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Lady Susan Hussey: A sad end to the career of Queen Elizabeth’s ‘number one head girl’

Lady Susan Hussey - Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images Contributor
Lady Susan Hussey - Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images Contributor

In her 60 years of service to the late Queen she was known as Number One Head Girl, and it was a mark of the King’s gratitude to Baroness Hussey that she remained at the Palace even after her role ceased to exist.

As one of the most senior ladies-in-waiting, Lady Susan Hussey, as she was previously known, was perhaps Queen Elizabeth’s closest companion, and it was she who accompanied her in the back of her State Bentley as it followed Prince Philip’s hearse during his funeral last year.

She was also one of the 20 staff who formed “HMS Bubble”, the small retinue who looked after Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at Windsor Castle during lockdown.

Her resignation is a sad end to the career of a woman who was chosen as one of Prince William’s godparents and attended his confirmation in 1997.

It is not, however, the first time she has made controversial comments. In 2018, a few months before the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, she is reported to have told a group of theatre executives during a lunch that their marriage “will all end in tears - mark my words”.

Lady Susan Hussey was perhaps Queen Elizabeth’s closest companion - Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images Europe
Lady Susan Hussey was perhaps Queen Elizabeth’s closest companion - Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images Europe

She had been asked to help the Duchess adjust to royal life and had visited the then Meghan Markle at Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace, where she was living, only for the Duchess to make it plain that she did not want to be dictated to by Buckingham Palace, it was claimed by the biographer Tom Bower.

One former royal aide described her as “quite terrifying” and “the one lady-in-waiting that you’d never want to cross”.

The 83-year-old is the youngest daughter of the 12th Earl Waldegrave, and the sister of the former Conservative health secretary William - now Lord - Waldegrave.

In 1959 she married Marmaduke Hussey, who went on to become chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC. The latest series of the Netflix drama The Crown dramatises Lady Hussey’s role in the row over Panorama’s 1995 interview with Diana, Princess of Wales: John Birt, the BBC director general, kept the interview secret from Marmaduke Hussey to ensure that Lady Hussey (played by Haydn Gwynne) could not leak details of it to Queen Elizabeth.

Already a Lady in her own right, she became a baroness in 1996 after her husband was made a peer.

One former royal aide describes Lady Susan Hussey as 'quite terrifying' - Max Mumby
One former royal aide describes Lady Susan Hussey as 'quite terrifying' - Max Mumby

A year after her marriage, Lady Hussey entered the late Queen’s service as a Woman of the Bedchamber to help answer letters from well-wishers following the birth of Prince Andrew.

She became so invaluable to the Royal family that she was asked to help both Princess Diana and the Duchess of Sussex to settle into their royal roles, and is also said to have recommended Tiggy Legge-Bourke as nanny to Princes William and Harry.

Prime Ministers would often be greeted by her when they arrived at Buckingham Palace for their weekly meeting with the sovereign, and she was even chosen as the late Queen’s official representative at funerals and other events if she could not attend.

Her unpaid role also involved travelling around the world with the late Queen for State visits, and her long service earned her the honours of Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and later Dame Grand Cross of the same order, which is bestowed personally by the monarch.

Queen Elizabeth accompanied by Lady Susan Hussey in Queensland, Australia - IAN JONES/Ian Jones Retained
Queen Elizabeth accompanied by Lady Susan Hussey in Queensland, Australia - IAN JONES/Ian Jones Retained

Her other honours include Royal Household Long and Faithful Service Medal with 30, 40, 50 and 60-year bars. Her behind-the-scenes role in helping visiting heads of state and their families was recognised by the president of Mexico in 2015 after he awarded her the Sash of Special Category of the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest award which Mexico can give to anyone who is not a head of state.

At the time of Queen Elizabeth’s death, Lady Hussey was one of the two longest-serving ladies-in-waiting, together with the Hon Mary Morrison, who started in the same year. Both women were among the mourners at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.

As a godparent to Prince William, Lady Hussey has always been close to King Charles, who gave her the honour of staying on at the Palace with the title Lady of the Household, even after the Queen Consort dispensed with the formal role of ladies-in-waiting.

Her daughter, Katharine, was chosen as one of the Queen’s Companions, the successors to ladies-in-waiting who help the Queen Consort, and she remains in royal service after her mother’s departure.