{{Short description|Butler dynasty member (1920–1959)}} {{Infobox person | name = Lady Moyra Butler | image = Moyra Comtesse van den Steen de Jehay Switzerland 1956.jpg | alt = Comtesse Moyra van den Steen de Jehay in Switzerland, 1956 | caption = Comtesse van den Steen de Jehay (Lady Moyra Butler) in Switzerland, 1956 (photo: Brodrick Haldane) | birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|12|2|df=yes}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1959|05|26|1920|12|2|df=yes}} | other_names = Lady Moyra Weld-Forester (1940–1948)<br>Countess van den Steen de Jehay (1948–1959) | spouse = {{Plainlist| {{Marriage|Charles Robert Cecil Weld-Forester|1940|1948|reason=div}} {{Marriage|Guy Van Den Steen|1948}} }} | children = Piers Weld-Forester (1946–1977)<br>Count Gerard van den Steen de Jehay (1948–1985) | father = George Butler, 5th Marquess of Ormonde | mother = The Hon. Sybil Fellowes | family = Butler dynasty }} '''Lady Moyra Butler''' (2 December 1920 – 26 May 1959) was the daughter of George Butler, 5th Marquess of Ormonde and Sybil Butler, Marchioness of Ormonde (''nee'' The Hon. Sybil Fellowes). She was one of the last members of the Butler Dynasty to reside at Kilkenny Castle. Along with her second husband Count Guy van den Steen de Jehay she financed and oversaw the restoration of the Van den Steen's ancestral seat in Belgium, the Chateau de Jehay during the 1950s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Collections – Castle Jehay |url=https://www.provincedeliege.be/en/node/19122 |website=Province de Liège |access-date=11 May 2025 |language=en}}</ref> During the Second World War she was, for a time, reportedly the only female transport driver attached to the British Red Cross Prisoners of War Department.<ref name="newspapers.com">{{cite news |title=Lady Moyra Weld-Forester: Only Female Transport Driver attached to the British Red Cross POW Dept |newspaper=Coventry Evening Telegraph |date=4 February 1942 |page=1 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/coventry-evening-telegraph-lady-moyra-we/173453472/ |access-date=30 May 2025}}</ref> Through her mother she was a first-cousin once-removed of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
==Early life== Lady Moyra Butler was born at 19 Gloucester Road, London, the London townhouse of her parents George, Earl of Ossory and Sybil, Countess of Ossory. In the year prior to her birth her father had been named as the life-tenant of the Ormonde Settled Estates Trust in the Will of his uncle James Butler, 3rd Marquess of Ormonde; consequently much of her youth was spent at the Ormonde's ancestral seat Kilkenny Castle, as well as the homes of her grandparents Arthur Butler, 4th Marquess of Ormonde and Ellen, Marchioness of Ormonde at Gennings Park in Kent and 11 Bryanston Square, London.<ref name="Kirwan2023">{{cite book |last=Kirwan |first=John |title=The Chief Butlers of Ireland and the House of Ormond: An Illustrated Genealogical Guide |publisher=Irish Academic Press |year=2023 |isbn=9781788551748}}</ref>
In 1935 due to the increased costs of maintaining the Castle, Lord Ossory made the decision to vacate the Castle; the family made the Ormonde Shooting Lodge Ballyknockane Lodge, Tipperary their principal Irish residence. The Ossory's also leased a series of London Residences in the 1920s and 1930s, including 19 Gloucester Road, 2A Duke Street in Manchester Square, and 30 St John's Wood Park.<ref name="Kirwan2023"/>
===Debutante=== In March 1938, an article about prominent debutantes in ''The Bystander'' featured a profile of Lady Moyra, and noted that she had just returned to England from a six-month stay in Germany.<ref>{{cite news |date=1938-03-16 |title=They Enter a New World: Six Debutantes of 1938 |page=427 |work=Bystander |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Moyra was presented at Court in May 1938.<ref>{{cite news |title=And the World said |newspaper=The Tatler and Bystander |location=London |volume=148 |issue=1931 |date=29 June 1938 |pages=574–576 |id={{ProQuest|1794979380}} }}</ref> Lord and Lady Ossory hosted a large ball at the London townhouse of the Marquess and Marchioness of Ormonde, 11 Bryanston Square, in June 1938 during Lady Moyra's debutant season. This dance was a joint coming-of-age party for Lady Moyra's brother, Anthony Butler, Viscount Thurles, as well as a debutant 'coming-out' party for Moyra. The guest list reported in newspapers at the time includes multiple prominent individuals from British and American High Society during the late 1930s, including American Ambassador Joseph Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy, the-then Mistress of the Robes the Duchess of Northumberland, Lord Carisbrooke, Lady Iris Mountbatten, Clarissa Churchill, the Earl Spencer and The Hon. Pamela Digby.<ref>{{cite news |title=Dances|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=20 May 1938 |page=19 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-party-viscount-thu/116275305/ |access-date=8 October 2023 |quote=Viscount Thurles coming-of-age and Lady Moyra Butler coming-out |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Moyra also attended a debutante ball given by Rose Kennedy (wife of U.S. Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy) for her daughters Kathleen and Rosemary at the American Embassy in London in May 1938.<ref>{{cite news |title=Court and Society: Ascot Week Arrangements –The Ball at Buckingham Palace 'Cutting-in' at a Debutant Dance – Embassy Party Flowers for the Ballroom |newspaper=The Observer |location=London |date=5 June 1938 |page=16 |id={{ProQuest|481499125}} }}</ref>
In 1939 Lord Ossory, Lady Ossory, and Lady Moyra were recorded as living in inner-northern London at 30 St John's Wood Park. Despite the reduced circumstances of the family, a butler, cook, housemaid, kitchenmaid, and lady's maid were also recorded as living at this address.<ref>{{cite web |title=1939 England and Wales Register – Hampstead Borough |website=Ancestry.com.au |publisher=The National Archives |url=https://www.ancestry.com.au/sharing/92006?token=1GH%2BAcF%2FW7FjM0RJH761zHdXfIe73NUEEBgB1wGncZQ%3D |access-date=30 May 2025}}</ref> Prior to her marriage, she appeared in newspaper advertisements for Pond's Creams.<ref>{{cite news |title=pending |newspaper=Sunday Pictorial |date=20 August 1939 |page=20 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==First Marriage and War Work== Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Moyra joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service as an Ambulance Driver. During the flurry of marriages in the weeks following the outbreak of war, her engagement to Lt. Charles Weld-Forester was announced. Charles was a grandson of Cecil Weld-Forester, 5th Baron Forester and cousin to The 7th Baron Forester. Through his mother Lady Victoria Weld-Forester (née Wynn-Carington), he was also a grandson of Charles Wynn-Carington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire.
After several last-minute date changes due to Lt Weld-Forester's army postings, the couple were married at St George's, Hanover Square on 30 April 1940. Charles' mother Lady Victoria had previously served as a Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Mary, who sent a telegram of congratulations to him on the morning of the Wedding Day. It was reported that the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, and Winston and Clementine Churchill were invited to the wedding.<ref>{{cite news |title=Society Wedding |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=29 April 1940 |page=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Moyra wore the bridal veil of her famed ancestress Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (a Churchill family heirloom; Moyra was a great-granddaughter of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough).<ref>{{cite news |title=Wedding Guests Despair When Bridegroom Arrives An Hour Behind Schedule |newspaper=The Winnipeg Tribune |date=25 May 1940 |page=12 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-winnipeg-tribune-wedding-guests-depa/173453232/ |access-date=30 May 2025}}</ref>
Eight days after the wedding, tragedy struck when Moyra's brother, James Anthony Butler, Viscount Thurles, died suddenly in a Nursing Home on the Isle of Wright; Moyra and Charles were reportedly at his bedside.<ref>{{cite news |title=Death of Viscount Thurles |newspaper=Leicester Evening Mail |date=9 May 1940 |page=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
On 5 June 1940 Lt Wed-Forester was reported as missing following the defence of Calais.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bride Told Calais Defender is Prisoner |newspaper=Evening Standard |date=19 July 1940 |page=1 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-standard-bride-told-calais-defen/173453444/ |access-date=30 May 2025}}</ref> On 19 July 1940 it was reported that he was wounded and captured by the advancing German Army. During her husband's time as a prisoner of war, Lady Moyra was reported to be the only female transport driver attached to the British Red Cross Prisoners of War Department in February 1942.<ref name="newspapers.com"/> Charles remained a Prisoner of War for the following five years; he was later released from Oflag IV-C (Colditz Castle) in April 1945 as American Troops approached the camp, and returned to England on 27 April 1945.<ref>{{cite news |title=Lieutenant Charles Robert Cecil Forester Returns Home |newspaper=The Tewkesbury Register, and Agricultural Gazette |date=28 April 1945 |page=5 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tewkesbury-register-and-agricultura/129021491/ |access-date=30 May 2025}}</ref> Just over one year later on 23 April 1946 Lady Moyra gave birth to the couple's only child, Piers Weld-Forester.
===Divorce and Second Marriage=== On 19 December 1947, Moyra's husband Charles sued her for divorce on the grounds that she had committed adultery with a Belgian Aristocrat, noted sculptor and Olympian Comte Guy van den Steen de Jehay "on the continent last summer".<ref>{{cite news |title=Belgium Count named in divorce suit |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=30 December 1947 |page=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Lady Moyra did not defend the suit, and a decree nisi was granted with costs against Count Guy van den Steen. Guy did not defend the suit of his own wife, Comtesse Marie-Estelle van den Steen de Jehay, who was granted a decree nisi for a divorce on the grounds of desertion on 25 May 1948.<ref>{{cite news |title=Degree Nisi for Comtesse Marie Estelle van den Steen de Jehay |newspaper=Evening Standard |date=25 May 1948 |page=5 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-standard-degree-nisi-for-comtess/173453669/ |access-date=30 May 2025}}</ref> On 3 August 1948 Guy and Lady Moyra were married at the Chelsea Register Office London.<ref>{{cite news |title=Marries a Sculptor |newspaper=Evening Standard |date=3 August 1948 |page=2 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-standard-marries-a-sculptor/173453703/ |access-date=30 May 2025}}</ref> Their only son Gerard van den Steen was born in London on 10 October 1949.<ref>{{cite news |title=Christening – Gerard Fernand George Ghislain van den Steen de Jehay |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=13 December 1949 |page=4 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-christening-gerard/173453745/ |access-date=30 May 2025}}</ref>
==Belgium==
During the 1940s, Count Guy van den Steen inherited his family's ancestral home, the Chateau de Jehay (Jehay-Bodegnée Castle). He reported that it was a 'dark, empty shell, surrounded by flat, uncultivated fields' at the time he came into possession of the Chateau.<ref>{{cite news |title=Programming |newspaper=Leicester Mercury |date=28 July 1975 |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Lady Moyra and Count Guy moved into the Castle in 1950,<ref>{{cite web |title=Les Routes de Simone: balade automobile au chateau de Jehay |website=En voiture Simone! |date=17 April 2012 |url=https://envoituresimone2.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/les-routes-de-simone-balade-automobile-au-chateau-de-jehay/ |access-date=7 January 2023}}</ref> and worked to restore the Chateau as a private residence; many Ormonde heirlooms continue to be held in the Chateau today.<ref>{{cite web |title=Le Château de Jehay |website=Arts et Lettres |date=28 June 2012 |url=https://artsrtlettres.ning.com/profiles/blogs/le-chateau-de-jehay |access-date=7 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Collections |url=https://www.provincedeliege.be/en/node/19122 |website=Province de Liège |access-date=31 May 2025}}</ref>
Lady Moyra and her son Gerard were photographed for the ''Tatler and Bystander'', and appeared on 25 January 1956 in the publication. An accompanying article noted that Moyra and her second husband Guy owned two miniature-Chalets in Grindelwald, Switzerland, where they spent the winter season skiing and entertaining friends each year.<ref>{{cite news |author=Jennifer |title=Senhor Kubitschek at the Palace |newspaper=The Tatler and Bystander |location=London |volume=219 |issue=2846 |date=25 January 1956 |pages=124–128 |id={{ProQuest|1795212694}} }}</ref>
===Personal wealth===
Moyra's inheritance from her parents and grandmother enabled her to facilitate the restoration of the Chateau de Jehay at private residence.
Upon her first marriage Moyra's parents had transferred the funds held in their marriage settlement to her. The settlement had initially consisted of £23,000 provided by George's mother Lady Arthur Butler and the income from £8,000 provided by Sybil's father. In 1925 Sybil's portion was increased to £17,500 under the terms of her father's Will, and George's mother Ellen provided an additional lump sum of £15,000 in 1929, which ultimately increased the size of the marriage settlement trust to £55,500 (£3,040,000 in 2025).<ref name="BOEInflationCalculator"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Will of William Henry Fellowes, 2nd Baron de Ramsey |newspaper=Saffron Walden Weekly News |date=6 November 1925 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/saffron-walden-weekly-news-will-of-willi/130381179/ |access-date=11 May 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>Ormonde Papers (Additional), Item No. MS 48,377/8, National Library of Ireland, Series No. 176</ref>
The terms of the 1938 Deed of Resettlement of the Ormonde Settled Estates Trust also empowered George, Earl of Ossory to place a charge of up to £10,000 onto any children of his, other than his first-born son.<ref name="Kirwan2023"/> Following George's death in 1949, in addition to this £10,000 (£305,000 in 2025 when adjusted for inflation),<ref name="BOEInflationCalculator">{{cite web |title=Inflation Calculator |url=https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator |website=Bank of England |access-date=30 May 2025}}</ref> Moyra was also beneficiary of her father's personal estate, much of which was sold at Auction in Dublin in January 1953. Contemporary newspaper articles report that the auction included over 100 oil paintings from the Collection of the 5th Marquess of Ormonde.<ref>{{cite news |title=Allen & Townsend Highly Important Fine Art Auction |newspaper=Irish Independent |date=10 January 1953 |via=Irish Newspaper Archive |url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IND%2F1953%2F01%2F17&id=Ar01401&sk=D9FDF10B&viewMode=image |access-date=5 October 2023}}</ref>
As Moyra outlived both her father and brother, she also inherited a quarter-share of the residuary estate of her wealthy American grandmother Ellen, Dowager Marchioness of Ormonde, who died in 1951. Ellen had inherited approximately $300,000 from her father General Anson Stager in 1885,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-inter-ocean-millions-of-money/137039985/ |title=Millions of Money |newspaper=The Daily Inter Ocean |publication-place=Chicago |page=9 |date=16 March 1895 |access-date=2023-12-18 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> as well as the bulk of the $847,000 estate of her sister Annie Stager Hickox upon the latter's death in 1922.<ref>{{cite news |title=Automobile Club Sells its Property; Eight and Thirteen Story Buildings Purchased by Real Estate Operators |id={{ProQuest|103185961}} |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_new-york-times_1923-06-22_72_23890/page/n16/mode/1up |newspaper=The New York Times |page=17 |date=22 June 1923 |access-date=2023-12-18 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> By the early 1930s, Ellen's fortune, held in a Trust in Ohio, produced an income of £16,000 (approximately US $80,000, or ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|80000|1932}}}} in 2024 when adjusted for inflation) annually.<ref>{{cite web |title=US Inflation Calculator |website=US Inflation Calculator |url=https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ |access-date=8 October 2023}}</ref><ref name="lexis">{{cite web |work=LexisNexis |title=Ormonde (Marchioness) v Brown (Inspector of Taxes) (1932) 17 TC 333 |url=https://advance.lexis.com/api/permalink/353bb927-f13b-4143-9eec-cf96697f6d28/?context=1201008&federationidp=HQT4VR35462 |access-date=16 March 2023}}</ref><ref>Chicago Tribune. (22 January 1936). Cleveland Trust Co, Trustee for Lady Ormonde's 1,034 Shares in Continental Illinois Bank. Newspapers.com. Retrieved 12 July 2025, from https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-cleveland-trust-co-trus/176472326/</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The 200 Year Pound to Dollar Exchange Rate History - From $5 in 1800s to Today's $1.29 |publisher=Exchange Rates UK |url=https://www.exchangerates.org.uk/articles/1325/the-200-year-pound-to-dollar-exchange-rate-history-from-5-in-1800s-to-todays.html |access-date=2023-12-07}}</ref>
====Remainder to the Ormonde Settled Estates Trust==== In 1938, Moyra's father, George, Earl of Ossory, together with her brother Viscount Thurles, re-settled the Ormonde Settled Estates Trust. Under the revised terms, should the male-line descendants of John Butler, 2nd Marquess of Ormonde become extinct, the family's ancestral estates and remaining wealth were to pass to Moyra and her descendants.<ref name="Kirwan2023"/>
This contingency eventuated following the death of Arthur Butler, 6th Marquess of Ormonde in 1971. Between 1975 and 1980, negotiations were undertaken to transfer the family's extensive collection of gold and silver heirlooms to the British Government in lieu of Estate Duty. By that time, the marquessate and life-interest in the Ormonde Settled Estates Trust had passed to Arthur's cousin, Charles Butler, 7th Marquess of Ormonde. As the Seventh Marquess of Ormonde had no sons, under the terms of the 1938 Trust re-settlement Moyra's two sons were next in line to inherit the life interest of the Trust.
Negotiations for the transfer were delayed following the unexpected death of Moyra's eldest son, Piers Weld-Forester, in 1977. As Piers died childless, subsequent efforts had to be undertaken in Belgium to locate and inform Moyra's younger son, Count Gerard van den Steen de Jehay, of his position as the remainderman of the Trust. Only after his position was explained and formal consent obtained could the necessary Court Orders be secured to complete the transfer.<ref>{{cite archive |title=Offer in lieu of Estate Duty: estate of the Sixth Marquess of Ormonde; gold and silver heirlooms |collection=HLG 106/151 |institution=The National Archives (UK) |location=Kew |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11236332 |access-date=31 May 2025 |page=12 }}</ref>
==Death and descendants==
Lady Moyra died at the Chateau de Jehay, Belgium on 26 May 1959 at the age of 38.
She was survived by her two sons:
*Piers Edric Weld-Forester (23 April 1946 – 30 October 1977) *''Comte'' '''Gerard''' Fernand Georges Ghislain van den Steen ''de Jehay'' (10 October 1949 – 15 April 1985)
Her first son Piers Weld-Forester was a prominent figure in London high society in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Described as a 'playboy in the true sense of the word', he was briefly the boyfriend of Princess Anne in 1971 and went on to become a motorcycle racer.<ref>{{cite book |last=Parrish |first=Steve |author2=Nick Harris |title=Barry: The Story of Motorcycling Legend Barry Sheene |pages=1886–1887}}</ref> He was married on 6 June 1973 at Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks to the model Georgina Youens, daughter of clergyman John Youens, who at the time held the post of Chaplain-General to the Forces. Piers' best man was The Hon. Brian Alexander (son of Field Marshal Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis).<ref>{{cite news |title=Society Wedding |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=7 June 1973 |page=16 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Georgina Weld-Forrester was killed less than a year later in the Ermenonville air disaster. Piers died in a motorcycle crash in 1977.
During his lifetime, Piers was one of the last remaining male members of the Butler dynasty, along with his great-uncle Arthur Butler, 6th Marquess of Ormonde and first cousin twice-removed Charles Butler, 7th Marquess of Ormonde. Upon the transfer of the family's ancestral home, Kilkenny Castle, to the local government in 1967, the remainder of the Ormonde Settled Estates Trust was wound up and split equally between the 6th Marquess, Charles Butler (later 7th Marquess) and Piers.
Moyra's second son Gerard married in 1974 and had three daughters. He predeceased his father, dying on 15 April 1985. Count Guy left the Chateau de Jehay to the province of Liege upon his death in 1999.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{cite TIWW |article=Ossory, Earl of |page=198 }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Moyra}} Category:1920 births Category:1959 deaths Moyra Category:People from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea