Margaret Douglas-Home

Lady Alexandra Margaret Elizabeth Douglas-Home (née Spencer; 4 July 1906 – 26 May 1996) was an English musician, writer, and arts promoter. She founded the Burnham Market Festival and served as its director for almost two decades.

Early years Born into the aristocratic Spencer family in London in 1906, Lady Margaret was the sixth and youngest child of Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer, and Margaret Baring (1868–1906), daughter of the first Lord Revelstoke, a banker. Her mother died during Margaret's birth. Her godmother was Queen Alexandra. Her youth was spent at Althorp and at Spencer House.

Douglas-Home was mainly educated at home under a governess, but spent some time at Northampton Secondary School for Girls, attending events such as concerts at the Albert Hall. She shared the musical interests of her mother and grandmother, who were both violinists, and became herself an accomplished pianist. After her father's death in 1922, she went to Paris to study French and music. She then accompanied Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone to South Africa as a lady-in-waiting, before resuming her music studies in Vienna. She also studied at the Royal College of Music in London, where she later became a trustee.

She also bought and ran an antiques business in Burnham Market, Norfolk. This led her in 1974 to found Burnham Market Festival, which began as a series of concerts, poetry readings and drama productions. She continued as its director until 1992.

Her autobiography, A Spencer Childhood, appeared in 1994. Douglas-Home was the grandaunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, and a close friend of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She died at Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, on 26 May 1996.

Ancestry