Lady Victoria Leatham

Lady Victoria Diana Leatham (born 28 June 1947, née Cecil) is an antiques expert and television personality. She was the chatelaine of Burghley House from 1982 to 2007.

She is the daughter of David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter, then known as Lord Burghley, and his second wife Diana Henderson, granddaughter of Alexander Henderson, 1st Baron Faringdon. She married Simon Patrick Leatham, son of Major Patrick Magor Leatham, on 25 April 1967. They have two children.^[1]

She began working for Sotheby's in Bond Street, concentrating on the East of England. She joined the BBC Antiques Roadshow and was a regular contributor to the programme for 20 years.^[2][3] On the death of her father in 1982, with the marquessate passing to a Canadian uncle, she and her husband became custodians of Burghley House for 25 years, increasing visitor numbers from 48,000 to 97,000 by 2007, before handing over to their daughter Miranda Rock.^[4]

She was honorary colonel of 158 Royal Anglian Regiment from 1996-2002.and is a Deputy Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire. In 2012 she was elected the first female Master of the Worshipful Company of Drapers.^[5] She is a Public Governor of Peterborough and Stamford Hospital Trust, she is a major fundraiser for The Ron Pickering Memorial Fund which supports many of Britain’s most talented athletes aged 15-23 with financial grants totalling tens of thousands of pounds every year. She founded Fishing for Forces which provides free fishing in private lakes and rivers to disabled veterans. Patron of Westmorland of Apethorpe Archive Appeal 2012. Trustee of Sue Ryder Hospice at Thorpe Hall in Peterborough. President of Friends of Fotheringhay Church.

Books

• The Antiques Roadshow Book of Do's and Dont's - A Simple guide to the Storage Cleaning and Preservation of Antiques and Works of Art with George Archdale (1989)
• Burghley: The Life of a Great House (1992) ISBN 1871569478
• Burghley with Jon Culverhouse and Eric Till (2009) ISBN 0851014534

References