- Peregrine Cust, 6th Baron Brownlow
[
Belton House , the ancestral home of the Cust family] Peregrine Francis Adelbert Cust, 6th Baron Brownlow (27 April 1899 –28 July 1978 ), was a British peer.Brownlow was the son of
Adelbert Salusbury Cockayne Cust, 5th Baron Brownlow , and his wife Maud Buckle. He was educated at Eton and theRoyal Military College, Sandhurst , was commissioned into theGrenadier Guards , and fought in theFirst World War . He left the Army with the rank ofLieutenant . He was Mayor ofGrantham between 1934 and 1935 and was briefly involved in national politics when he served asParliamentary Private Secretary to theMinister of Aircraft Production Lord Beaverbrook from 1940 to 1941. In 1939 he was commissioned into theRoyal Air Force Administrative and Special Duties Branch. He was promotedFlying Officer in 1941 andFlight Lieutenant in 1943 and resigned his commission in March 1944 as an ActingSquadron Leader . Brownlow also served asLord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire from 1936 to 1950.During the 1930's Brownlow was a close friend and
Lord-in-waiting to thePrince of Wales , later KingEdward VIII . The prince and his mistressWallis Simpson spent many weekends at Brownlow's country houseBelton House . Upon the prince's accession to the throne, Lord Brownlow became heavily involved in the abdication crisis which followed the new King's intention to marry Simpson. Brownlow personally accompanied Simpson on her flight to France to escape the media attention, and vainly attempted to talk Simpson into renouncing the King. ["Belton House", 63.] Returning to England, Brownlow attempted to enlist the support of the King's mother Queen Mary, but she refused to even receive him. [Thornton, 136] . Brownlow's career as a courtier was coming to a close.Following the abdication, he attempted to extricate himself from the ex-King's circle, refusing to attend the exiled King's marriage ceremony in 1937. For this Edward and his wife, now the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, regarded Brownlow as treacherous. The Duchess in particular never forgave the man who once championed her. Brownlow died some 40 years later without having received one word of comfort or gratitude from the couple [Thornton, 349] . However, lacking the Duchess's forgiveness was one thing; following the accession of the new King
George VI , Brownlow was horrified to read, without prior warning, in theCourt Circular that he had been replaced as the sovereign's Lord-in-Waiting. PhoningBuckingham Palace for an explanation, he was given the curt information that his resignation had been accepted - he had never tendered it. It was also made clear to him that the new king and his consort, Queen Elizabeth, had ordered that Brownlow's name was never to appear in the "Court Circular" again [(Thornton, 137)] . Today, The National Trust has mounted a permanent exhibition at Belton displaying Brownlow's relationship with the Windsors. Nowhere does the information provided mention Brownlow's fall from grace with both the Windsors and the establishment.Lord Brownlow married three times. He married firstly Katherine, daughter of Brigadier General Sir David Alexander Kinloch, 11th Baronet, in 1927. They had three children. After his first wife's death in 1952 he married secondly Dorothy, daughter of Thomas Sarsfield Kent Power, in 1954. She died in 1966 and Brownlow married thirdly Leila Joan, daughter of Philip Guy Reynolds, in 1969. He died in July 1978, aged 79, and was succeeded in his titles by his second but eldest surviving son Edward John Peregrine Cust.
Notes
References
*cite book
last =
first =
year = 2006
title = Belton House
publisher = The National Trust
location =
id = ISBN 1-84359-218-5
*cite book
last = Thornton
first = Michael
year =
title = Royal Feud
publisher = Michael Joseph Ltd.
location = London
id = ISBN 0-330-29505-5External links
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?mkey=mw13310 Photograph in the National Portrait Gallery]
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