COOPER-KEY, Pandora Lorna Mary 1973-2024

[Richard R]

She was d of (Kevin) Esmond Peter COOPER-KEY 1943-85 scion of that gentry family of Burnt Wood (and gs of 2nd Viscount ROTHERMERE 1898-1978) and, as her 1st of four husbands all of whom she later divorced, Lady Mary Gaye Georgiana CURZON d of 6th Earl HOWE 1908-84 and Grace Lilian Barker 1909-85 d of Stephen Frederick WAKELING 1875-1941 of Natal, S Africa and Mary Anna Hartley TARR 1876-. She m 2006 Matthew C. s of Philip MERVYN-JONES of Knowl Hill, Berks, and had two sons Bow Esmond Philip b 2007 and Nestor Cecil Harmsworth b 2010.

Article in the Times of 3 Aug 2024:

E X T R A C T

Cressida Bonas’s half-sister Pandora Cooper-Key dies at 51

The ceramicist and accessories designer, who was first diagnosed with cancer more than two decades ago, died on July 22

Pandora Cooper-Key, the daughter of the 1960s It girl Lady Mary Gaye Curzon and aristocrat Esmond Cooper-Key, has died after more than two decades suffering from various cancers. [Her] ten siblings include the actress and model Cressida Bonas…

…The extent of her illnesses had been so great that the 51-year-old previously asked herself if she was somehow being punished for her upper-class origins. “I wondered if it was because my parents were so rich,” she told The Times in 2021. “Maybe I got the money but not the life.”…

…Cooper-Key is the first daughter of Curzon, whose father was the 6th Earl Howe. In 1971, Curzon married Esmond Cooper-Key, the grandson of the 2nd Viscount Rothermere, the owner of The Daily Mail and one of the richest people in Britain. She was born two years later but the marriage was short-lived. Esmond died of a brain tumour aged 42 when Cooper-Key was 11.

Curzon went on to marry another three times, giving Cooper-Key the expansive family that she has credited with helping her through her various illnesses. Her half-siblings from her mother’s marriage to the businessman John Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe are Jacobi, a party organiser, Isabella Calthorpe, the daughter-in-law of Richard Branson, and Georgiana, an artist.

Curzon married Jeffrey Bonas in 1988 and the couple had one daughter, Cressida Bonas, who rose to national prominence as a socialite and the former girlfriend of Prince Harry…

…just five weeks after giving birth to her eldest son aged 34, she was diagnosed with cancer sarcoma of the sinus. Her ex-husband, Matthew Mervyn-Jones, the therapist, was told that she had ten months to live, which he decided not to tell her until after returning from a holiday in France…

…Cooper-Key died on July 22. A death notice in [today's] Times reads: “Beloved daughter of the late Edmond Cooper-Key, and Lady Mary Gaye Curzon, adored mother of Bow and Nestor, so much-loved sister of her two brothers and eight sisters and devoted aunt to her nieces and nephews.”

She was a supporter of the charity Sarcoma UK. A fundraising page on its website said: “She was a beautiful spirit and an inspiration to so many.”…

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/society/article/cressida-bonass-half-sister-pandora-cooper-key-dies-at-51-rqj022l5w

The Tatler 2 April 2024:

https://www.tatler.com/article/cressida-bonas-sister-pandora-reveals-she-has-been-diagnosed-with-an-inoperable-brain-tumour

[Richard R]

From the Times of 3 Sep 2024:

Thanksgiving Services

COOPER-KEY Pandora Lorna Mary. A Service of Thanksgiving will be held at St Luke’s Church, Sydney Street, SW3, on 20th September 2024 at 11am. Please join us afterwards at Chelsea Old Town Hall, Kings Road…