Georgina Kennard

Georgina, Lady Kennard (née Wernher; 17 October 1919 – 28 April 2011) was a member of the British aristocracy who has been described as "one of the best connected women in the country" and "a distant cousin of the Queen and one of her closest friends".[1] Lady Kennard was the mother of Alexandra Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn, and Natalia Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster. She was also an aunt of Maralyn Ramsay, Countess of Dalhousie, the sister of Myra Alice Wernher, Lady Butter, and a first cousin once removed of George Mountbatten, 4th Marquess of Milford Haven. She was the godmother to the Queen's second son, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, who attended her funeral in person.[2]

Life

Lady Kennard was born Georgina Wernher in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 17 October 1919 to Sir Harold Augustus Wernher, 3rd Bt., and Countess Anastasia de Torby. She was a maternal granddaughter of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia (grandson of Tsar Nicholas I and first cousin of Tsar Alexander III), and also claimed direct descent from the Russian writer Alexander Pushkin and the Afro-Russian military officer Abram Petrovich Hannibal. The family's country home was Luton Hoo.[3] Gina "came out" as a debutante in the 1937 "coronation" season, aged only 17 but already having completed her education with studies in domestic science.[4]

On 10 October 1944, Gina Wernher married Lt.-Col. Harold Phillips (1909–1980). They had five children:

Lady Kennard's first husband, Harold Phillips, died in 1980. She was remarried in 1992 to Sir George Arnold Ford Kennard, 3rd Bt. (1915–1999).

Lady Kennard died at her home in London on 28 April 2011 aged 91 years old.

Ancestry

References
  1. Richard Allen, Confidante who lived next door, London Evening Standard, 1 May 2002. Accessed 30 August 2016.
  2. Court circular, The Times, 6 May2011. Accessed 30 August 2016.
  3. Raleigh Trevelyan, Grand Dukes and Diamonds: The Wernhers of Luton Hoo (Faber and Faber, 2012), passim.
  4. "A debutante of only 17 is Miss Georgina Wernher, elder daughter of Sir Harold and Lady Zia Wernher and granddaughter of the Grand Duke Michael of Russia. Although fond of hunting and travelling, Miss Wernher has been sensible enough to complete her education with a course of domestic science." Brainy Debutantes, The West Australian, Tue 20 Apr 1937, page 6. Accessed 30 August 2016.

Sources
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