Lady Rose McLaren
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
No issues specified. Please specify issues, or remove this template. |
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2012) |
Rose Paget | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 27 July 1919 |
| Died | 1 November 2005 (aged 86) |
| Spouse | John Francis McLaren (m.1940 dec.1953) |
| Children | Victoria McLaren Harriet McLaren |
| Parent(s) | Charles Paget, 6th Marquess of Anglesey Lady Victoria Manners |
Lady Rose Mary Primrose McLaren (27 July 1919 – 1 November 2005) was a British aristocrat, the fourth daughter of the 6th Marquess of Anglesey.
The Paget family (the Marquesses of Anglesey), lived at Plas Newydd and Beaudesert in Staffordshire.
Lady Rose Paget, as she was before her marriage, was the fourth of five daughters — her eldest sister Elizabeth and another sister, Caroline, shared the dark good looks of their mother (the former Lady Marjorie Manners, eldest daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland). Her brother was the 7th Marquess of Anglesey. Another of Rose's sisters Mary, was brain-damaged, and Rose made herself responsible for her sister's welfare until her death in 1996.
In her younger days Plas Newydd played host to a lively artistic group; amongst these was Rex Whistler who, from 1936 to 1937, painted an enormous mural (58 ft (18 m) wide, on a single piece of canvas), for the dining room of the house,
After being largely educated at home, Rose led an unconventional life, being at different times a ballerina, a florist, a land girl and a countrywoman.
When she was sixteen, Rose fell hopelessly for the dancer Sir Frederick Ashton — which he discouraged — at one point he returned her letters to her — having first corrected her spelling!(ref???)
Twice engaged to the 8th Duke of Wellington, in 1940 Rose married Squadron Leader The Hon. John Francis McLaren, the second son of the 2nd Baron Aberconway. He died in 1953. The McLarens had two daughters, Victoria and Harriet.
In her widowhood, Rose became friends with Muriel Belcher (whom George Melly called "a benevolent witch"), the artist Francis Bacon and his biographer Dan Farson.
At about this time she established her florist's business in the basement of her house in Chelsea. Along with Pamela Forster (the daughter of Lord Forster of Harraby and a former employee of Constance Spry), they supplied the flowers for the wedding of her friend Princess Margaret in 1960.
Rose retired in 1975 and returned to Wales, to Old Bodnod - a house on the Aberconway estate which had been given to her husband by his father. She threw herself into country life, holding several prominent positions including County chairwoman of Macmillan Nurses, vice-president of the Welsh Opera in north Wales, president of Conway's Churchill Club and her local agricultural society.
Sources
- Obituary — The Times — 2 December 2005
- Obituary (online) The Daily Telegraph — 5 November 2005