PENN, Lady LVO (Prudence Hilary nee WILSON then STEWART-WILSON) (1926-2023)
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Lady Penn, loyal friend of Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret and lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother – obituary
As a young woman Prue Penn took a full part in London social life and, working at the Foreign Office, once made a home movie with Kim Philby
Lady Penn, who has died aged 97, was a close friend of the late Queen and Princess Margaret, and a former lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother; she was the widow of Sir Eric Penn, one time Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, and thus lived at the very heart of Palace life for more than 70 years.
Prue Penn’s life mirrored the Queen’s to a considerable degree. They were born 12 weeks apart, married in the same year, had their children more or less at the same time and both had nine great-grandchildren.
The Penns served the sovereign for 65 years. Eric Penn’s uncle Arthur had been a groom-in-waiting to King George VI on his accession in 1936 and then private secretary and treasurer to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother; Eric Penn joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Office in 1960. Their son David was a page of honour to the Queen, as was their grandson, Rory Penn. Lady Penn became a lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother in 1994 and served until her death.
She was born Prudence Hilary Wilson on January 12 1926 in Australia, taking the name Stewart-Wilson in 1937. Her father was Aubyn Wilson, of Westerlee, St Andrews, Fife, and her mother Muriel, later Mrs Stewart-Stevens, was the 10th Lady of Balnakeilly, Perthshire, from a Scottish family tracing their lineage back to Neil Stewart, of Foss House on Loch Tummel, Perthshire, in 1559.
Prue had two brothers, Colonel Ralph Stewart-Wilson, MC, and Lieutenant Colonel Sir Blair Stewart-Wilson, Deputy Master of the Household to the Queen. By her mother’s second marriage, she acquired a step-brother, the fashionable newspaper and magazine man, Jocelyn Stevens.
Her father’s family, the Wilsons, were originally from Co Antrim. (Sir) Samuel (1832-95) went out to Australia and made a fortune in the goldfields, he and his brothers purchasing stations in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Later he returned to England and became MP for Portsmouth.
Prue had another relation called Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Wilson (1865-1914), who, when he was at Eton in 1882, leapt on a man who was threatening to shoot Queen Victoria as she got into her coach at Windsor Station en route for the Castle.
The Queen sent for him the next day to thank him and asked what she could do for him. He said he wanted to join the Household Cavalry after leaving school. She arranged it, and he ended up commanding the Blues. His wife, the famous Lady Sarah Spencer-Churchill, was – like her nephew, Winston – a war correspondent in the Boer War, and succeeded in terrifying the Boers…..
She met Eric Penn, another Grenadier Guards officer, at a dance in 1946, at which she wore a dress she had made herself from curtain material. He had been adopted and raised by his bachelor uncle, Sir Arthur Penn, a close friend to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Eric Penn was therefore already a friend of Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret and thus Prue came into the world of the Royal family….
Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) and Princess Elizabeth attended the Penns’ wedding at St Mark’s, North Audley Street, on January 27 1947. Rationing was still in place. Her wedding dress was made from family lace and the bridesmaids’ dresses from what she called “nasty champagne-coloured rayon” curtain material. The reception was held at the Dorchester, after which the Penns set up home at Sternfield House, Saxmundham, Suffolk…..
In 1960, Eric Penn joined the Royal Household as Assistant Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain’s Office under Sir Norman Gwatkin. He was Comptroller from 1964 until he retired in 1981, and those were the days when the people in the Lord Chamberlain’s Office paid meticulous attention to small details and got them right. They could also be forbidding and austere to outsiders.
When in London, the Penns lived in an apartment at St James’s Palace, and in 1964 Prue was one of the godmothers to Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, daughter of Princess Margaret, when she was christened in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace.
Sir Eric gave her the number plate PRU 365 because he loved her every day of the year. In 1993, aged 77, he died. As a new widow, Prue asked the Queen Mother: “Does it get better?” To which the Queen Mother replied: “No, it never gets better. But you get better at it.”….
She was a natural choice to be appointed a lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother in 1994, soon after Sir Eric died. One of her jobs was to read the more or less illegible letters that Kenneth Rose sent on the anniversary of the Queen Mother’s marriage. The Queen Mother was not taken in: “Poor old Kenneth so longs for a knighthood. I must see if we couldn’t perhaps swing a Victorian Order.” The matter was dropped.
Sometimes Lady Penn despaired of the young equerries. In 1997 one equerry said he was making a study of art. She told him that Clarence House had a room full of Pipers. “Scots Guards pipers?” he asked. And when she told him that the Queen Mother was to visit some almshouses, he asked: “What sort of arms do they make there?”
The Queen and Prince Philip sometimes stayed the weekend in Suffolk. The Queen, Prince Philip, the Princess Royal and Princess Alexandra attended her 90th birthday party at Bellamy’s in 2016. She remained close to the Queen, even talking to her on the telephone 10 days before the monarch died.
Lady Penn was a great admirer of the present King, confiding to a friend on his Accession: “Have you noticed how our new Sovereign seems to have grown in stature overnight? He looks every inch a king. I am devoted to him and know that he will take on the mantle with sensitivity, wisdom, and strength.”
She was appointed LVO in the 2002 demise honours list. An enthusiastic adopter of email in her later life, she called herself “a techno-granny”.
Lady Penn is survived by her two sons and a daughter.
Lady Penn, born January 12 1926, died November 20 2023
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Richard R
From the Telegraph of 24 Nov 2023: PENN Prudence Hilary, LVO, died at home on Monday 20th November 2023, aged 97. Greatly loved wife of the late Sir Eric Penn. Devoted mother of David, Christopher and Fiona. Much loved grandmother and great grandmother. Funeral to be held in St Ninian's Cathedral, Perth at 2 p.m. on Thursday 14th December. Family flowers only. At Prue's request there will be no memorial service…
Henry W
The Queen was represented by Mr. James Hambro.
The Princess Royal was represented by Mr. Stephen Leckie
The Duke of Kent was represented by Brigadier Sir Melville Jameson.
Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy was represented by Mr. Robert Balfour