Suzanne Beauclerk | |
---|---|
Duchess of St Albans | |
Born | Suzanne Marie Adèle Fesq 4 May 1921 Kuala Lampur British Malaya |
Died | 12 February 2010 |
Buried | Kensal Green Cemetery |
Spouse(s) | Charles Beauclerk, 13th Duke of St Albans |
Issue | Lord Peter Charles de Vere Beauclerk Lord James Charles Fesq de Vere Beauclerk Lord John William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk Lady Caroline Anne de Vere Beauclerk |
Father | Emile William Fesq |
Mother | Marie Claire Fesq |
Suzanne Marie Adèle Beauclerk, Duchess of St Albans (née Fesq; 4 May 1921 – 12 February 2010), known professionally as Suzanne St Albans, was a British writer and painter.
Suzanne Marie Adèle Fesq was born on 4 May 1921 in Kuala Lampur, British Malaya. She was of French descent on her mother and father's sides. Her father was Emile William Fesq, the owner of Assam Java Plantation in Selangor.[1] Her mother, Marie Claire, was a member of the Chassériau family. Her paternal great-grandfather was a wine exporter from Bordeaux who settled in Australia in 1848 after marrying a mulatto woman from New Orleans. Her maternal great-grandfather was a rubber planter from Bordeaux who settled in Malaya. She grew up in British Malaya and in Vence, Southern France. She attended boarding school in Paris and in Littlehampton.[2]
During the outbreak of World War II the Fesq family were living in Southern France. After the German invasion, the family made their way along with other refugees to Saint-Jean-de-Luz where they were evacuated by HMS Ettrick and brought to England.[2]
Once in England she worked as a librarian in Bedfordshire, before being taken on by the Psychological Warfare Branch of the Foreign Office.[3][4][5] She was first stationed in Algiers. She was transferred to Italy in 1944 where she worked in Naples, Rome, Florence, Bologna, and Venice. In 1945 she was posted at the British Embassy in Vienna, where she was under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Beauclerk, the future 13th Duke of St Albans, whom she married, becoming his second wife, on 19 March 1947.[2]
While serving in Rome during World War II, she took painting lessons. Back in England she enrolled at Slade School of Fine Art after being denied entry into Chelsea College of Arts.[4] Her work, mostly oil and watercolour paintings, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1963 and in 1965. She and her husband ran the Upper Grosvenor Gallery in Mayfair from 1967 until 1972.[2]