Interesting people

Some of the interesting people we come across in our research - probably not Douglases, as they would merit an entry in the Douglas Archives.

Sheila Chisholm

Sheila Chisholm is the wife of my 5th cousin, twice removed.

She wedded earls and barons, befriended literary figures and movie stars, bedded a future king, was feted by London and New York society for 40 years, and died a Russian princess.

Vivacious, confident, and striking, Sheila Chisholm met her first husband, Francis Edward Scudamore St. Clair-Erskine, a first lieutenant and son of the 5th Earl of Rosslyn, when she went to Egypt during World War I;to nurse her brother. Arriving in London as a young married woman, the world was at her feet, and she enjoyed it immensely. Edward, Prince of Wales, called her "a divine woman" and his brother, Bertie, the future George VI of England (Queen Elizabeth's father), was especially close to her. She subsequently became Lady Milbanke and ended her days as Princess Dimitri of Russia. Sheila had torrid love affairs with Rudolph Valentino and Prince Obolensky of Russia and among her friends were Evelyn Waugh, Lord Beaverbrook, and Wallis Simpson