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Alice Ormsby-Gore
Alice Magdalen Sarah Ormsby-Gore (22 April 1952 – 5 April 1995) was a British aristocrat who was part of the fashion and arts counter-culture in London during the 1960s. For about five years she was the romantic partner of guitarist Eric Clapton. The couple were briefly subjected to media speculation about a possible marriage. She died of a heroin overdose in 1995.
Ormsby-Gore was born at her family's ancestral home, Brogyntyn Hall, in Shropshire, England. She was the youngest daughter of David Ormsby-Gore, M.P., and his first wife, Sylvia Lloyd-Thomas. The Ormsby-Gore family were, by descent, an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family who once owned a large country estate in County Leitrim.
David Ormsby-Gore succeeded as the 5th Baron Harlech in February 1964. From 1961 to 1965, Lord Harlech served as British Ambassador to the United States. The Ormsby-Gores enjoyed a close social relationship with the President and First Lady during their time in Washington. Alice played with some of the Kennedy children, including during visits to Robert F. Kennedy's home at Hickory Hill, and attended charity concerts at the White House, as on 19 November 1962.
The Ormsby-Gore family attracted the attention of the American media. The Washington Post published a picture of Alice and Francis on their bikes taken by staff photographer Douglas Chevalier: 'They are the Newest on the New Frontier ... When not taking lessons at the Embassy from their governess Elizabeth Shenton, they ride their bicycles, build miniature paper houses and gardens, or discuss farming at the family's country place Woodhill in Oswestry, Shropshire.' By February 1962 Alice was enrolled at the Stone Ridge Country Day school, a Catholic, independent school for girls at Bethesda, Maryland, US about 30 minutes from the British Embassy.
Ormsby-Gore returned to the UK in 1965 with her parents, and had only just turned 15 when on 30 May 1967 her mother was killed in a car accident. Early in 1968 she was reported as being in a London school and living with Lord Harlech's mother, the dowager Lady Harlech. Time magazine reported on Friday, 12 April 1968, that Lord Harlech would be sending his "15-year-old daughter, Alice Ormsby-Gore, to Manhattan's Dalton School for the coming spring term. Alice will stay at the East Side apartment of a family friend, John Hay Whitney, former U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's."
While in New York in 1968, Ormsby-Gore appeared in a film by Gerard Joseph Malanga. A later New York Times article mentions this film: 'When Alice Ormsby-Gore shows up in town, it's usually an event. When she was here in 1968 she got up at dawn so she and Looloo de la Falaise [1948–2011] could sweep down the steps leading to Bethesda Fountain in their long, flowing dresses while Andy Warhol's octagonal, prismatic lens recorded it all for his 20-minute short, "pre-Raphaelite Dream".
By the mid-1960s, Ormsby-Gore's elder siblings had established themselves in what had become Swinging London. Jane Ormsby-Gore's partner Michael Rainey opened the boutique Hung on You in 1964 which moved to the Kings Road in 1966. Julian and Jane signed with the English Boys model agency run by Sir Mark Palmer. With her siblings Alice was involved in various charity projects. One such was called 'Circus Alpha Centauri' which mounted concerts in London at Christmas 1967 to raise money for deprived children. One of the performers was the then unknown singer / guitarist Nick Drake, one of many musicians with whom the Ormsby-Gores had personal connections.
A year later Daily Mail columnist Charles Greville wrote that Victoria and Alice had started a company to 'generate peace and love between all races and creeds of this world ...
Alice Ormsby-Gore
Alice Magdalen Sarah Ormsby-Gore (22 April 1952 – 5 April 1995) was a British aristocrat who was part of the fashion and arts counter-culture in London during the 1960s. For about five years she was the romantic partner of guitarist Eric Clapton. The couple were briefly subjected to media speculation about a possible marriage. She died of a heroin overdose in 1995.
Ormsby-Gore was born at her family's ancestral home, Brogyntyn Hall, in Shropshire, England. She was the youngest daughter of David Ormsby-Gore, M.P., and his first wife, Sylvia Lloyd-Thomas. The Ormsby-Gore family were, by descent, an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family who once owned a large country estate in County Leitrim.
David Ormsby-Gore succeeded as the 5th Baron Harlech in February 1964. From 1961 to 1965, Lord Harlech served as British Ambassador to the United States. The Ormsby-Gores enjoyed a close social relationship with the President and First Lady during their time in Washington. Alice played with some of the Kennedy children, including during visits to Robert F. Kennedy's home at Hickory Hill, and attended charity concerts at the White House, as on 19 November 1962.
The Ormsby-Gore family attracted the attention of the American media. The Washington Post published a picture of Alice and Francis on their bikes taken by staff photographer Douglas Chevalier: 'They are the Newest on the New Frontier ... When not taking lessons at the Embassy from their governess Elizabeth Shenton, they ride their bicycles, build miniature paper houses and gardens, or discuss farming at the family's country place Woodhill in Oswestry, Shropshire.' By February 1962 Alice was enrolled at the Stone Ridge Country Day school, a Catholic, independent school for girls at Bethesda, Maryland, US about 30 minutes from the British Embassy.
Ormsby-Gore returned to the UK in 1965 with her parents, and had only just turned 15 when on 30 May 1967 her mother was killed in a car accident. Early in 1968 she was reported as being in a London school and living with Lord Harlech's mother, the dowager Lady Harlech. Time magazine reported on Friday, 12 April 1968, that Lord Harlech would be sending his "15-year-old daughter, Alice Ormsby-Gore, to Manhattan's Dalton School for the coming spring term. Alice will stay at the East Side apartment of a family friend, John Hay Whitney, former U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's."
While in New York in 1968, Ormsby-Gore appeared in a film by Gerard Joseph Malanga. A later New York Times article mentions this film: 'When Alice Ormsby-Gore shows up in town, it's usually an event. When she was here in 1968 she got up at dawn so she and Looloo de la Falaise [1948–2011] could sweep down the steps leading to Bethesda Fountain in their long, flowing dresses while Andy Warhol's octagonal, prismatic lens recorded it all for his 20-minute short, "pre-Raphaelite Dream".
By the mid-1960s, Ormsby-Gore's elder siblings had established themselves in what had become Swinging London. Jane Ormsby-Gore's partner Michael Rainey opened the boutique Hung on You in 1964 which moved to the Kings Road in 1966. Julian and Jane signed with the English Boys model agency run by Sir Mark Palmer. With her siblings Alice was involved in various charity projects. One such was called 'Circus Alpha Centauri' which mounted concerts in London at Christmas 1967 to raise money for deprived children. One of the performers was the then unknown singer / guitarist Nick Drake, one of many musicians with whom the Ormsby-Gores had personal connections.
A year later Daily Mail columnist Charles Greville wrote that Victoria and Alice had started a company to 'generate peace and love between all races and creeds of this world ...