{{Short description|English writer}} {{more citations needed|date=November 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Use British English|date=June 2012}} {{Infobox person | name = Denys Rhodes | image = | caption = | birth_name = Denys Gravenor Rhodes | birth_date = {{birth date|1919|7|9|df=y}} | birth_place = Ireland | death_date = {{dda|1981|10|30|1919|7|9|df=y}} | death_place = | occupation = Writer | years_active = | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Rachel Gurney|1946|1950|end=annulled}} * {{marriage|Hon. Margaret Elphinstone|31 July 1950}} }} | children = 5 | parents = Arthur Tahu Gravenor Rhodes<br /> Hon. Helen Cecil Olive Plunket | relatives = Arthur Rhodes <br /><small>(paternal grandfather)</small><br />William Plunket, 5th Baron Plunket <small>(maternal grandfather)</small><br />William Barnard Rhodes <small>(granduncle)</small> }} '''Denys Gravenor Rhodes''' (9 July 1919 – 30 October 1981) was an English writer. He was best known for his novel ''The Syndicate'', which was adapted into a 1968 film.
==Early life and background== Rhodes was born in Ireland, the son of (Arthur) Tahu Gravenor Rhodes, MVO (d. 1947), a solicitor and Captain in the Grenadier Guards, by his wife, Hon. Helen Cecil Olive Plunket, eldest daughter of the 5th Lord Plunket, Governor of New Zealand from 1904 to 1910.<ref>Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage 2008, ed. Charles Shaw, pg P-480</ref><ref name="auto">Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage 1963, Kelly's Directories, pg 961</ref><ref>The Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality, vol. 92, 1915, pg 256</ref> His paternal grandfather was the New Zealand politician Arthur Edgar Gravenor Rhodes OBE<ref>{{cite web |title=Arthur Tahu Gravenor Rhodes |url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C53857 |publisher=Auckland War Memorial Museum |access-date=17 November 2022}}</ref> and his granduncle was the politician and pastoralist William Barnard Rhodes. Rhodes served in the Second World War with the Rifle Brigade, fighting in North Africa and Italy.
==Personal life== He was married twice. His first marriage was to actress Rachel Gurney in 1946. The couple had a daughter, Sharon Gurney. The marriage was annulled in 1950. His second marriage was on 31 July 1950 to The Honourable Margaret Elphinstone (1925–2016), a first cousin of Elizabeth II. Princess Margaret served as a bridesmaid.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/08/01/archives/niece-of-queen-married-princess-margaret-is-bridesmaid-for-hon.html#:~:text=Occasionally%20the%20digitization%20process%20introduces,Rhodes%20of%20West%20Malling%2C%20Kent | title=NIECE OF QUEEN MARRIED; Princess Margaret Is Bridesmaid for Hon. Margaret Elphinstone | newspaper=The New York Times | date=1950-08-01}}</ref> The couple had four children and one grandson:<ref name="BBC">{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-38124026 |title=Queen's cousin Margaret Rhodes dies |last=Hunt |first=Peter |date=27 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="auto"/>
*Annabel Margaret Rhodes (born 21 February 1952); served as a bridesmaid to Princess Margaret in 1960. She married Christopher James Downing Strickland-Skailes in 1978. They have one son. She remarried G. V. Charles Cope in 1986. **Andrew James Downing Strickland-Skailes (born 1980) *Victoria Ann Rhodes (born 27 September 1953), a goddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a22064625/queen-elizabeth-godchildren/|title=Everything to Know About Queen Elizabeth's 30 Godchildren|date=9 September 2018|website=Town & Country}}</ref> married Nicholas Deans in 1974. *Simon John Gravenor Rhodes (born 22 February 1957), a godson of Princess Margaret;<ref>https://x.com/sarahdiaryz/status/1667081118657527809{{Dead link | date=May 2026 | fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> married Susan Simon in 1983, who was appointed as an extra lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II in July 2017.<ref>Appendix to the Court Circular, 13 July 2017</ref> *Michael Andrew Gravenor Rhodes (born 8 June 1960)
After his second marriage, Rhodes lived and wrote at Uplowman House<ref>Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage 1963, Kelly's Directories, pg 453 and pg 961</ref> at Uplowman in Devon, until inoperable lung cancer led to a move nearer London. They were offered The Garden House in Windsor Great Park by the Queen, where his wife continued to live until her own death in 2016, and where she wrote her 2011 memoir, ''The Final Curtsey''.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * {{IMDb name|0722411}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhodes, Denys}} Category:1919 births Category:1981 deaths Category:English writers Category:Moorhouse–Rhodes family