Just weeks after the death of her cousin and bridesmaid, the Hon. Margaret Rhodes, the Queen has lost another old friend and bridesmaid, Lady Elizabeth Longman, aged 92 on the 8th of December. A goddaughter of Queen Mary, Lady Elizabeth was the maternal grandmother of Rose, Marchioness of Cholmondeley and Marina, Countess of Durham.
#QueenElizabeth loses another of her beloved bridesmaids: Childhood playmate Lady Elizabeth Longman dies aged 92 pic.twitter.com/0JiKJpcgsq
— Noorani Tejani (@NooraniTejani) December 12, 2016
#QueenElizabeth loses another of her beloved bridesmaids: Childhood playmate Lady Elizabeth Longman dies aged 92 pic.twitter.com/0JiKJpcgsq
— Noorani Tejani (@NooraniTejani) December 12, 2016
Daughter of Field Marshal Frederick Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan and Lady Hester Byng, Lady Elizabeth was born the long lost world of Interwar grandeur. Part of the 1st Buckingham Palace Brownies, an elite Girl Guides at which involved the Queen and Princess Margaret and the daughters of aristocrats, her daughter recalls her saying “nanny hailed a cab outside our house in Bayswater, She said to the driver: “Buckingham Palace please”, and he replied: “Pull the other one — it’s got bells on.” A perfectly natural reaction, of course, but at the time I didn’t realise just how special I was.” After being a bridesmaid to princess (later Queen) Elisabeth in 1947, she remembered Prince Philip had given the bridesmaids Art Deco silver compacts with a gold crown above the bride and groom’s entwined initials, and a row of five small sapphires. ‘He dealt them out like playing cards,’ She remained good friends with another bridesmaid, the Hon. Margaret Rhodes, who died a few weeks ago. Lady Elizabeth married publisher Mark Longman in 1949, and had three daughters, including Caroline, one of the Queen’s godchildren and one of the Prince of Wales’s first girlfriends, and Emma, mother of Rose, Marchioness of Cholmondeley and Marina, Countess of Durham. Widowed in 1972, she was still a valued friend of the Queen, attending the 90th birthday Thanksgiving Service in June most recently. One of her recent highlights was posing with model Kate Moss during a fashion shoot at Houghton Hall in 2012. She wore her original Vionnet gown with the family tiara and pearls.
UPDATE: The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were represented by Mrs. Peter Troughton (Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire) at the Funeral of the Lady Elizabeth Longman on December 20th.
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