Patricia Caroline Beatrix Smith, Viscountess Hambleden (12 November 1904 – 19 March 1994) was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) from 1937 to 1994.

Early life

She was the eldest child of Reginald Herbert, 15th Earl of Pembroke and his wife, Beatrice. She grew up at Wilton House, Wiltshire. Her father descended from Countess Catherine Vorontsov. In 1919, she was a bridesmaid at the wedding of the Hon. Olive Cecilia Paget, daughter of the 1st Baron Queensborough. She was also debutante of the year in 1922.

Marriage and children

On 26 September 1928, she married William Henry Smith, 3rd Viscount Hambleden (a descendant of the W H Smith family) at Salisbury Cathedral. They had five children:

Later life

As a senior member of the royal household, she was a leading guest at the 1947 wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (DCVO) in the 1953 Coronation Honours She was at one time chairman of the NSPCC, and carried out voluntary work for King's College Hospital. In 1990, to celebrate the Queen Mother's 90th birthday (by that time she had served her for 53 years), she was made a Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. Lady Hambleden's husband died in 1948 and she remained in The Queen Mother's Household until her own death in 1994 at her home in Ewelme, Oxfordshire.

Styles and Honours