| The Right Honourable The Lady Soames LG, DBE |
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Lady Soames, taking part in the Garter Day procession to Windsor Castle on 19 June 2006 |
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| Born | Mary Spencer-Churchill 15 September 1922 Chartwell, Westerham, Kent, UK |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse | Christopher Soames (1947–1987) |
| Children | Nicholas, Emma, Jeremy, Charlotte, Rupert |
| Parents | Winston Churchill (father) Clementine Churchill (mother) |
Mary Soames, Baroness Soames, LG, DBE (born 15 September 1922) is the youngest of Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine's five children and, as of 2011, the sole surviving child.[1] She is the widow of The Lord Soames.
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Mary Spencer-Churchill was raised at Chartwell and educated at the Manor House at Limpsfield, she worked for the Red Cross and the Women's Voluntary Service from 1939 to 1941, and joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service with whom she served in London, Belgium and Germany in mixed anti-aircraft batteries, rising to the rank of Junior Commander. She also accompanied her father as aide-de-camp on several of his overseas journeys, including his post-VE trip to Potsdam, where he met with Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin.
She has served many public organisations, such as the International Churchill Society, as a Patron; Church Army and Churchill Houses; and has chaired the Royal National Theatre. She is Patron of the National Benevolent Fund for the Aged.
Lady Soames was honoured with becoming a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her public service, particularly in Rhodesia.
She was appointed a Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter on 23 April 2005, and was invested on 13 June at Windsor Castle.
One of her more recent public appearances came on 29 April 2002 when she dined with the Queen at Buckingham Palace as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations, alongside the then prime minister Tony Blair, the four surviving former prime ministers at the time, and several other relatives of other deceased prime ministers.[2]
She is a successful author and she wrote an acclaimed biography of her mother, Clementine Churchill, in 1979. She offered insights into the Churchill family to various biographers, prominently including Sir Martin Gilbert, who became the authorised biographer of Sir Winston Churchill after the death of Churchill's son, Randolph, in 1968. Additionally, she published a book of letters between Sir Winston and Lady Churchill, editing the letters as well as providing bridging material that placed the letters in personal family and historical context.[3]
She married the Conservative politician Christopher Soames (later created Baron Soames) in 1947 and they had five children:
A list of the titles Lady Soames held in chronological order from birth:
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