Elizabeth Douglas-Home

Elizabeth Hester Douglas-Home, Baroness Home of the Hirsel (née Alington; 6 November 1909 – 3 September 1990) was the wife of British politician and prime minister Alec Douglas-Home.

The Right Honourable The Lady Home of the Hirsel
Douglas-Home in 1963
Born	Elizabeth Hester Alington (1909-11-06)6 November 1909
Died	3 September 1990(1990-09-03) (aged 80)
Nationality	British
Known for	Spouse of the prime minister of the United Kingdom (1963–64)
Spouse	Alec Douglas-Home ​ (m. 1936)​
Children	4, including David, 15th Earl of Home
Father	Cyril Alington

Biography

She was born Elizabeth Hester Alington,^[1] the second daughter of the Very Rev Cyril Alington^[2]—headmaster of Shrewsbury School and Eton College successively, as well as chaplain to King George V^[2]—and his wife, Hester Margaret Lyttelton, daughter of George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton.^[2] Elizabeth was the first woman to become a fellow (governor) of Eton.^{[citation needed]}

She married Alec Douglas-Home on 3 October 1936.^[1] Thanks to her husband acquiring and renouncing various titles, she had, according to The Guinness Book of Records, more names successively in her lifetime than any other once-married, British-only woman.^{[3][page needed]}

The couple had four children:

• Lady (Lavinia) Caroline Douglas-Home DL (b. 11 Oct 1937), who served as a Lady-in-Waiting to various members of the Royal Family
• Lady Meriel Kathleen Douglas-Home (b. 27 Nov 1939), m. Adrian Darby, Bursar of Keble College, Oxford
• Lady Diana Lucy Douglas-Home (18 Dec 1940 - 22 August 2024), m. James Wolfe Murray
• David Alexander Cospatrick Douglas-Home, 15th Earl of Home (20 Nov 1943–22 Aug 2022).

She died on 3 September 1990 at the age of 80.^[4] Her husband outlived her by just over five years.^[5] They had been married for nearly 54 years.

References

1. Hurd 2004, under "Marriage and the Second World War".
2. Card 2004.
3. Guinness Book of Records 1985.
4. "Confirmation of birthname". RootsWeb. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
5. Hurd 2004, under "Retirement".

Bibliography

• Blair, Cherie; Cate Haste (2005). The Goldfish Bowl: Married to the Prime Minister 1955–1997. Vintage. ISBN 978-0-09-946202-6.
• Card, Tim (2004). "Alington, Cyril Argentine". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30379. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Guinness Book of Records 1985. Guinness World Records Limited (published 19 October 1984). 1985. ISBN 978-0-85112-419-3.
• Hurd, Douglas (2004). "Home, Alexander Frederick [Alec] Douglas-, fourteenth earl of Home and Baron Home of the Hirsel". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.

External links

• Media related to Elizabeth Douglas-Home at Wikimedia Commons
• Portraits of Elizabeth Douglas-Home at the National Portrait Gallery, London

Unofficial roles
Preceded by Dorothy Macmillan	Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1963–1964	Succeeded by Mary Wilson