Susan Mary Fitzherbert Wright 1937 - 1998
Susan Mary Fitzherbert Wright , Obit. The Times "September 21 1998 OBITUARIES SUSAN BARRANTES Susan Barrantes, mother of the Duchess of York, was killed in a road accident in Argentina on September 19 aged 61. She was born on June 9, 1937. AT THE time of the event which propelled her to public notice, the engagement of her daughter Sarah Ferguson to the Queen's second son, Prince Andrew, in 1986, Susan Barrantes had for some years ceased to be the wife of her daughter's father, Major Ronald Ferguson, former polo manager to the Prince of Wales. When the future Duchess of York was 12 she had left her husband and her life in England and, in a flight which precipitated a society scandal, had gone to Argentina where she married the glamorous Argentine polo star Hector Barrantes. As mother of the bride to be, her status as the wife of an Argentine national was, potentially, something of an embarrassment to the Royal Family. Memories of the war with Argentina, in which Prince Andrew had served as a helicopter pilot, were fresh in many minds. At that time Argentina was still formally in a state of armed conflict with Britain. The Queen could scarcely have forgotten that as shortly before as 1982, Argentine aircraft had taken off to attack British naval targets armed with Exocet missiles and bombs daubed with such slogans in Spanish as "Prince Andrew here we come" and "Here's one in the kisser for you, Prince Andrew." The Barrantes' ranch was even called El Pucarâa (the fortress), a name recalling the Argentine ground attack aircraft which had been a particular scourge of British forces. In the event Royal diplomacy diffused a potential domestic crisis over which the tabloid press editorialised at some length, revelling in leading article headlines such as "Andy's Argy Aggro!". Before the wedding had taken place Hector Barrantes had been invited to England as the Queen's guest at Royal Ascot. And on the day of the wedding itself, Susan Barrantes rode to the ceremony in an open carriage with the Duke of Edinburgh. Susan Wright was a daughter of FitzHerbert Wright and grew up between the family home, Holbrook Hall, Derbyshire, boarding school at Downham and holidays in her grandfather's castle in Ireland. After a short period at a finishing school in London she was a debutante in 1955. At one of her first dances she met Major Ronald Ferguson, a Life Guards officer, and married him at the age of 18 in January 1956. Two daughters, Jane and her younger sister Sarah, were born to them. Her husband was much involved with the Guards Polo Club, which he devoted years to building up. Subsequently, through polo, she met Hector Barrantes and her marriage to Major Ferguson was dissolved in 1974. Susan Barrantes went to live in Argentina leaving her teenaged daughters in England with their father. With her new husband she pursued her passion for polo. Together they built Estancia El Pucarâa, a ranch on virgin pampas 300 miles to the west of Buenos Aires, where they bred top quality polo ponies. After a relatively short illness, Hector Barrantes died of cancer in 1990. Rampant inflation was at that point playing havoc with the Argentine economy and although his widow had servants, horses and a jet-set lifestyle, she found herself short of ready cash. In the event she sold half the ranch to another polo enthusiast, the Australian media magnate Kerry Packer, and set herself to developing the remainder as a polo stud and polo "clinic". To the end, she retained an inimitably English counties voice which made no concession to her years spent in Latin-America, though she was a frequent visitor to this country, often atending polo matches at Cowdray Park and Smith's Lawn. Her book Polo was published earlier this year. At the time of her death she was travelling in a car with a nephew. She leaves her two daughters. Copyright 1998 Times Newspapers Ltd.
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Born: Bramcote Hills, Nottingham, Notts., , England 9th Jun 1937 | Baptised:
| Died: , , , Argentina 19th Sep 1998 | Buried:
| Family: Wright |
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