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Robin Douglas-Home

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Robin Douglas-Home
Born
Cecil Robin Douglas-Home

(1932-05-08)8 May 1932
London, England
Died15 October 1968(1968-10-15) (aged 36)
West Chiltington, West Sussex, England
Occupations
  • Pianist
  • author
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1959; div. 1965)​
Children1
Parent(s)The Hon. Henry Douglas-Home
Lady Margaret Spencer
RelativesAlec Douglas-Home (uncle)
Charles Douglas-Home (brother)

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

Life

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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 Sir Alec Douglas-Home and his younger brother Charles Douglas-Home was the editor of The Times. He was first cousin of John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, father of Diana, Princess of Wales. Douglas-Home attended Ludgrove School, where he was noted for his artistic talent.[1]

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 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".[2] 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.[3]

Douglas-Home married the fashion model 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. His divorce was the subject of a BBC television documentary by Alan Whicker.

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, who later married the singer Georgie Fame.[4]

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 and Woman's Own.

Douglas-Home committed suicide in 1968 at his country home in West Chiltington, West Sussex, aged 36, having suffered for some years from clinical depression.

Bibliography

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Non-fiction

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  • Sinatra (Michael Joseph, 1962)

Fiction

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  • Hot for Certainties (Longman's Green and Co, 1964)
  • When the Sweet Talking's Done (Leslie Frewin, 1968)
  • The Faint Aroma of Performing Seals (Leslie Frewin, 1969)

Ancestry

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References

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  1. ^ Barber, Richard (2004). The Story of Ludgrove. Oxford: Guidon Publishing. p. 159. ISBN 0-9543617-2-5.
  2. ^ "The Princess & the Pianist". Time. 20 May 1957. Archived from the original on 23 January 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2009.
  3. ^ Björnberg, Ingrid. 1975. Dagbok från Haga och Stockholms slott. Stockholm: Bonniers. p 163
  4. ^ Mitchell Owens (27 June 1999). "NOTICED; Blood Tells. So Does Burke's". New York Times. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
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