Helen Percy, Duchess of Northumberland, ( Lady Helen Magdalen Gordon-Lennox; 13 December 1886 – 13 June 1965) was a British aristocrat and courtier. She was Mistress of the Robes to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother from 1937–64.

Early life

She was the second daughter of Charles Gordon-Lennox, Earl of March and Kinrara (later the 7th Duke of Richmond), and his second wife, Isabel Sophie Craven, herself the second daughter of William George Craven (a grandson of William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven) and Lady Mary Yorke (second daughter of Charles Yorke, 4th Earl of Hardwicke). From her father's first marriage to Amy Mary Ricardo, she had three half-brothers and two half-sisters, including Charles Gordon-Lennox, 8th Duke of Richmond, Lady Evelyn Gordon-Lennox (wife of Sir John Cotterell, 4th Baronet), Lady Violet Gordon-Lennox (wife of Henry Brassey, 1st Baron Brassey, of Apethorpe), Lord Esmé Charles Gordon-Lennox, and Lord Bernard Charles Gordon-Lennox.

Career

She was Mistress of the Robes to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, from 1937 to 1964 and was appointed a Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 1938.

Personal life

She was married on 18 October 1911 to Earl Percy, who succeeded his father as 8th Duke of Northumberland in 1918, whereupon she became known as the Duchess of Northumberland. The couple had six children: The Duchess died in 1965 at Lesbury House, Alnwick.