Lady Naomi Gordon-Lennox | |
---|---|
Born | March 1962 62) Kingston upon Thames, England | (age
Other names | Nimmy March |
Occupation | Actress |
Spouse | Gavin Burke (m. 1999; div.) |
Children | 3 |
Parent(s) | By adoption: Charles Gordon-Lennox, 10th Duke of Richmond Susan Grenville-Grey |
Lady Naomi Anna Gordon-Lennox (born March 1962), known as Nimmy March, is an English actress.
March's biological parents were a black South African father from Lesotho and a white English mother. [1] As an illegitimate child, [2] she was abandoned by her birth mother.
She was adopted by the Earl and Countess of March and Kinrara, who later became the Duke and Duchess of Richmond. Because of her race, at the time the adoption caused a stir within the peerage and the future Duke and Duchess were vilified by some for "sullying the aristocracy", as March herself described it. [3] [4]
She went to Bedales, an exclusive Hampshire school, before going on to drama school.
March's television screen credits include Coronation Street , Albion Market , Common As Muck , Goodnight Sweetheart , Casualty , William and Mary , Doctors , Strictly Confidential , The Bill , London's Burning , Waking the Dead , Death in Paradise , Agatha Raisin , Desmond's and Emmerdale .
She narrated the 2008 TV serial Last Voices of World War 1 on the History Channel, along with the BBC1 documentary The War On Loan Sharks.
Until 2004, children who were adopted by peers had no right to any noble or courtesy title. However, as a result of a Royal Warrant dated 30 April 2004, all children are now automatically entitled to the same styles and courtesy titles. [5] Therefore, on that date, she became Lady Naomi Burke.
She married Gavin Burke in 1999, but they subsequently divorced. They have three children: Khaya (born 1999), Malachy (born 2001), and Carlotta (born 2005). [6]
She has four siblings, including a sister who is also mixed-race. [2] She is Buddhist and bisexual. [7] [8]
A courtesy title is a form of address in systems of nobility used for children, former wives and other close relatives of a peer, as well as certain officials such as some judges and members of the Scottish gentry. These styles are used "by courtesy" in the sense that persons referred to by these titles do not in law hold the substantive title. There are several different kinds of courtesy titles in the British peerage system.
Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, later known as the Duchess of Teck, was a member of the British royal family. She was one of the first royals to patronise a wide range of charities and was a first cousin of Queen Victoria.
Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife, born Lady Alexandra Duff and known as Princess Arthur of Connaught after her marriage, was the eldest surviving grandchild of Edward VII and also the first cousin of George VI. Alexandra and her younger sister, Maud, had the distinction of being the only female-line descendants of a British sovereign officially granted both the title of Princess and the style of Highness.
William Douglas-Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton, KG, PC, also known as Lord William Douglas and the Earl of Selkirk, was a Scottish nobleman and politician. He was the eldest son of the 1st Marquess of Douglas by his second wife, Lady Mary Gordon, a daughter of the 1st Marquess of Huntly.
Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond,, styled the Earl of March from 1806 until 1819, was a British peer, soldier and prominent Conservative politician. Upon the death of his uncle in 1836, he inherited the Gordon estates and per the terms of the bequest, adopted thus additional surname.
The title of Earl of Ulster has been created six times in the Peerage of Ireland and twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since 1928, the title has been held by the Duke of Gloucester and is used as a courtesy title by the Duke's eldest son, currently Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster. The wife of the Earl of Ulster is known as the Countess of Ulster. Ulster, one of the four traditional provinces of Ireland, consists of nine counties: six of these make up Northern Ireland; the remainder are in the Republic of Ireland.
Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 10th Duke of Richmond, 10th Duke of Lennox, 10th Duke of Aubigny, 5th Duke of Gordon, styled Lord Settrington until 1935 and Earl of March and Kinrara between 1935 and 1989, was an English peer and landowner.
John Ian Robert Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford, styled Lord Howland until 1940, and styled Marquess of Tavistock from 1940 until 1953, was a writer and a British peer. As a businessman, the Duke and J. Chipperfield founded Woburn Safari Park, a commercial addition and expansion of the tourist business of Woburn Abbey, the family seat.
Helen Percy, Duchess of Northumberland, was an English aristocrat and courtier.
Natalia Ayesha Grosvenor, Dowager Duchess of Westminster, is a British aristocrat, philanthropist and winemaker. She is the widow of the 6th Duke of Westminster and mother of the 7th Duke. As of 2024, the Duchess's family, specifically her son, were 11th on the Sunday Times Rich List with a net worth of £10.127 billion.
Margaret Evelyn Cambridge, Marchioness of Cambridge, also known after her marriage as Princess Adolphus of Teck and the Duchess of Teck, was the sixth child and third daughter of Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster and the wife of Prince Adolphus.
Cecilia Underwood, Duchess of Inverness was the second wife of Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex. Despite marrying, like the Prince's first marriage, their union was in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772 and as such was considered legally void. Consequently, she could not be styled either as the Duchess of Sussex nor a Princess. She was created Duchess of Inverness, in her own right, by Queen Victoria, on 10 April 1840.
Hilda Madeline Gordon-Lennox, Duchess of Richmond was the daughter of Henry Brassey and Anna Harriet Stevenson, and granddaughter of the railway pioneer Thomas Brassey. She was known as Lady Settrington from 1893 to 1903, and as Countess of March from 1903 to 1928, when her husband inherited the dukedom.
The Baby Scoop Era was a period in anglosphere history starting after the end of World War II and ending in the early 1970s, characterized by an increasing rate of pre-marital pregnancies over the preceding period, along with a higher rate of newborn adoption.
Ivy Cavendish-Bentinck, Duchess of Portland GBE was Duchess of Portland from 1943 – 1977 and afterwards Dowager Duchess. She initiated the Harley Foundation, "to encourage creativity".
Louisa Jane Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn was a member of the British aristocracy. She was the half-sister of Prime Minister John Russell, 1st Earl Russell.
Frances Stewart (née Howard), Duchess of Lennox and Richmond, Countess of Hertford was the daughter of a younger son of the Duke of Norfolk. An orphan of small fortune, she rose to be the only duchess at the court of James I of England. She married the son of a London alderman who died in 1599, leaving her a wealthy widow at a young age. She became, for 20 years, the third wife of the ageing Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, nephew of Jane Seymour, third queen consort of Henry VIII. Within months of Edward's death she married a cousin of James I, Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox and 1st Duke of Richmond. One of the great beauties of the Jacobean court, she was also the patron of Captain John Smith of the Virginia Colony.
Charlotte Lennox, Duchess of Richmond, was a British aristocrat and peeress best known as the hostess of the Duchess of Richmond's ball.
Anne Lennox, Duchess of Richmond, formerly Anne Brudenell, was the wife of two English noblemen: first, Henry Belasyse, 2nd Baron Belasyse of Worlaby, and second, Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond. She was the mother of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond.
Elizabeth Butler, Duchess of Ormond and 2nd Baroness Dingwall reunited the Ormond estate as her maternal grandfather, Black Tom, 10th Earl of Ormond had it, by marrying James Butler, later Duke of Ormond, her second cousin once removed. She had inherited her share of the Ormond estate through her mother, Elizabeth Preston, who was Black Tom's daughter and only surviving child. Her husband had inherited his share from his grandfather Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond, Black Tom's successor in the earldom. Her share was the bigger one and included Kilkenny Castle.