Lady Vestery dead at 71
The Duke of Sussex's godmother Lady Vestey has died suddenly aged 71
She was married to Samuel Vestey, former Cheltenham Racecourse chairman and one of Britain's richest men thanks to the family's £750million business
The couple joined the Queen and Prince Charles in the Royal Box at Cheltenham
Prince Harry has sent his condolences on the death of his godmother Lady Celia Vestey, who was a close friend Prince Charles and a member of the Queen's 'racing circle'.
Lady Vestey, wife of royal courtier and multi-millionaire businessman Samuel Vestey, 3rd Baron Vestey, died 'suddenly but peacefully' on Saturday at the age of 71, it was announced today.
Old Etonian Lord Vestey, 79, known as 'Spam' to his friends, is one of Britain's one of Britain's richest men with a £750million fortune thanks to his family's food business, Vestey Holdings. He presides over the 6,000-acre Stowell Park Estate in Gloucestershire.
Lady Vestey, who stayed out of the society spotlight, was chosen to be one of Prince Harry's six godparents alongside Prince Andrew, Lady Sarah Chatto, Bryan Organ, Gerald Ward and Princess Diana's former flatmate, Carolyn Bartholomew.
The role was a sign of Prince Charles and Princess Diana's personal regard for Lady Vestey. She also became part of the royal 'racing circle' and a friend of the Queen through her marriage to Lord Vestey, a former chairman of the Cheltenham Racecourse and Master of the Horse. He was appointed a Lord-in-Waiting to Her Majesty last August.
n a sign of their closeness to the royal family, Lord and Lady Vestey joined the Queen and Prince Charles in the Royal Box at Cheltenham and stayed as guests of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Sandringham.
Born Celia Elizabeth Knight in 1949, she was the youngest daughter of Major Hubert Guy Broughton Knight and Hester Loyd, scion of the Loyds of Lockinge. The family lived in the stunning Lockinge Manor, Wantage, Oxfordshire.
Her older sister is Henrietta Knight, the retired English Thoroughbred racehorse trainer, best known as a trainer of National Hunt racehorses, who was married to Terry Biddlecombe, the champion jockey. Henrietta was also chairwoman of the British Olympic Horse Trials Selection Committee from 1984 to 1988.
In 1981, Celia became Lady Vestey on her marriage to Lord Vestey, who at the time was the Master of the Horse. His duties included attending ceremonial occasions as the man responsible for the Royal Mews and the Queen's carriages and horses.
The company – which once owned Dewhurst butchers – has been privately owned since it was founded in 1897 by brothers William and Edward Vestey.
The Vestey family's combined wealth amounts to approximately £1.2 billion, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2013. Lord Vestey's share is estimated to be around £750million.
In 1984, just three years after her wedding to Lord Vestey, Celia was chosen as one of Prince Harry's six godparents for his christening at St George's Chapel in Windsor.
Lord and Lady Vestey's eldest son William, now 37, was one of the Queen's Page of Honours from the age of 12 to 15.
Lord and Lady Vestey wed in a simple civil ceremony at Wantage Register Office, near her family home. Lord Vestey had been married previously to Kathryn Eccles, with whom he shares two daughters.
Lady Vestey is survived by Lord Vestey and their three children, The Hon. William Guy Vestey, The Hon. Arthur George Vestey and The Hon. Mary Henrietta Vestey. The couple also share four grandchildren, Ella, Samuel, Frank and Cosima.
Lord Vestey, who succeeded his grandfather in the peerage title at the age of just 13, was educated at Eton College, before attending Sandhurst and serving as a Lieutenant in the Scots Guards.
Lord Vestey was the chairman of the Meat Training Council from 1991 to 1995, before becoming chairman of the Vestey Group (now Vestey Holdings) in 1995.
Meanwhile Arthur Vestey, 35, is a friend of Prince William. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were surprise no-shows to his 2015 wedding to Martha Beaumont.
The relationship with the Royal Family continued, with Lord and Lady Vestey attending the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's wedding at Westminster Abbey in 2011 and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding seven years later.
Lord Vestey was made Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in the 2009 Birthday Honours. The Queen promoted Lord Vestey to Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in December 2018.
Eldest son William, who will one day inherit his father's title and the family’s 6,000-acre estate, served as a Page of Honour to the Queen Elizabeth from 1995 to 1998.
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