Cecil Robin Douglas-Home (8 May 1932 – 15 October 1968) was a British aristocrat, jazz pianist and author.

Life

Robin Douglas-Home was the eldest son of the Honourable Henry Douglas-Home from his first marriage to Lady Margaret Spencer. His uncle was the former

British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern ...

Sir Alec Douglas-Home and his younger brother Charles Douglas-Home was the editor of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

''. He was first cousin of John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, father of Diana, Princess of Wales. Douglas-Home attended

Ludgrove School Ludgrove School is an English independent boys preparatory boarding school. Ludgrove was founded in 1892 at Ludgrove Hall in Middlesex by the Old Etonian sportsman Arthur Dunn. Dunn had been employed as a master at Elstree School, which sent ...

, where he was noted for his artistic talent. Douglas-Home was a jazz pianist and a leading society figure during the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1950s, he had a relationship with

Princess Margaretha of Sweden Princess Margaretha of Sweden (Margaretha Sofia Lovisa Ingeborg; 25 June 1899 – 4 January 1977) was a member of the Swedish Royal Family by birth and the Danish Royal Family by marriage. She was the elder sister of Crown Princess Märtha of Nor ...

but, according to the press, they were refused permission to marry by her mother, Princess Sibylla, notwithstanding a subsequent statement from King Gustaf VI Adolf saying, "The King has not imposed any ban on the marriage in question". However, Princess Margaretha's nanny and confidante Ingrid Björnberg states categorically in her memoirs that the breakup of the couple was not due to Princess Sibylla refusing to permit them to marry, but because Princess Margaretha did not wish to marry him. Douglas-Home married the

fashion model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Thoug ...

Sandra Paul Sandra Howard, Lady Howard of Lympne (born August 1940) is an English novelist, former model and the wife of Michael Howard, a former leader of the Conservative Party. Life She was trained at the Lucy Clayton Modelling Agency and as Sandra Paul ...

in 1959 and they had a son in 1962, Sholto. The couple were divorced in 1965 coinciding with his romance with

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon 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&nbs ...

. His divorce was the subject of a BBC television documentary by

Alan Whicker Alan Donald Whicker (2 August 1921 – 12 July 2013) was a British journalist and Television presenter, television presenter and broadcaster. His career spanned almost 60 years, during which time he presented the documentary televisio ...

. Lady Cosima Vane-Tempest-Stewart (born 1961), second daughter of the 9th Marquess of Londonderry, claimed to be in fact a biological child of Douglas-Home, who was thought to have had a liaison with her mother, the

Marchioness A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman w ...

, who later married the singer

Georgie Fame Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman. Fame is the onl ...

. Douglas-Home was author of an authorised biography of Frank Sinatra (1962) and published four novels, including ''Hot for Certainties'' (1964) which won the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award. He also wrote a number of articles for journals and magazines such as ''

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

'' and '' Woman's Own''. Douglas-Home

committed suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and subs ...

in 1968 at his country home in West Chiltington, West Sussex, aged 36, having suffered for some years from

clinical depression Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Introdu ...

Bibliography

Non-fiction

*''Sinatra'' (Michael Joseph, 1962)

Fiction

*''Hot for Certainties'' (Longman's Green and Co, 1966) *''When the Sweet Talking's Done'' (Leslie Frewin, 1968) *''The Faint Aroma of Performing Seals'' (Leslie Frewin, 1969)

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas-Home, Robin 1932 births 1968 suicides 20th-century British novelists 20th-century British pianists 20th-century Scottish musicians Scottish biographers Scottish journalists Scottish novelists Suicides in England People educated at Ludgrove School Male lovers of royalty