GORDON LENNOX, Lady Nicholas CVO (Mary nee WILLIAMSON) 1934-2021
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She was d of Brig Hudleston Noel Hedworth WILLIAMSON 1886-1971 (gt gs of Sir Hedworth WILLIAMSON 6th Bt 1751-1810, title ext 2000) and his 2nd w Leila Isabel 1894-1983 d of Lt-Col Robert William Peter LODWICK 1853-1934 by his 1893 reg Q3 Dublin to Blanche Frances KELLY. She m 1958 Lord Nicholas Charles GORDON LENNOX KCMG KCVO 1931-2004 s of 9th Duke of RICHMOND &c 1904-89 and Elizabeth Grace 1900-92 d of Rev Thomas William HUDSON 1861- by his 1885 m to Alethea Mary 1863-1936 d of Rev Charles MATHESON c1832-1894 (scion of Matheson Bts) by his 1856 m reg Q2 London to Alethea HAYTER 1831-1908, and had a son (Anthony Charles 1969-2017) and three daus as above.
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Alongside her husband she did much to foster Anglo-Spanish relations, and she went on to lead the development of Pallant House Gallery
Lady Nicholas Gordon Lennox, who has died aged 87, was a former fashion model who formed a formidable partnership with her diplomat husband, Lord Nicholas Gordon Lennox, and later played a leading role in the development of Pallant House Gallery in Chichester.
She was born Mary Williamson on March 20 1934. Her father, Brigadier H N H Williamson, fought as a volunteer alongside the White Russians in 1919, while her Irish mother, Leila, studied the violin in Vienna under Hindemith, later becoming a respected novelist. Mary inherited her mother’s writing skills and was a vivid and prolific correspondent.
The great constant in her life was South Nore, her parents’ house at Roman Landing, West Wittering, Sussex, from which, as a child, she watched the Battle of Britain and the bombing of Portsmouth. After local boarding school she became a fashion model and worked as a florist in the Ritz Hotel, Piccadilly.
One day, on the train home to Chichester, she was unable to pay her bill in the restaurant car and a stranger, who turned out to be Lord Nicholas Gordon Lennox, younger son of the Duke of Richmond, came to her rescue.
They married in 1954, by which time Nicholas was private secretary to Harold Caccia, Britain’s Ambassador in Washington....
After her husband’s retirement, Mary Gordon Lennox continued her role as lady-in-waiting to Princess Alexandra, serving her for 50 years, which was recognised in her appointment as LVO and later CVO...
On the death in 2017 of her brother-in-law, the 10th Duke of Richmond, she became the gallery’s Life President.
In later life she continued to keep Spanish hours, swam in the sea well into her eighties, kept up with an extensive circle of friends and enjoyed the seaside garden she had carefully created over the years.
She faced the death of her husband in 2004 and the tragic early death of their only son Anthony with extraordinary fortitude. She is survived by three daughters.
Mary Gordon Lennox, born March 20 1934, died September 26 2021