{{Short description|British aristocrat}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name= Lady Rachel Pepys | honorific_suffix = DCVO | image = Lady Rachel Howard.jpg | birth_name = Lady Mary Rachel Fitzalan-Howard | birth_date = {{birth date|1905|6|27|df=y}} | birth_place = St James's, Westminster | death_date = {{death date and age|1992|8|17|1905|6|27|df=y}} | death_place = Burgess Hill, West Sussex | parents = Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk<br />Gwendolen Constable-Maxwell, 12th Lady Herries of Terregles | spouse = {{marriage|Colin Keppel Davidson|1939|1943|end=d.}} <br /> {{marriage|Anthony Pepys|1961|1967|end=d.}} | children = Duncan Davidson<br /> Harriet Mary Sefi }}

'''Lady Mary Rachel Pepys''', DCVO (''née'' '''Fitzalan-Howard''', 27 June 1905 – 17 August 1992) was an English courtier from the Howard family. She was lady-in-waiting to Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, from 1943 to 1968.

==Early life==

Lady Rachel was born at Norfolk House, St James's Square, the eldest child of Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk (1847–1917), and his second wife, Gwendolen Constable-Maxwell,<ref>{{cite news |title=The Duchess of Norfolk – Birth of a Daughter |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000183/19050628/115/0007 |access-date=27 October 2024 |work=London Evening Standard |date=28 June 1905 |page=7|url-access=subscription}}</ref> who was a peeress in her own right as 12th Lady Herries of Terregles.<ref name="burke">{{cite book |title= Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood|publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry |editor= Mosley, Charles |editor-link=Charles Mosley (genealogist) |edition=107 |year= 2003 |page=2911 |ref=Burke |isbn=0-9711966-2-1}}</ref>

==Marriage and issue== On 31 July 1939, Lady Rachel married Lieutenant Colonel Colin Keppel Davidson {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CIE|OBE}}, son of Colonel Leslie Davidson and Lady Theodora Keppel, daughter of William Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle. They had two children:<ref name="burke"/>

*Duncan Henry Davidson (29 March 1941 - 19 October 2025), Page of Honour to Queen Elizabeth II 1955–57; founder of Persimmon plc. *Harriet Mary Davidson (b. 1942), who married Michael Sefi, the current Keeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection.

Her husband was killed in action in Tunisia in 1943 during the Second World War.<ref name="burke"/>

On 9 November 1961, she married Brigadier Anthony Hilton Pepys, a descendent of diarist Samuel Pepys. He died just six years later.<ref name="burke"/>

==Later life==

Lady Rachel retired from the Duchess of Kent's household in 1962. She later lived at Highfield House, Crossbush Lane, Arundel. She served as governor of St Philip's Catholic Primary School in Arundel.

She died in 1992, aged 87 at St George's Retreat, a nursing home run by Augustinian sisters near Burgess Hill, West Sussex.<ref name="death">{{cite news |title=Lady Pepys Dies |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005188/19920821/016/0002 |access-date=27 October 2024 |work=Littlehampton Gazette |date=21 August 1992 |page=2}}</ref> Her funeral was held at Arundel Cathedral and attended by two of the Duchess's children, Princess Alexandra and Prince Michael of Kent.<ref>{{cite news |title=Royal Mourners for Lady Pepys |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005188/19920828/012/0002 |access-date=27 October 2024 |work=Littlehampton Gazette |date=28 August 1992 |page=2}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepys, Lady Rachel}} Category:1905 births Category:1992 deaths Category:Daughters of English dukes Category:Daughters of barons Category:Dames Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Rachel Pepys Category:People from Westminster

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