Charming Ruby and Diamond Necklace 紅寶石 配 鑽石 項鏈

Christian, Lady Hesketh (1929-2006)

Noble Jewels, Sotheby's Geneva, 17 May 2007, lot 329.

Christian, Lady Hesketh (1929-2006)

Christian Mary McEwen, The Dowager Lady Hesketh, universally known as Kisty Hesketh, was the only daughter of Sir John McEwan of Marchmont and Bardrochat and his wife Brigid Lindley, daughter of the Ambassador, Sir Francis Lindley. She was brought up in the Scottish Lowlands surrounded by six brothers in whose company she became a fine sportswoman and a passionate Scot. In 1949 she married the second Lord Hesketh at the age of 20, leaving the Adamesque splendours of Marchmount for the baroque exuberance of Easton Neston House. During this period her home was shared with her reclusive American mother-in-law, who occupied an apartment on the first floor attended by three nurses, who refused to meet strangers including her new daughter-in-law, demanding that the whole of Easton Neston be kept quiet. It was only after her husband's death in 1955, that Lady Hesjeth approached her mother-in-law for the first time, aged just 25. When the old Lady Heketh died the following year, Easton Neston finally became the home to Kisty and her three young sons.

Under the new Lady Hesketh's management Easton Neston was decorated and a new library installed by David Hicks, all celebrated in The Connoisseur, Country Life and Architectural Digest. The house was reawakened, and during the 1960s and 70s became famous for its eclectic mix of guests. It was during this period that Kisty involved herself in politics, becoming and ardent Tory, following her father who had been a conservative M.P for Berwickshire. Even personal tragedies such as the loss of four of her six brothers and a car crash that resulted in the loss of an eye when she was only 33 did not diminish her zest for life. In the late 1970s, following the death of her eldest son she finally left the great house and moved to the dower house Pomfret Lodge where she continued her energetic life, writing books and articles and containing a lively social life, until the last year of her life when she moved to London.