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Sad news this week. Lindy Guinness, the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava has passed away at the age of 79! The only daughter Group Captain Loel Guinness and Lady Isabel Manners, daughter of the 9th Duke of Rutland, Lindy grew up at Belvoir Castle, the family seat of the Dukes of Rutland, and spent winters with her father father and stepmother, the famous Gloria Guinness, in Palm Beach. Studying at the Byam Shaw School of Art, the Chelsea School of Art and the Slade, she became a passionate artist and studied painting under Oskar Kokoschka, Duncan Grant and Sir William Coldstream. After a Coming out Ball at Belvoir Castle, Lindy married Sheridan Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, the 5th and last Marquess of Dufferin and Ava in a lavish society Wedding at Westminster Abbey. During the 1960s and 1970s, Lord and Lady Dufferin and Ava hosted many popular art gatherings at their mansion in Holland Park in London and at the Clandeboye Estate, the family seat, until the Marquess’ death of an AIDS-related illness in 1988, when the Marquessate became extinct because the couple had no children. Lady Dufferin inherited Clandeboye and became active in conservation issues, gaining an interest in pedigree cows, which she also frequently painted. Exhibiting as Lindy Guinness, the Marchioness had over 20 shows in London, Dublin, Paris and New York. The Marchioness began the annual Clandeboye Festival, and also opened an art gallery, the Ava Gallery. Clandeboye will now become become a foundation for conservation and education.

The Dufferin and Ava Shamrock Tiara