Henrietta Russell, Duchess of Bedford

Henrietta Russell, Dowager Duchess of Bedford (born Henrietta Joan Tiarks; 5 March 1940) is a landowner and horse breeder, and the widow of Robin Russell, 14th Duke of Bedford, with whom she lived, at Woburn Abbey. Until her husband succeeded to the Dukedom in 2002, she was better known as the Marchioness of Tavistock.

Family background[]

Henrietta Joan Tiarks was born in London on 5 March 1940,^[1] the daughter of Henry Frederick Tiarks III (born , Chislehurst, 8 September 1900 – died Marbella, 2 July 1995), a merchant banker with Schroders, and Ina Florence Marshman Bell (born London, 5 November 1903 – died Marbella, 10 April 1989), an actress known as Joan Barry. Her parents married on 3 October 1936; both having been married previously.

She is a granddaughter of Frank Cyril Tiarks and a relative of Mark Phillips.

Marriage and children[]

She married the then Marquess of Tavistock, Robin Russell, on 20 June 1961 at St Clement Danes in London, thereby becoming the Marchioness of Tavistock. He succeeded his father, becoming the 14th Duke of Bedford, on 25 October 2002, at which point Henrietta, became Duchess of Bedford. They had three sons:

• Andrew Ian Henry Russell, 15th Duke of Bedford (b. 30 March 1962)
• Lord Robin Loel Hastings Russell (b. 12 August 1963)
• Lord James Edward Herbrand Russell (b. 11 February 1975)

Her husband died on 13 June 2003 aged 63 as the result of a stroke. They had already handed over control of Woburn Abbey to their eldest son Andrew, then Lord Howland, in 2001.

Since her husband's death, Henrietta, Duchess of Bedford has lived primarily in New Zealand, where she raises horses and has homes in Matamata, Central Otago, and Auckland.

Media appearances[]

Plaque of the Lake Pukaki tahr sculpture

The Duke and Duchess appeared in three series of the BBC Two reality television programme Country House, screened from 1999 to 2002 detailing daily life at Woburn Abbey, the Bedfords' ancestral home in Bedfordshire, England.^[2]

Her autobiography, Chance to Live, was published in 1991, and she appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 3 May 1992.^[3]

The 11th Duke of Bedford gifted Himalayan tahr to the New Zealand government in 1903 and 1909. Himalayan tahr are near-threatened in their native India and Nepal, but are so numerous in New Zealand's Southern Alps that they are hunted recreationally. A statue of a Himalayan tahr was unveiled in May 2014 at Lake Pukaki and dedicated by the Dowager Duchess of Bedford.^[4]

Bibliography[]

• —— (1991). Chance to Live. Headline. ISBN 978-0747203537.

References[]

External links[]

• Coat of arms before her marriage