Lady Juliet Townsend

Born in 1941 as Lady Juliet Smith, Townsend was the only daughter of Frederick Smith, 2nd Earl of Birkenhead, a historian and biographer. Her mother was the Hon. Sheila Berry, daughter of William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose. She grew up in Charlton, Northamptonshire.[1] She married John Townsend in 1970, and had three daughters.[1] Beginning in 1977, the pair operated a bookstore.[2]

She attended Somerville College, Oxford, graduating in 1960 with a degree in English. From 1965 to 2002, Townsend served as a lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon.[1][3] Margaret had requested that the appointed person be equipped to help supplement her perceived lack of a formal education.[4]

Townsend wrote a book recording "every village, church, stately home and architectural curiosity" within Northamptonshire, publishing it in 1968. Her next literary project, a children's story set during the Indian Mutiny, was released in 1971.[1] She regularly reviewed children's books for The Spectator, producing an annual guide on the year's best.[2]

She held an almost forty year membership in the Northamptonshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, and served as its president from 1988 to 1998.[5] She left the position after her appointment as Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire, the first woman to hold this role. She retired in June 2014, citing mobility difficulties.[1][6][7]