Iris Peake

Iris Irene Adele Dawnay (née Peake; 23 July 1923 – 18 November 2021) was a British aristocrat who worked as a MI6 secretary and was a lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret.

Early life and family Dawnay was born Iris Irene Adele Peake on 23 July 1923 in London. She was the eldest child of Osbert Peake, a barrister and politician who was later created Viscount Ingleby, and Lady Joan Rachel de Vere Capell (1899–1979), youngest daughter of the 7th Earl and Countess of Essex. She was raised in London and at the Peake's family seat, Snilesworth Lodge, near Osmotherley, North Yorkshire. Her younger sister Sonia (1924–2009) married the 13th Marquess of Tweeddale.

She was educated at Miss Faunce's Parents' National Educational Union school in Bayswater and at Mrs Fife's, a boarding school in Cambridgeshire. After the war, she was posted by MI6 to The Hague. One month after her appointment, George VI died and she moved with Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother from Buckingham Palace to Clarence House. Following the coronation, she appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with the royal family and other attendants. After the coronation, the press became aware of Princess Margaret's relationship with Group Captain Peter Townsend. Dawnay supported the princess throughout, and when Townsend was posted to Brussels, he posted his letters to Margaret to Dawnay's flat in Belgravia, rather than Clarence House where they might be intercepted.

Dawnay relinquished her appointment in July 1962 but remained as an extra lady-in-waiting until March 1963.

Personal life Before her marriage, Dawnay had a brief relationship with George Blake, a double agent who later defected to the Soviet Union.