{{Short description|British actress (born 1962)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Lady Naomi Gordon-Lennox | honorific_suffix = | image = <!-- just the filename, without the File: or Image: prefix or enclosing brackets --> | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth-date and age|March 1962}} | birth_place = Kingston upon Thames, England | other_names = Nimmy March | occupation = Actress | years_active = | spouse = Gavin Burke (m. 1999; div.) | children = 3 | parents = By adoption:<br />Charles Gordon-Lennox, 10th Duke of Richmond<br />Susan Grenville-Grey }} '''Lady Naomi Anna Gordon-Lennox''' (born March 1962), known as '''Nimmy March''', is an English actress.

==Background== March's biological parents were a father from Lesotho and an English mother.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://famous.adoption.com/famous/march-naomi.html |title='March, Naomi (Nimmy)', Adoption.com. |access-date=2007-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127204543/http://famous.adoption.com/famous/march-naomi.html |archive-date=2007-01-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> As an illegitimate child,<ref name="Evening Standard">{{cite web|title=March to the top |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/march-to-the-top-7303186.html|work=Evening Standard|first=Victoria|last=Young|date=13 April 2003|accessdate=9 November 2014}}</ref> she was abandoned by her birth mother.

She was adopted by the Earl and Countess of March and Kinrara, who later became the Duke and Duchess of Richmond. Because of her race, at the time the adoption caused a stir within the peerage and the future Duke and Duchess were vilified by some for "sullying the aristocracy", as March herself described it.<ref>{{cite news|title=Adoption: 'How can you give away your baby?'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3355794/Adoption-How-can-you-give-away-your-baby.html|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|first=Eleni|last=Kyriacou|date=2 March 2008}}</ref><ref name="Mixed Britannia">{{Cite episode |title=1965-2011|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016bjdb|access-date= |series=Mixed Britannia|network=BBC Two|date=20 October 2011|number=3}}</ref>

She went to Bedales, an exclusive Hampshire school, before going on to drama school.

==Career== March's television screen credits include ''Coronation Street'', ''Albion Market'', ''Common As Muck'', ''Goodnight Sweetheart'', ''Casualty'', ''William and Mary'', ''Doctors'', ''Strictly Confidential'', ''The Bill'', ''London's Burning'', ''Waking the Dead'', ''Death in Paradise'', ''Beyond Paradise, Agatha Raisin'', ''Desmond's'' and ''Emmerdale''.

She narrated the 2008 TV serial ''Last Voices of World War 1'' on the History Channel, along with the BBC1 documentary ''The War On Loan Sharks''.

==Personal life== Until 2004, children who were adopted by peers had no right to any noble or courtesy title. However, as a result of a Royal Warrant dated 30 April 2004, all children are now automatically entitled to the same styles and courtesy titles.<ref>{{cite web|title=Forms of address: Courtesy Titles|date=24 June 2021 |url=https://debretts.com/peerage/courtesy-titles/|publisher=Debrett's}}</ref> Therefore, on that date, she became '''Lady Naomi Burke'''.

She married Gavin Burke in 1999, but they subsequently divorced. They have three children: Khaya (born 1999), Malachy (born 2001), and Carlotta (born 2005).<ref name="Relative Values">[https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/africa-travel/south-africa/relative-values-the-duke-of-richmond-and-nimmy-march-cd58qfqbnlq "Relative Values: The Duke of Richmond and Nimmy March"], ''The Sunday Times'', 9 January 2005.</ref>

She has four siblings, including a sister who is also mixed-race.<ref name="Evening Standard"/> She is Buddhist and bisexual.<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://www.ukblackpride.org.uk/pride-matters-nimmy-march/| title=UK Black Pride| date=2017-06-04| access-date=2018-07-15| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705044443/http://ukblackpride.org.uk/pride-matters-nimmy-march/| archive-date=2017-07-05| url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Relative Values" />

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0545324}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070127204543/http://famous.adoption.com/famous/march-naomi.html About Naomi "Nimmy" March], page re famous adoptions * [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article406531.ece "Relative Values: The Duke of Richmond and Nimmy March"]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} - Webpage of Times Online

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{{DEFAULTSORT:March, Nimmy}} Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:People educated at Bedales School Category:Actors from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Category:Actresses from Surrey Category:Black British actresses Category:Black British LGBTQ people Category:Black British nobility Category:21st-century British nobility Category:Daughters of English dukes Category:Daughters of Scottish dukes Category:Daughters of British dukes Category:English adoptees Category:English bisexual actresses Category:English Buddhists Category:English people of South African descent Category:English television actresses Category:LGBTQ Buddhists Category:LGBTQ nobility Category:People from Kingston upon Thames Category:Lennox family Category:21st-century British LGBTQ people Category:20th-century British LGBTQ people