Aristocrat and Girl Guides leader.
Born as Ann de Trafford on 14 July 1918, she was the eldest of the four children of Sir Humphrey Edmund de Trafford, 4th Baronet, MC, JP, DL (1891-1971) and the Hon. Cynthia Hilda Evelyn de Trafford née Cadogan (1896-1966). Her birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1918 in the Marylebone registration district, London.
Her three siblings were: Mary de Trafford (1920-2007); Violet de Trafford (1926-2021) and Catherine de Trafford (1928-2023).
On 14 February 1939 she married Derek Henry Parker Bowles (1916-1977), the marriage being registered in the Kensington registration district, London and they had four children: Andrew Henry Parker Bowles (b.1939); Simon Humphrey Parker Bowles (b.1941); Mary Ann Parker Bowles (b.1945) and Richard Eustace Parker Bowles (1947-2010).
In the 1939 England and Wales Register she is shown as living at Newsells Park, Barkway, Royston, Hertfordshire, with her mother, her sisters, a footman, a hall boy, an oddman, a valet, an electrician, a cook, two kitchen-maids, a housekeeper, two housemaids, a children's nurse, two lady's maids and a governess.
In 1972, as a Commissioner of the Commonwealth Girl Guides Association and for other services to the Commonwealth, she was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) and in 1977 a Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (DCVO).
Probate records confirm that her address had been Forty Hill, Highclere, Berkshire and that she died, aged 68 years, on 22 January 1987. Her death was registered in the Kingsclere and Whitchurch registration district, Hampshire, and her body was cremated. Probate was granted on 16 April 1987 and her effects totalled £510,939.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
