| 18 November 2009 |
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Mount Stewart Lady Dies |
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 County Down aristocrat Lady Mairi Bury has died at her family seat Mount Stewart aged 88.
The daughter of the 7th Marquess of Londonderry passed away at the Newtownards estate on Monday.
Lady Mairi was one of the last members of the dynastic Londonderry family to reside at the Strangford Lough retreat, which is now under the care of the National Trust.
Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson paid tribute to Lady Mairi, who he described as a "remarkable woman". "In opening Mount Stewart (pictured) to the public she gifted to the people of Northern Ireland a beautiful and much loved attraction which is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands every year," he said.
Born in 1921 to Lord and Lady Londonderry, Mairi's life was one of glamour and royal parties, but was at times fraught with political insinuations.
In 1936, Adolf Hitler's foreign minister von Ribbentrop was a guest of the Londonderrys, with Lady Londonderry later receiving a letter from Hitler himself, thanking her for the "beautiful Irish roses".
By the time of his death in the late 1940s, Lord Londonderry had been branded a friend of Nazi gangsters by the press.
In that decade, Lady Mairi married Derek Keppel, Viscount Bury. They divorced in 1958.
A year earlier the Mount Stewart gardens were entrusted to the National Trust and in 1977, Lady Mairi put the house and its contents into the care of the charity.
The deceased is survived by her two daughters Elizabeth and Rose, three grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
A private funeral will be held at Mount Stewart tomorrow, with a public memorial service expected to be held at St Mark's Church, Newtownards in the New Year.
Mount Stewart house and gardens will be closed on Thursday 19 November.
(PR/KMcA) |
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