Lady Elizabeth Georgiana Shakerley (''née'' Anson; 7 June 1941 – 1 November 2020) was a British party planner and socialite from the

Anson family The Anson family is a British aristocratic family. Over time, several members of the Anson family were made knights, baronets and peers. Hereditary titles held by the Anson family include the earldom of Lichfield (since 1831) and the Anson baronet ...

. She was a first cousin once removed of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

and sister of

Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield Thomas Patrick John Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield (25 April 1939 – 11 November 2005) was an English photographer from the Anson family. He inherited the Earldom of Lichfield in 1960 from his paternal grandfather. In his professional practic ...

Early life

Huwelijk prinses Beatrix en prins Claus, Bestanddeelnr 254-7532

The Honourable Elizabeth Georgiana Anson was born on 7 June 1941 at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...

to Thomas Anson, Viscount Anson (1913–1958), and Anne Bowes-Lyon. Anson's mother was a niece of

Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to: Queens regnant * Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland * Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022 ...

(later the Queen Mother).

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952. ...

was her godfather. She was the niece of

Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon Nerissa Jane Irene Bowes-Lyon (18 February 1919 – 22 January 1986) and Katherine Juliet Bowes-Lyon (4 July 1926 – 23 February 2014) were two of the daughters of John Herbert Bowes-Lyon and his wife Fenella (née Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefu ...

. She was educated at Downham School,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. In 1960, her paternal grandfather, the 4th

Earl of Lichfield Earl of Lichfield is a title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of England (1645 and 1674) and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom (1831). The third creation is extant and is held by a member of the Anson family. H ...

, died and her brother, Patrick, inherited the title and family seat,

Shugborough Hall Shugborough Hall is a stately home near Great Haywood, Staffordshire, England. The hall is situated on the edge of Cannock Chase, about east of Stafford and from Rugeley. The estate was owned by the Bishops of Lichfield until the dissoluti ...

near

Great Haywood Great Haywood is a village in central Staffordshire, England, just off the A51 and about northwest of Rugeley and southeast of the county town of Stafford. Population details taken at the 2011 census can be found under Colwich. Haywood l ...

, Staffordshire. Despite the estate's passing to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

in lieu of death duties, Lord Lichfield maintained an apartment for himself and his sister. Her parents divorced in 1948. Subsequently, her mother married

Prince Georg of Denmark Prince Georg of Denmark (Georg Valdemar Carl Axel; 16 April 1920 – 29 September 1986) was a Danish diplomat and member of the Danish royal family as a great-grandson of Christian IX. He was a first cousin of Harald V of Norway, Baudouin of ...

and moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

where Prince George Valdemar served as military, naval and air

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accord ...

. Her father died in 1958 before acceding to the Earldom of Lichfield. On 12 July 1961,

issued a Royal Warrant of Precedence granting Anson the title, rank, place, pre-eminence and precedence of the daughter of an Earl as if her father had succeeded. Thus, she became known as Lady Elizabeth Anson. In 1966, Lady Elizabeth was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands and Claus van Amsberg.

Career

Following the stress of planning her own

debutante ball A debutante ball, sometimes called a coming-out party, is a formal ball that includes presenting debutantes during the season, usually during the spring or summer. Debutante balls may require prior instruction in social etiquette and appropriate ...

in 1959, Lady Elizabeth founded the firm Party Planners in 1960. From then on she planned parties for her cousin, Queen Elizabeth II. Notable events she planned are:

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-ear ...

's wedding,

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

's 70th birthday party, the Queen's 80th and 90th birthday parties, the

wedding of Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, and Marie-Chantal Miller The wedding of Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, Prince of Denmark, and Marie-Chantal Miller took place on 1 July 1995 at St Sophia's Cathedral, in London, England. The wedding ceremony, hosted by Miller's father, billionaire Robert Warren Mill ...

and a reception for foreign royal guests the night before the

wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton took place on Friday, 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London, England. The groom was second in the line of succession to the British throne. The couple had been in a relationship si ...

. In 2000, she planned three consecutive events for the

Royal Family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term p ...

;

Prince William William, Prince of Wales, (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Born in London, William was educa ...

's 18th birthday on 21 June,

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of Ki ...

’s 50th birthday on 15 August and

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth ...

’s 70th birthday on 21 August. In 1993, she notably organised a 50th birthday party for

Ivana Trump Ivana Marie Trump (, ; February 20, 1949 – July 14, 2022) was a Czech-American businesswoman, media personality, socialite, fashion designer, author, and model. Ivana lived in Canada in the 1970s before relocating to the United States and m ...

's then fiancé, Riccardo Mazzucelli, but later sued Trump for not receiving £6,500 of a £36,500 dinner bill. The courts eventually ruled in favour of Trump. As the step-daughter of a Danish prince, Lady Elizabeth also attended many royal events in continental Europe, including the 80th birthday celebrations in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

of the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ...

and

Queen of Norway The list of Norwegian monarchs ( no, kongerekken or ''kongerekka'') begins in 872: the traditional dating of the Battle of Hafrsfjord, after which victorious King Harald Fairhair merged several petty kingdoms into that of his father. Named after ...

, and the funeral of

Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg Jean (Jean Benoît Guillaume Robert Antoine Louis Marie Adolphe Marc d'Aviano; 5 January 1921 – 23 April 2019) was the Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1964 until his abdication in 2000. He was the first Grand Duke of Luxembourg of French agnatic ...

. In 2018, Lady Elizabeth attended a state banquet given by Queen Elizabeth II in honour of the

and

Queen of the Netherlands The monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are governed by the Constitution of the Netherlands. Consequently, a large portion of it is devoted to the monarch. Roughly a third of ...

at Buckingham Palace.

Marriage and family

On 27 July 1972, Anson married Sir Geoffrey Shakerley, 6th Bt, at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

. Guests at the wedding included;

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was th ...

and

Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husb ...

and

Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones Lady Sarah Frances Elizabeth Chatto (née Armstrong-Jones; born 1 May 1964) is the only daughter of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. She and her brother, David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, are the only ...

were among her bridesmaids. Lady Elizabeth and Shakerley separated in 1986 and divorced in 2009. They had one daughter and two grandchildren: * Fiona Elizabeth Fenella Shakerley (born 18 August 1973); she married at

Lichfield Cathedral Lichfield Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, one of only three cathedrals in the United Kingdom with three spires (together with Truro Cathedral and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh), and the only medieva ...

on 22 May 2004, Edward Brocas Burrows (born 1975), grandson of

Montagu Brocas Burrows Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant General Montagu Brocas Burrows, (31 October 1894 – 17 January 1967) was a British Army officer who served in both world wars and became Commander-in-Chief of West Africa Command from 1945 to 1946. ...

. They have two children: ** Noah Burrows (born 1 March 2006) ** Ruby Burrows (born 2 November 2008)

Death

Shakerley suffered from

chronic fatigue syndrome Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or ME/CFS, is a complex, debilitating, long-term medical condition. The Pathophysiology, causes and mechanisms of the disease are not fully understood. Distinguishing c ...

. She died of emphysema in hospital in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 1 November 2020 at the age of 79. A memorial service was held on 23 June 2022 at

St Margaret's Church, Westminster The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey, is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster a ...

The Countess of Wessex Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, (born Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones, 20 January 1965) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, the youngest sibling of King Charles III. Sophie grew up in Brenchle ...

(representing Queen Elizabeth II), Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands and Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar attended, she was eulogized by Dame Joanna Lumley.

Honours

* 31 March 2020:

Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, ...

(CVO) * 10 March 1966: Recipient of the Wedding Medal of Princess Beatrix and Claus van Amsberg

Ancestry

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shakerley, Lady Elizabeth 1941 births 2020 deaths People from Windsor, Berkshire Daughters of viscounts Wives of baronets English socialites Deaths from emphysema Deaths from cancer in England Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...