obit in the Telegraph of 8 July 2021. Unfortunate they refer to Gp Capt Peter Townsend as Princess Margaret's "consort"!

E X T R A C T

Jane Roberts, curator of the Print Room at Windsor Castle and the first woman to be made Royal Librarian – obituary

Responsible for countless shows and catalogues, at Holyroodhouse she put on an exhibition of Leonardo drawings on the divine and grotesque

Lady Roberts, who has died aged 71, spent her entire working life in the Royal Library, where her many responsibilities included selecting items to be put on display for state visitors to Buckingham Palace and the other royal residences.

When President Obama and his wife Michelle stayed at the palace in 2011 it fell to Jane Roberts to present an appropriate display in the Queen’s Gallery. …the Queen could be seen pointing out the exhibits, saying: “Jane, you explain.”

…Priscilla Jane Stephanie Low was born in London on September 4 1949, one of three children of Brigadier Toby Low, a Conservative MP who in 1962 was created 1st Baron Aldington, and his wife Araminta (née MacMichael). Her parents, who lived near Ashford in Kent, were neighbours and great friends of Bill Deedes, the local MP and later editor of The Daily Telegraph, and his wife Hilary .

…She learnt Italian at the British Institute in Florence, of which she was later a governor. While there, she met (Sir) Hugh Roberts, who went on to work at Christie’s auction house.

They married in 1975, the same year that she joined the Royal Library at Windsor Castle as curator of the Print Room, responsible for the many Old Master drawings in the Royal Collection. The couple lived at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor Home Park, formerly the home of Princess Margaret’s consort Group Captain Peter Townsend.

…In 2002 she was additionally appointed Royal Librarian in succession to Oliver Everett, the first woman to hold that post. She worked closely with the Prince of Wales, chairman of the Royal Collection Trust, who is a keen watercolourist, as was his great-great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria.

After retiring in 2013 she continued to work, contributing to Long to Reign Over Us (2015), the official souvenir album marking the moment when the Queen became the longest reigning British monarch, and Windsor Castle: A Thousand Years of a Royal Palace (2018). She also narrated a podcast about how the royal gardens at Windsor Castle have been influenced by different monarchs.

Jane Roberts was appointed MVO in 1985, advanced to LVO (1995), CVO (2004) and DCVO (2012). Her husband left Christie’s in 1996, becoming director of the Royal Collection and surveyor of the Queen’s Works of Art until 2010, when he was appointed GCVO. Together they made an impressive double act at Windsor Castle. He survives her with their daughters, Sophie and Amelia.

Lady Roberts, born September 4 1949, died June 29 2021

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/07/07/jane-roberts-curator-print-room-windsor-castle-first-woman-made/