Sir Charles Michael Robert Vivian Duff, 3rd Baronet (3 May 1907 – 3 March 1980) was a British socialite who was Lord Lieutenant first of Caernarvonshire, and then of Gwynedd.

Family

Duff was the only son of Sir Robert George Vivian Duff, 2nd Baronet, of

Vaynol Vaynol or ''Y Faenol'' ( Welsh ) is a country estate dating from the Tudor period near Y Felinheli in Gwynedd, North Wales (). It has of park, farmland, and gardens, with more than thirty listed buildings, surrounded by a wall which is long ...

(d.1914), and his wife, Lady Juliet Lowther (1881–1965), only child of the 4th Earl of Lonsdale by his wife, Constance Robinson, Marchioness of Ripon. His maternal grandmother was a sister of the 13th and 14th Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery, and a daughter of the Rt. Hon.

Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea, Privy Council (United Kingdom), PC (16 September 1810 – 2 August 1861) was a British Politician, statesman and a close ally and confidant of Florence Nightingale. Early life He was the younger son of ...

, the half-Russian younger son of the 10th Earl of Pembroke, and a good friend to

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. He had one sibling, Victoria Maud Veronica Duff (1904–1967, married John Edward Tennant). His stepfather from 1919 until 1926 was Major Keith Trevor. He was a godson of

Mary of Teck Mary of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; 26 May 186724 March 1953) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 6 May 1910 until 20 Janua ...

(queen of King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

). Handsome and good-mannered, he was famed as a host and raconteur. He inherited the Welsh estate of

(also known by its Welsh spelling '

Faenol Vaynol or ''Y Faenol'' ( Welsh ) is a country estate dating from the Tudor period near Y Felinheli in Gwynedd, North Wales (). It has of park, farmland, and gardens, with more than thirty listed buildings, surrounded by a wall which is long ...

'), the slate of which was the principal source of the family's wealth. Surrounded by the estate's seven-mile-long stone wall, the Duffs lived in Vaynol New Hall, which had been built in 1800. The medieval Vaynol Old Hall, also on the estate, was occupied by the farm manager and later the estate manager. In 1928, Sir Michael assumed the additional surname of Assheton-Smith, only to renounce it in 1945. In 1930, he was a godfather to

Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon (7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017) was a British photographer. He is best known internationally for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in '' Vogue'', '' Vanity Fa ...

, later husband of

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. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. ...

. He served as High Sheriff of Anglesey for 1950. He then served as Mayor of Caernarvon, High Sheriff of Caernarvonshire (1932) and Lord Lieutenant of both Caernarvonshire and of

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

. He was a practical joker, one of his favourite pranks being to dress up as Queen Mary and pay surprise visits to friends - until he bumped into the Queen herself in a neighbour's hall. He also wrote a light novel, ''The Power Of A Parasol''.

Marriages

Sir Michael Duff-Assheton-Smith, as he then was, married first, on 5 March 1935, the Hon Millicent Joan Marjoribanks (born 1906), daughter of the 3rd and last Baron Tweedmouth. They divorced in July 1936, and the marriage was annulled in 1937. Sir Michael Duff, as he had subsequently become, married as his second wife, on 14 July 1949, Lady (Alexandra Mary Cecilia) Caroline Paget (1913–73), the eldest daughter of Charles Paget, 6th Marquess of Anglesey, and his wife, Lady Marjorie Manners, the eldest daughter of

Henry Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland Henry John Brinsley Manners, 8th Duke of Rutland, (16 April 1852 – 8 May 1925), styled Marquess of Granby between 1888 and 1906, was a British peer and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician. Early life and education Rutland was b ...

. Lady Caroline was at the time, according to

James Lees-Milne (George) James Henry Lees-Milne (6 August 1908 – 28 December 1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses, who worked for the National Trust from 1936 to 1973. He was an architectural historian, novelist and biographer. His extens ...

, diary 9 October 1949, pregnant, the father being

Duff Cooper Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, (22 February 1890 – 1 January 1954), known as Duff Cooper, was a British Conservative Party politician and diplomat who was also a military and political historian and writer. First elected to Parl ...

- her uncle by marriage. This pregnancy ended in a

stillbirth Stillbirth is typically defined as fetus, fetal death at or after 20 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the source. It results in a baby born without vital signs, signs of life. A stillbirth can often result in the feeling of guilt (emotio ...

. The Duffs subsequently adopted a son, Charles David Duff (b. 1950), who became a theatre historian. A documentary screened on BBC Two Wales in 2005 (''Faenol: Secrets Behind the Wall'') featured Charles Duff discussing his childhood, the

bisexuality Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, ...

of his adoptive parents, their marriage of convenience, and the details of his parentage. He did not inherit the estate, and when it was sold all the records were burnt, so compounding the mystery. In another interview for the BBC ("Wall Of Silence", BBC Wales website) Charles said of Vaynol: "It was a place of great conviviality and energy and joy". However, by the time Charles was in his teens, Sir Michael had come to believe that his second marriage and the adoption of his son had been grave errors, and according to Charles Duff, "he started to demonise both my mother and myself". Although appearances were maintained, neither could then do much right in Sir Michael's opinion. By this time the house and estate were also in decline. (Prior to the Second World War there had been 17 gardeners.)

The Duff Estate

The Vaynol estate, in northern Wales, close to the Anglesey estate at Plas Newydd, passed out of Duff family hands, the last main portion including the demesne within the walls being sold off in 1984. This had come into the family via Mary Assheton-Smith, niece and heiress of the famous squire Assheton-Smith, the celebrated foxhunter.

References

External links

*
The Power Of A Parasol
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duff, Michael, 3rd Baronet 1907 births 1980 deaths British socialites British bisexual men LGBTQ nobility Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Lord-lieutenants of Caernarvonshire Lord-lieutenants of Gwynedd High sheriffs of Anglesey High sheriffs of Caernarvonshire 20th-century British LGBTQ people