Mary Cynthia Roche

Mary Cynthia Burke Roche (19 August 1934 – 3 March 2023) was a British aristocrat, schoolteacher, and writer.

Biography

Born at Peterculter, Aberdeenshire, she was the eldest child of Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy, and Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.[1][2] Roche was educated at Heathfield School, Ascot; St Paul's Girls' School, London; and in Florence, where she studied Italian and art history.[1][2]

Roche briefly entered business with Mark Birley to secure the British franchise for Hermès luxury goods and later owned a short-lived Kenyan safari airline.[1] In mid-life, she earned a classics degree from University College London and taught at secondary schools in London.[1] She also published Call Me Maurice: The Life and Times of Lord Fermoy, 1885–1955 (2007) and remained active in the King's Lynn Festival founded by her mother.[1]

Roche married three times. Her first husband, Anthony Berry (m. 1954, div. 1966), later a Conservative MP, was killed in the Brighton hotel bombing; they had four children.[1][3] She wed Denis Geoghegan, a UCL tutor, in 1973 (div. 1980), and classics master Michael Gunningham in 1981 (div. 1989).[1][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Mary Roche obituary". www.thetimes.com. March 9, 2023.
  2. ^ a b Bridger-Linning, Stephanie (March 9, 2023). "Family tragedy for Earl Spencer as he bids a final farewell to his 'enormously fun' aunt Mary". Tatler.
  3. ^ a b Pasternak, Anna (January 18, 2024). "What happened to Princess Diana's aunt – and why it's now normal for the aristocracy" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
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