Emile Hamilton-Fellowes

Enid Margaret Hamlyn Hamilton-Fellows, Claude Kinnoull, Countess of Kinnoull (1904–1985) was an English philanthropist, converted Catholic nun, photojournalist and artist. Born in London into a prominent and wealthy family, she married George Hay, 14th Earl of Kinnoull in 1923. She led an adventurous life in high society, racing cars and flying airplanes, before Hay's bankruptcy led her to leave him in 1925. After the divorce became official in 1927, Hamilton-Fellows left England and settled in Paris, where she converted to Catholicism. She travelled as a missionary through Africa in the early 1930s.

After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Hamilton-Fellows travelled to Spain and worked under the pseudonym Claudek as a photographer for the Nationalists, capturing over 800 photographs of the war and its aftermath. In a return to Paris, she worked briefly with the British Secret Services and the Deuxième Bureau to resist the Nazi invasion of France and expose Communist agents, but was soon forced to flee to the United States. She settled in Carmel, California, where she was friends with Langston Hughes, Una Jeffers, Robinson Jeffers and other Californian social elites.

In Carmel, Hamilton-Fellows was a cofounder of the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies. She was named a Grand Dame d'Honneur of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, an officer of the Order of Leopold II, a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour and a member of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, among others.

Early life Hamilton-Fellows was born in London, in 1904. She was a member of a prominent family who owned the Imperial Tobacco Company, the daughter of Margaret Wills Hamilton-Fellowes and Ernest Gadesden Fellows. She was the granddaughter of Sir Frederick Wills, 1st Baronet. Her grandfather was the first director of Imperial Tobacco, and had amassed enormous wealth during his life, passing the fortune down to her mother.

Her mother's famous friends gathered often at the family home and Hamilton-Fellows learned much from them, including Naomi Royde-Smith, who taught Hamilton-Fellows many lessons in writing and painting.

Marriage to George Hay, the Earl of Kinnoull (1923–1927) The Earl and Countess of Kinnoull at their marriage ceremony in 1923. She obtained the title of the Countess of Kinnoull in the Scottish courts and the Scottish heraldry when she and George Hay were married on 15 December 1923. Her married name became Enid Margaret Hamlyn Hay-Drummond. When they were first married, the British called her "the baby countess".

She became a notable figure in high society during her early married life. She gained attention in the press for her adventurous character and diverse abilities, which were unusual for women of her time. She learned to fly airplanes, drive and repair automobiles, and participated in motor racing, often even receiving fines for speeding outside of the racecourse. One account has her flying her own aircraft to see the judge after such a speeding infraction. In addition to her technical skills, she cultivated artistic interests, including painting and writing. Her family's tobacco wealth facilitated some of these pursuits, but her willingness to take risks and develop skills in traditionally male domains contributed to her reputation as both an adventurer and an artist.

They had a son, Henry George Adam Hay, the Viscount Dupplin, born on 23 November 1924, but he died at only four months old, on 7 March 1925. Their marriage soon faced difficulties, in part due to financial pressures on the Kinnoull family estate, Balhousie Castle in Perthshire. The estate, heavily encumbered by debt, was eventually sold and the furnishings were auctioned to meet creditors' demands.

Despite her desire to renounce the title, Hamilton-Fellows was nevertheless retained her title by the Peerage of Scotland, remaining the Countess of Kinnoull, and for decades afterwards there were two women who simultaneously held the title.

Conversion to Catholicism and Catholic activities (1927–1936) After leaving Britain in 1927, the Countess settled in Paris, choosing to live near the Church of Saint-Augustin. The area was a prosperous and solidly bourgeois neighborhood, and here she managed a comfortable, elite Parisian lifestyle. Around this time, she began to attend Parisian café gatherings, spaces where intellectual and political discussions were common. During her Catholic confirmation, she took the Catholic name "Claude Kinnoull", after the Catholic saint Claude La Colombière.

Simultaneously to their mission, another mission, not related to the Church, had embarked to Asia, going by the name of La Croisére Jaune.

The journey, completed on 24 January 1932, covered 37,526 kilometers, then considered a world record for distance travelled by automobile. Their vehicle was specially equipped with six low-pressure tires, a six-cylinder engine, and additional tanks carrying 300 litres of fuel and 100 litres of water. The expedition had a missionary character, with visits to 126 centres and the establishment of six new missions. De Moor also produced a feature-length film of the journey, titled Le Croisière bleue. Most of her photographs have been archived in the Museum of the Claretians.

Following the conflict, the countess returned briefly to Paris, where she connected with the British Secret Services and the Deuxième Bureau, attempting to resist the Nazi invasion of France and also expose Communist agents operating in France. However, nearly immediately, she was placed on a list of highly valued targets by the Germans and she used her connections to obtain an asylum visa to the United States. She resided there for the remainder of her life.

Throughout the years, she maintained close contact with Vincent de Moor, who after the war was again engaged in intelligence activities focused on German operations along the French coast. In California, she arranged a base of support for him in Carmel, which he used to travel between Europe and the United States. Vincent de Moor died in New York in 1961, at the age of 73.

In 1955, she became involved with Gaspard Weiss, Remsen Bird, Dwight Morrow Jr., Noël Sullivan, and others in establishing the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies (MIFS). She served on the Board of Trustees for the Institute and was involved in financially supporting the institute until she died. In the 1960s, she established a scholarship at the institute for graduating high school students to attend MIFS called the Countess of Kinnoull Scholarship.

In 1956, her gallery exhibit The Mysteries of the Rosary was shown at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco, and later was shown at the De Saisset Gallery at the Santa Clara University. Her own dog at the time was named Reme, but she had earlier owned a poodle named Ali Baba.

Written works Come Home Traveller, written under the name Claude Kinnoull, was published by John Miles Ltd.