| Birth Date: | 2 December 1920 |
| Father: | George Butler, 5th Marquess of Ormonde |
| Family: | Butler dynasty |
Lady Moyra Butler (2 December 1920 – 26 May 1959) was the daughter of George Butler, 5th Marquess of Ormonde and Sybil, Marchioness of Ormonde (nee The Hon. Sybil Fellowes). She was one of the last members of the Butler Dynasty to reside at Kilkenny Castle.
In March 1938, an article about prominent debutantes in The Bystander featured a profile of Lady Moyra, and noted that she had just returned to England from a six-month stay in Germany.[1]
Moyra was presented at Court in May 1938.[2] Lord and Lady Ossory hosted a large ball at the London townhouse of the Marquess and Marchioness of Ormonde, 11 Bryanston Square, in June 1938 during Lady Moyra's debutant season. This dance was a joint coming-of-age party for Lady Moyra's brother, Anthony Viscount Thurles, as well as a debutant 'coming-out' party for Moyra. The guest list reported in newspapers at the time includes multiple prominent individuals from British and American High Society during the late 1930s.[3]
Moyra also attended a debutante ball given by Rose Kennedy (wife of U.S. Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy) for her daughters Kathleen and Rosemary at the American Embassy in London in May 1938.[4]
In 1939 Lord Ossory, Lady Ossory, and Lady Moyra were recorded as living in inner-northern London at 30 St John's Wood Park. Despite the reduced circumstances of the family, a butler, cook, housemaid, kitchenmaid, and lady's maid were also recorded as living at this address.[5] Prior to her marriage, she appeared in newspaper advertisements for Pond's Creams.[6]
Lady Moyra was married twice; firstly to Lieutenant Charles Robert Cecil Weld-Forrester on 30 April 1940. She married her second husband, Count Guy Van Den Steen, on 3 August 1948.
Her first wedding was at St George's Church, Hanover Square. Lt Weld-Forester was the son of Major the Hon. Edric Weld-Forester (uncle of Cecil Weld-Forrester, 7th Baron Forrester of Willey Park, Shopshire) and Lady Victoria Weld-Forrester (daughter of Charles Wynn-Carington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire) of Laverton House, Broadway, Worcestershire. Charles' mother Lady Victoria had served as a Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Mary, who sent a telegram of congratulations to Lt Weld-Forester for the occasion. It was reported that the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, and Winston and Clementine Churchill were invited to the wedding.[7] Eight days later, tragedy struck when her brother, Anthony, Viscount Thurles, died.[8]
On 5 June 1940 Lt Wed-Forester was reported as missing following the defence of Calais.[9] On 19 July 1940 it was reported that he was wounded and captured during the defence of Calais. During her husband's time as a prisoner of war, Lady Moyra was reported to be the only female transport driver attached to the British Red Cross Prisoners of War Department in February 1942.[10]
On 23 April 1946 Lady Moyra gave birth to the couple's only child, Piers Weld-Forester.
On 19 December 1947, Moyra's husband Charles sued her for divorce on the grounds that she had committed adultery with Belgian Aristocrat Guy Van Den Steen "on the continent last summer".[11] Lady Moyra did not defend the suit, and a decree nisi was granted with costs against Count Guy van den Steen. On 3 August 1948 Guy and Lady Moyra were married in Chelsea, London. Their only son Gerard van den Steen was born in London on 10 October 1949.
In the 1940s, Count Guy van den Steen inherited his family's ancestral home, the Chateau de Jehay (Jehay-Bodegnée Castle). He reported that it was a 'dark, empty shell, surrounded by flat, uncultivated fields' at the time he came into possession of the Chateau.[12] Lady Moyra and Count Guy moved into the Castle in 1950,[13] and worked to restore the Chateau, and many Ormonde heirlooms can be found in the Chateau today.[14]
Lady Moyra and her son Gerard were photographed for the Tatler and Bystander, and appeared on 25 January 1956 in the publication. An accompanying article noted that Moyra and her second husband Guy owned two miniature-Chalets in Grindelwald, Switzerland, where they spent the winter season skiing and entertaining friends each year.[15]
As the sole surviving child of her parents' marriage, Moyra's inheritance would have provided her with the financial resources to assist with the restoration of the Chateau de Jehay. After George and Sybil's deaths, Moyra was entitled to the Trust which comprised their marriage settlement. The original settlement in 1915 included £23,000 provided by Moyra's paternal grandmother Ellen, Lady Arthur Butler, £2,000 from Moyra's maternal grandmother William, Lord de Ramsey, and an entitlement to a fifth share of the £30,000 marriage settlement of Moyra's maternal grandmother Lady de Ramsey (nee Lady Rosamond Spencer-Churchill) after William and Rosamond's death. In 1929 Moyra's grandmother Ellen transferred a further £15,000 to George and Sybil's marriage settlement, bringing the total amount of funds held in Trust to £46,000.[16]
The terms of the 1938 Deed of Resettlement of the Ormonde Settled Estates Trust also empowered George, Earl of Ossory to place a charge of up to £10,000 onto any children of his, other than the first-born son.[17]
Consequently, following her parents' deaths in 1948 and 1949, Moyra inherited some £56,000 from various family trusts (£2,105,000 in 2022 when adjusted for inflation, or £5,560,000 when adjusted for Wage Indexes).[18] She was also beneficiary of her father's personal estate, much of which was sold at Auction in Dublin in January 1953.[19] Contemporary newspaper articles report that the auction included over 100 oil paintings from the Collection of the 5th Marquess of Ormonde.[20]
She may also have inherited a share of the Estate of her grandmother Ellen, Dowager Marchioness of Ormonde, as the latter outlived Moyra's parents and brother. Ellen's fortune was estimated at some $1,600,000 ($35,800,000 in 2022)[21] during the early 1930's. The long-lease of Ellen's London townhouse at 11 Bryanston Square was sold for £4,500 in 1953, and Moyra may have inherited a quarter share of this amount (£1,250).
Lady Moyra died at the Chateau de Jehay, Belgium on 26 May 1959 at the age of 38.
She was survived by her two sons:
Her first son Piers Weld-Forester was a prominent figure in London high society in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Described as a 'playboy in the true sense of the word', he was briefly the boyfriend of Princess Anne in 1971 and went on to become a motorcycle racer.[22] He was married on 6 June 1973 at Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks to the model Georgina Youens, daughter of clergyman John Youens, who at the time held the post of Chaplain-General to the Forces. Piers' best man was The Hon. Brian Alexander (son of Field Marshal Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis).[23] Georgina Weld-Forrester was killed less than a year later in the Ermenonville air disaster. Piers died in a motorcycle crash in 1977.
During his lifetime, Piers was one of the last remaining male members of the Butler dynasty, along with his great-uncle Arthur Butler, 6th Marquess of Ormonde and first cousin twice-removed Charles Butler, 7th Marquess of Ormonde. Upon the transfer of the family's ancestral home, Kilkenny Castle, to the local government in 1967, the remainder of the Ormonde Family Trust was wound up and split equally between the 6th Marquess, Charles Butler (later 7th Marquess) and Piers.[24]
Moyra's second son Gerard married in 1974 and had three daughters. He predeceased his father, dying on 15 April 1985. Count Guy left the Chateau de Jehay to the Province of Liege upon his death in 1999.