Patrick Plunket, 7th Baron Plunket

Patrick Terence William Span Plunket, 7th Baron Plunket, KCVO (8 September 1923 – 28 May 1975), was Equerry to Queen Elizabeth II and Deputy Master of the Household of the Royal Household (1954–1975). [1]

Lord Plunket was born into an old Anglo-Irish aristocratic family on his father's side. His mother, Dorothé Mabel Lewis, was the illegitimate daughter of the actress Fannie Ward and The 7th Marquess of Londonderry.[2] Briefly married to Capt. Jack Barnato, who died during World War I, she married as her second husband The 6th Baron Plunket.

When his parents were killed in an air accident in 1938, Plunket succeeded to the family peerage (created in 1827) as Baron Plunket. He and his brothers were then raised by an aunt, the Hon. Helen Rhodes, and her husband. He was educated at Eton College and joined the Irish Guards.

Lord Plunket was temporary Equerry to King George VI and then to The Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II (1948–1954), as a captain. While he was Master of the Household, in 1961, he became a godfather to Viscount Linley (who succeeded as The 2nd Earl of Snowdon in January 2017).[3] On 8 September 1957 he was promoted to major and to lieutenant-colonel 8 April 1969.

Lord Plunket was Trustee of the Wallace Collection and of the National Art Collection Fund.

Plunket was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in the 1955 New Year Honours, a Commander of the Order (CVO) in the 1963 Birthday Honours and a Knight Commander of the Order (KCVO) in the 1974 New Year Honours.

Unmarried, Lord Plunket died of cancer on 28 May 1975. The Queen unusually attended both his funeral at the Chapel Royal and his memorial service at the Guards’ Chapel.[4] He is buried in the Royal Burial Ground at Frogmore, the Royal Family's private graveyard in the Home Park near Windsor Castle. The Queen had a memorial built for him[5] in Valley Gardens, Windsor Great Park (a little pavilion with four columns), at the top of the valley (view from pavilion).

Coat of arms of Patrick Plunket, 7th Baron Plunket

Crest A horse passant Argent charged on the shoulder with a portcullis. Escutcheon Sable a bend a castle in chief and a portcullis in base Argent. Supporters Dexter an antelope Proper sinister a horse Argent both charged on the shoulder with a portcullis Sable. Motto Festina Lente [6]