Esme, the Dowager Countess of Cromer, dies

Beauty: Esme Cromer, photographed by Cecil Beaton in 1940, led an active life and was an accomplished artist, author and gardener

By David Wilkes

Daily Mail, London, June 10, 2011

        Esme, Dowager Countess of Cromer, has died peacefully in hospital at the age of 88 after a short illness.

        A former Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen, artist and author, she was a co-chairman of  the Founding Council of  the Rothermere American  Institute, an international  centre of excellence at the University of Oxford for the study of the United States. 

        Her father was the second  Viscount Rothermere and she was an aunt of Jonathan Harmsworth, the fourth Viscount Rothermere and Chairman of The Daily  Mail and General Trust, which publishes the Daily Mail.

        Her first husband was the  third Earl of Cromer, who was born into the Baring banking  family. He was British Ambassador in Washington during  Edward Heath’s premiership  and achieved great success in the international financial community. This culminated in his appointment as the youngest Governor of the Bank of England for 200 years. 
 

        He is renowned for having single-handedly saved the pound during a major run on Britain’s reserves in the 1960s following  the election of the Wilson government. 

In her published memoirs, Lady Cromer recalled how her husband, known as Rowley, worked through the night dealing with the crisis, staving off disaster by arranging international loans of $3billion.

Young love: Lady Cromer, seen here on her wedding day to the third Earl of Cromer, revealed she walked barefoot down the aisle to avoid being taller than her husband

        They had three children and were married for 49 years until  his death in 1991. At his funeral at the Guards Chapel at London’s Wellington Barracks, which  was attended by more than 500 people, former foreign secretary Lord Carrington paid tribute to Lord Cromer as a man who had served his country ‘well, wisely and with much distinction’.

        Her memoirs, entitled From This Day Forward, also revealed that when she married she took off her shoes and walked barefoot down the aisle rather than appear taller than her husband. 

         Lady Cromer married for  the second time in 1993 to Gerrit van der Woude, who died six years later.

         She took up painting in the 1970s when Lord Cromer was ambassador in Washington, displaying a particular flair  for watercolours and flower paintings and holding exhibitions in aid of charities.

Generous: Lady Cromer contributed to Oxford University's development and helped pay for a library

        She was an accomplished gardener and chairman of the Orchid Society of Jersey.  She is survived by Evelyn, the fourth Earl of Cromer, and the Hon Vivian Baring, chairman of A&N International Media.

        In recognition of significant contributions to Oxford University’s development and strength, Lady Cromer and her brother, the  third Viscount Rothermere, then chairman of the Daily Mail and General Trust, were admitted to the university’s prestigious  Chancellor’s Court of Benefactors at a ceremony in 1993. 

         A donation from family trusts helped pay for a library of American books and documents.

         In a tribute to his aunt, the present Lord Rothermere said: ‘Esme’s passing ends an era for the Harmsworth family.

        ‘She has been a tremendous support to me personally since I succeeded my father as Chairman of DMGT. I shall miss her wise counsel as the family matriarch.’

         A private funeral service will be held, followed by a memorial service in the autumn.

Motherly: The Countess seen here with her children Lady Lana Gray and Evelyn, Viscount Errington



READER NOTE: Coming across Esme's obituary on turgid, steamy Friday afternoon, I was immediately struck and enlivened (as anyone would be) by her extraordinary beauty, as shown in the Cecil Beaton portrait, and this led me to read the fascinating story of her life and that of her family and extended family. For many reasons, which I won't slow you down by tediously reciting, accounts like this make you take pause.  They also animate reflection.

Royal Wedding Special -- Installment Two -- A Journey Through The Past

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor meeting Adolf Hitler in Germany, 1937  

I. Views concerning Mrs. Simpson (1930s):

          "Reactions to her differed markedly. King George had had strong views about Mrs Simpson and was furious when David [1] introduced her at Buckingham Palace. Chips Channon, upon meeting her at Emerald Cunard's in the January before the King died, wrote 'she is a nice, quiet, well-bred mouse of a woman with large startled eyes and a huge mole. I think she is surprised and rather conscience-stricken by her present position and the limelight which consequently falls upon her.'  Cecil Beaton's first impressions were less flattering.  Writing in November, 1936, when Mrs Simpson was the talk of the town, he recalled 'the great brawny cow or bullock in sapphic blue velvet' whom he had first met at the beginning of the decade: 'To hear her speak was enough.  Her voice was raucous and appalling.  I thought her awful, common, vulgar, strident, a second-rate American with no charm.'"

[1]  Edward, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII and the Duke of Windsor following his abdication), was called David by his family.

Emerald Cunard, nee Maude Alice Burke (1872-1948), American-born, British-naturalized grand society hostess (according to The Times, "the most lavish in her day"), wife of Sir Bache Cunard, founder of the Cunard Shipping Lines, mother of writer and muse Nancy Cunard, and supporter of Mrs. Simpson, it was Lady Cunard's great hope to be appointed as Mistress of the Robes, the Senior Lady in the British Royal Household in the event Mrs. Simpson became Queen to Edward VIII. 

 

Sir Henry "Chips" Channon (1897-1958), American-born, naturalized British citizen and politician, friend and supporter of King Edward VIII.  Regarding the expurgated version of his diaries (the unredacted manuscripts are held in the British Museum and their contents cannot be published until after 2018), Malcolm Muggeridge wrote in The Observer: "Grovellingly sycophantic and snobbish as only a well-heeled American nesting among the English upper classes can be, with a commonness that positively hurts at times. And yet – how sharp an eye! What neat malice! How, in their own fashion, well written and truthful and honest they are! … What a relief to turn to him after Sir Winston's windy rhetoric, and all those leaden narratives by field-marshals, air-marshals and admirals!"   Nancy Mitford observed: "You can't think how vile & spiteful & silly it is. One always thought Chips was rather a dear, but he was black inside; how sinister!"

Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (1904-80), English fashion and portrait photographer, interior designer and stage and costume designer for theater and film.

II.  Behavior of Edward, the Prince of Wales, upon the death of his youngest brother, Prince John of the United Kingdom (1905-19),  following an attack of epilepsy.


          "For both parents [1], the death was 'the greatest mercy possible', yet May was hurt by her older son's cold attitude toward his brother and his death.  When he heard how he had hurt her, David did write to apologise, explaining, 'no one can realise more than you how little poor Johnnie meant to me who hardly knew him.' At least the poor child had one brother who cared about him." [2]

[1]  King George V and Queen Mary (known to her family as May).
[2]  This refers to Prince George (later the Duke of Kent).

Prince John of the United Kingdom (1904-19) photographed in 1913.

Edward, Prince of Wales, in Canada, 1919.

The Duke of Windsor reviewing SS troops, Germany, 1937.

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor being entertained at the White House, Washington, D.C., 1970, with President Richard M. Nixon.

Reader Note: Text in I and II above excerpted from:  Sophia Watson, Marina:  The Story of a Princess.  London, Weidenfield & Nicholson, 1994.