Shân Legge-Bourke
British landowner (1943–2025)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dame Elizabeth Shân Josephine Legge-Bourke, DCVO (née Bailey; 10 September 1943 – 14 December 2025) was a Welsh landowner who served as the second Lord Lieutenant of Powys.
Dame Shân Legge-Bourke | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 September 1943 Crickhowell, Wales |
| Died | 14 December 2025 (aged 82) |
| Spouse |
William Legge-Bourke
(m. 1964; died 2009) |
| Children | 3; including Tiggy |
Background
Legge-Bourke was born on 10 September 1943 in Crickhowell, Wales. She was the only child of Wilfred Bailey, 3rd Baron Glanusk, and his second wife Margaret Eldrydd Shoubridge (died 2002). She inherited the Glanusk Park estate of some 18,000 acres on his death in 1948. In 1966, her mother married William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle. She attended boarding school in East Sussex.[1]
In 1964, she married Captain William Legge-Bourke[2] (1939–2009; son of Major Sir Harry Legge-Bourke, a Conservative MP for the Isle of Ely), and they had three children:
- Alexandra Shân "Tiggy" Pettifer (née Legge-Bourke; born 1965), nanny to Princes William and Harry.
- Zara Victoria Gordon-Lennox (née Legge-Bourke; born 1966), married first, Richard Drax, second, Angus Gordon-Lennox, of Gordon Castle.
- Captain Harry Russell Legge-Bourke (born 1972) an officer in the Welsh Guards, former aide-de-camp to Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank and page of honour to Queen Elizabeth II between 1985 and 1987.
Legge-Bourke died after a long illness on 14 December 2025, at the age of 82.[3][1] A memorial service was held at Brecon Cathedral on 4 March 2026, which was attended by Prince William, Princess Anne, and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh.[4]
Honours
In 1998, Legge-Bourke was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Powys.[5] In 2006 she was the subject of a BBC Wales series entitled The Lady of Glanusk.[6]
Appointed a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) in 1988,[7] in the 2015 New Year Honours Legge-Bourke was promoted to Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (DCVO).[8]
She was appointed an Extra Lady-in-Waiting to Princess Anne in January 2024.[9]
.svg){kind=small}
