Rosa Frederica Baring FitzGeorge (9 March 1854 - 10 March 1927), was the second daughter of Mr. William Henry Baring, J.P. and Elizabeth Hammersly, of Norman Court, Hampshire, England. She was a descendent of the famous Sir Francis Baring of the 18th Century English Baring banking family that had rescued the British Royal Family in challenging times. Her maternal uncle was Thomas Weguelin, partner of Thomson, Bonar, and Company of London, Director and Governor of the Bank of England.[1][2]
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She married first to Captain Frank Wigsell Arkwright August 29, 1878 at Sanderstead, Surrey Court, England and had two children, a son Esme Arkwright, and a daughter Sarah Gertrude (Vera) Arkwright, who later through 2 marriages became Vera Bate Lombardi (b.1885 London - d. 1948 Rome).[1] At age 32, while unhappily married to Captain Arkwright, Rosa allegedly had an affair with the 17-year-old Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge (13 August 1868 – 23 October 1927), later the Duke of Teck, younger brother of the future Queen Mary of Teck at the Baring home Norman Court, Hampshire, England.[3][4]
Rosa became pregnant and gave birth to Sarah Gertrude (Vera) Arkwright in 1885, after her marriage to Captain Arkwright. Coincidently, The Duke of Teck’s mother, Duchess of Teck and her children returned to England from British debtor’s exile to Europe in 1885 through a loan from Rosa Baring Arkwright’s father Mr. William Henry Baring, which secured and positioned the future of Queen Mary of Teck consort to King George V.[3] [4]
The Arkwright marriage ended in divorce in 1885, allegedly with a disguised royal family cover-up that involved a transaction between the Duchess of Teck and the Baring family to insure silencing the under aged Duke of Teck's affair and guaranteeing a royal, although morganatic, marriage for Rosa to George William Adolphus FitzGeorge. Rosa abandoned her illegitimate child Sarah Gertrude (Vera) Arkwright in infancy to be raised by Captain Arkwright's family to focus on her new socially promising marriage.[3][4]
Among the conditions made between Rosa Baring FitzGeorge and the Duchess of Teck, was that the child Sarah Gertrude (Vera) (christened Arkwright) be given up at birth to the care of the Arkwright family, and that the family keep a low profile, obey the agreement with a discreetly undisclosed payment and monies to support the child.[3][4] The Arkwrights housed Vera in a virtually isolated rural area until she went to live with her godmother Margaret Cambridge, Marchioness of Cambridge’s brother Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster.[3][4]
Rosa Baring married a second time November 25, 1885 in Paris, France to Colonel George William Adolphus FitzGeorge (24 August 1843 London - 2 September 1907 Lucerne). He was the eldest of three sons of Duke of Cambridge and Louisa Fairbrother (the other sons being Admiral Sir Adolphus FitzGeorge and Colonel Sir Augustus FitzGeorge). He was a male-line descendent of George III, W. F. Hanover, and King of Great Britain. His parents went through a ceremony of marriage in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 while his mother was pregnant with his third brother. He and his brothers did not hold Royal titles, and were ineligible to succeed to the Duchy of Cambridge.[4] Rosa Baring Fitzgeorge and Colonel George William Adolphus FitzGeorge had three children: Mabel Iris, George Daphne and George William.
Queen Victoria grew tired of financial bailouts of both Teck and FitzGeorge families.[4] The Queen did not approve of Rosa Baring FitzGeorge or the Duchess of Teck and their manipulations with the British Royal Family to improve their status.[4] Rosa FitzGeorge later used the title ‘Lady FitzGeorge’ in New York pursuing wealthy American families to find a husband for her daughter Vera.[4]
Rosa Baring FitzGeorge was not friendly with the families of her two husbands. She made "plenty of capital of the royal blood in the veins of her husband" and as the daughter-in-law of HRH Prince George, Duke of Cambridge,[5] Rosa flourished in New York and Chicago as “Lady FitzGeorge.[3] According to the Marquise de Fontenoy in her book "Revelations of the High Life Within Royal Palaces" first printed in 1892[4] and published later in "Royal Musings",[6] "Rosa Federica Baring FitzGeorge's marriage to Colonel FitzGeorge, who died in 1907, "gave great offense" to his father, HRH Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, who was Queen Victoria's first cousin. King Edward VII bestowed knighthoods on the Duke's two younger sons, Adolphus and Augustus, but not on George. This omission was largely due to Colonel Fitzgeorge's marriage to Rosa Baring and his constant financial problems. Rosa did not reveal her first marriage to Arkwright at the time of her marriage to Colonel FitzGeorge, nor that she had two children, Esme and Vera.[3][4] Vera Bate Lombardi's daughter Bridget Bate Tichenor stated, "This bigamy issue was later magnified by the revelation of Vera's illegitimate birth and the controversy that surrounded it within the Royal Family."[3][4]
By her first marriage to Frank Wigsell Arkwright:[7]
By her second marriage to George William Adolphus FitzGeorge:[8]
Shrouded in rumours of royal illegitimacy, Rosa Baring FitzGeorge’s second child Vera Bate Lombardi was never legally adopted by her FitzGeorge stepfather, yet was presented socially in the UK and Europe as FitzGeorge. Vera Bate Lombardi was born with the highest connections possible with Royal Family alliances that cared deeply for her. Through her mother’s abandonment, she became the surrogate god child of Margaret Cambridge, Marchioness of Cambridge, wife of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Teck and sister of Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster.[9]
As Vera Bate Lombardi grew into a young adult, Rosa Baring FitzGeorge, who had neglected and ignored her daughter as a child, grew jealous of her beauty, talent, and popularity. In contrast to her former attitude , Rosa self-effacingly insisted that Vera use the FitzGeorge surname to insure her future financial security.
Rosa Fredericka Baring Fitzgeorge was the maternal grandmother of Magic Realist painter Bridget Bate Tichenor, who lived in Mexico from 1956–1990.[3]
1. Sarah (Vera) Gertrude Bate Lombardi http://www.thepeerage.com/p15929.htm
6. Captain Frank Wigsell Arkwright http://www.thepeerage.com/p10854.htm#i108534
9. Sir. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill http://thepeerage.com/p10620.htm#i106196
10. Vera Bate Lombardi/Co Co Chanel ^ Madsen, Axel. Chanel: A Woman of Her Own. Macmillan, 1991. ISBN 0805016392. p. 4. http://books.google.com/books?id=jgJ7jYuXeYsC&pg=PA357&lpg=PA357&dq=Vera+Bate+Lombardi+'Chanel'&source=bl&ots=AaHRA2399r&sig=dJtmns0B1tg-JLb-5bnf8gqbp5U&hl=en&ei=VM9bS971B4z0sQPQ4-WgAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CBkQ6AEwBzgK#v=onepage&q=Vera Bate Lombardi 'Chanel'&f=false
11. Vera Bate Lombardi/Co Co Chanel ^ Chanel and the Nazis: what Coco Avant Chanel and other films don't tell you The Times. 4 April 2009
12. Vera Bate Lombardi/Chanel ^ http://www.internetstones.com/chanel-cuff-bracelet-gabrielle-cocol-fine-jewelry-artistic-collection-hautecouture-accessories.html
13. Vera Bate Lombardi/Chanel http://www.forward.com/articles/115561/
15. Vera Bate Lombardi/ Chanel http://www.detourmagazine.co.uk/2009/03/01/the-life-of-gabrielle-bonheur-‘coco’-chanel/
18. Vera Bate Lombardi/Chanel http://www.themakeupgallery.info/lookalike/icons/chanel.htm
21. Vera Bate Lombardi/ Chanel http://www.ovimagazine.com/art/5293
25. Chanel S.A.