Samantha Gwendoline Cameron, Baroness Cameron of Chipping Norton (; born 18 April 1971), is an English businesswoman. Until 2010, she was the creative director of Smythson of Bond Street. She is married to David Cameron, who served as

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

from 2010 to 2016 and Foreign Secretary from 2023 to 2024. Cameron took on a part-time consultancy role at Smythson after her husband became prime minister.

Early life

Cameron is the elder daughter of Sir Reginald Sheffield, 8th Baronet, and Annabel Lucy Veronica Jones. Sir Reginald and Annabel married on 11 November 1969. The couple divorced in 1974, and Annabel later remarried to William Waldorf Astor III, nephew of her own stepfather Michael Langhorne Astor, with whom she had three more children. Her father also had three more children by his second wife Victoria Penelope Walker. Samantha Sheffield's birth was registered in Paddington, London. She grew up on the estate of Normanby Hall, north of

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town in Lincolnshire, England, and the county's third most populous settlement after Lincoln, England, Lincoln and Grimsby, with a population of 81,286 in 2021. It is the administrative centre and largest settleme ...

North Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Lincolnshire, England. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, it had a population of 167,446. T ...

, though not in the Hall itself, the family having moved out in 1963, some eight years before her birth. Cameron is a great-granddaughter of

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Member of Parliament Sir Berkeley Sheffield and, through him, is a distant cousin of model and actress Cara Delevingne. The father of Samantha's maternal grandmother, Patricia Clifford, was Sir Bede Clifford, a descendant of King Charles II. Her great-grandparents also include the writer Enid Bagnold and her husband Sir Roderick Jones, head of

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

. Through her great-great-great-grandfather Sir Robert Sheffield, 4th Baronet, she is a fourth cousin of Pamela Harriman, first wife of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

's son Randolph Churchill. This Sheffield ancestor was an MP for the same constituency as Thomas Corbett, also an ancestor. Cameron's family also own a large Yorkshire estate called Sutton Park which has links to the ancestors of Catherine, Princess of Wales.

Education

Cameron initially went to St Helen and St Katharine, though she sat A-Levels at Marlborough College. She did an Art Foundation course at Camberwell College of Arts and went on to study Fine Art at the School of Creative Arts, part of the

University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a Public university, public research university, located in and around Bristol, England, UK. With more than 39,912 students and 4,300 staff, it is the largest provider of hi ...

Family

She and David Cameron married on 1 June 1996 at the Church of St. Augustine of Canterbury, East Hendred,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, five years before he was first elected as MP for

Witney Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford. History The Toponymy, place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest kno ...

at the 2001 general election. The couple have had four children: Ivan Reginald Ian Cameron (8 April 2002, Hammersmith and Fulham, London – 25 February 2009, Paddington, London), Nancy Gwen Beatrice Cameron (born 19 January 2004,

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, London), Arthur Elwen Cameron (born 14 February 2006, Westminster) and Florence Rose Endellion Cameron (born 24 August 2010,

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

). Ivan was born with a rare combination of

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

and severe

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

and died at the age of six at

St Mary's Hospital, London St Mary's Hospital is a teaching hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust ...

. Florence Cameron's third given name, Endellion, is taken from the Cornish village of

St Endellion St Endellion () is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and hamlet in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The hamlet and parish church are situated four miles (6.5 km) north of Wadebridge. The parish takes its name from Saint Ende ...

; she was born early at the

Royal Cornwall Hospital The Royal Cornwall Hospital, formerly and still commonly known as the Treliske Hospital, is a medium-sized teaching hospital in Treliske, on the outskirts of Truro, Cornwall, England. The hospital provides training services for the University of ...

while the Camerons were on holiday in Cornwall.

Work and politics

Cameron was a creative director at the British accessories brand Smythson of Bond Street, from 1997 until May 2010, winning a British Glamour Magazine Award for Best Accessory Designer in 2009. She took on a part-time creative consultancy role at Smythson after her husband became prime minister. From 2011 to 2015, Cameron was on the judging panel for the Vogue Fashion Fund alongside

Victoria Beckham Victoria Caroline, Lady Beckham (; born 17 April 1974) is an English fashion designer, singer, and television personality. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Posh Spic ...

, Alexandra Shulman, and Lisa Armstrong. She was an ambassador for the British Fashion Council playing a prominent role in

London Fashion Week London Fashion Week (LFW) is a clothing trade show that takes place in London, England, twice a year, in June and September. Showcasing over 250 designers to a global audience of influential media and retailers, it is one of the 'Big Four' fash ...

. In 2013, Cameron was named in ''

Tatler ''Tatler'' (stylised in all caps) is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. It focuses on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper and upper-middle c ...

's'' Top 10 Best Dressed List. In 2015, Cameron was named In '' Vanity Fair'' International Best-Dressed List. In 2017 Cameron founded Cefinn, a womenswear brand based in London that launched its first collection in February of that year. The name Cefinn (pronounced 'Seffin') is an acronym of her four children's names, Ivan, Nancy, Elwen, and Florence, between the first and last letters of Cameron.

Charitable causes

Cameron is active for several charitable causes, and in June 2013 became a patron for Revitalise. Cameron has volunteered for Dress for Success, a nonprofit organisation that gives free clothes and advice about job interviews to unemployed women.Emma Barnett
Dress for Success: the charity quietly getting British women back into work
, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 18 October 2012 In October 2012, she held a benefit for them at Number 10. On 11 December 2015, it was announced Cameron, one of sixteen celebrities, to participate in the ''Great Sport Relief Bake Off'', which aired in 2016 as part of that year's

Sport Relief ''Sport Relief'' was a wikt:biennial, biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002. It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Dire ...

fundraiser. Cameron is an ambassador for the charity

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

. In March 2013, after visiting Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Cameron said: "As a mother, it is horrifying to hear the harrowing stories from the children I met today, no child should ever experience what they have. With every day that passes, more children and parents are being killed, more innocent childhoods are being smashed to pieces."

Other issues

Cameron is credited with coining the phrase "There is such a thing as society; it's just not the same thing as the state". This has been said several times by David Cameron, including in his victory speech following his victory in the Conservative leadership election in 2005. It is seen as a rejoinder to

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

's famous comment, frequently misquoted as " there is no such thing as society". Samantha and David Cameron are members of the Chipping Norton set.

References

External links

www.burkespeerage.com

Profile: Samantha Cameron
BBC News {{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Samantha English philanthropists British baronesses Spouses of prime ministers of the United Kingdom 1971 births Living people English businesspeople in fashion 21st-century English businesswomen 21st-century English businesspeople English Anglicans

Samantha Cameron Samantha Gwendoline Cameron, Baroness Cameron of Chipping Norton (; born 18 April 1971), is an English businesswoman. Until 2010, she was the creative director of Smythson of Bond Street. She is married to David Cameron, who served as Prime ...

People from Paddington People educated at the School of St Helen and St Katharine People from Burton upon Stather Daughters of baronets Spouses of life peers Family of David Cameron Alumni of the University of the West of England, Bristol