Rosalind Shand

Rosalind Maud Shand (née Cubitt; 11 August 1921 – 14 July 1994) was the daughter of Roland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe. She was the wife of army officer Major Bruce Shand and the mother of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, the second wife of Charles, Prince of Wales.[1]

The Honourable

Rosalind Shand
Born
Rosalind Maud Cubitt

(1921-08-11)11 August 1921
London, England
Died14 July 1994(1994-07-14) (aged 72)
Lewes, East Sussex, England
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 1946)​
ChildrenCamilla, Duchess of Cornwall
Annabel Elliot
Mark Shand
Parent(s)Roland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe
Sonia Rosemary Keppel

Childhood

Rosalind was born at 16 Grosvenor Street, London, on 11 August 1921,[2] the eldest of the three children born to the Hon. Roland Calvert Cubitt (1899–1962) and his wife Sonia Rosemary Cubitt (née Keppel; 1900–1986). Her father was the son of Henry Cubitt, 2nd Baron Ashcombe, and became 3rd Baron Ashcombe after his death. Rosalind's mother Sonia was the youngest daughter of the Hon. George Keppel and his wife, Alice Frederica Keppel (née Edmonstone).[3]

Rosalind had two younger siblings: the Hon. Henry Cubitt, who succeeded his father as the 4th Baron Ashcombe and the Hon. Jeremy Cubitt, who died in 1958 at the age of 30.[4][5] Her family was the aristocratic and wealthy Cubitt family,[6] which founded the Cubitt construction company.[7] She was a goddaughter of Dame Margaret Greville and inherited some of her fortune.[8]

Rosalind was named by the press as the 1939 'Debutante of the Year'.[9] She had her debutante ball on 6 July 1939 at the great Holland House in Kensington, London. It was attended by more than a thousand guests including famous entertainer Noël Coward and royals King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The ball was described as the last grand and great ball held at the house before it was destroyed during the Second World War.[10][11]

Marriage and children

Rosalind met her future husband Major Bruce Middleton Hope Shand (1917–2006), son of English journalist Philip Morton Shand and his first wife Edith Marguerite Harrington at the end of the Second World War. He later retired from the British Army after winning two Military Crosses and being a German prisoner of war.[12] They married on 2 January 1946 at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge in London.[13][12] The couple bought a country house, the Laines in Plumpton, East Sussex and also maintained another house in South Kensington.[14][15]

They had three children:[12]

and married secondly Charles, Prince of Wales

Career and charity work

Rosalind worked for an adoption agency before marriage.[16] She volunteered at the Chailey Heritage Foundation, which helps young children with disabilities, in the 1960s and 1970s located at North Chailey, East Sussex. She worked there as a volunteer for 17 years. Her daughter Camilla opened a new facility there in 2013.[17]

Death

She died at Lewes, East Sussex on 14 July 1994 aged 72, having long suffered from osteoporosis.[18] Her mother Sonia also died from the same disease in 1986.[18] She was survived by her husband, her three children and five grandchildren. Her youngest granddaughter Ayesha was born a year after her death.

Following Rosalind's death, Camilla became a member of the National Osteoporosis Society (a charity dedicated to improving the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of osteoporosis) in 1994 to help raise awareness of the disease. She became Patron of the charity in 1997, and was appointed President in 2001.[19]

Ancestry

References
  1. "Marriage and Family". The Prince of Wales website.
  2. Brandreth 2007, p. 71.
  3. Brandreth 2007, pp. 71–72.
  4. Brandreth 2007, p. 75.
  5. Brandreth 2007, p. 93.
  6. Brandreth 2007, pp. 67–68.
  7. "Profile: Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall". cbc.ca.news. 18 April 2006. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  8. "Mrs Greville Lives On". Archived from the original on 24 September 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  9. Lambert 2011.
  10. MacCarthy 2006, pp. 143–144.
  11. Mitford 2010, p. 97.
  12. Brandreth 2007, p. 88.
  13. Brandreth 2007, p. 74.
  14. Brandreth 2007, p. 104.
  15. Brandreth 2007, p. 107.
  16. "Who we are: President and Patrons: Annabel Elliot". baaf.org. Archived from the original on 17 April 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  17. "Duchess of Cornwall opens centre for disabled adults at Chailey Heritage Foundation". theargus.co.uk. 6 June 2013.
  18. "Duchess of Cornwall speaks of heartbreak over watching elderly mother die of osteoporosis". The Daily Telegraph. 25 October 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  19. Emma Soames (20 November 2006). "Camilla's dearest cause". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  20. Brandreth 2007, p. 69.
  21. Brandreth 2007, p. 57.

Books cited
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