Lady Lettice Mildred Mary Ashley-Cooper OStJ (12 February 1911 – 24 November 1990) was a British aristocrat, socialite, and airwoman. One of the Bright Young Things of the 1920s, [1] she became a Flight Officer of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War II. [2]
Lady Lettice Mildred Mary Ashley-Cooper was born on 12 February 1911, [3] the daughter of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury and Constance Sibell Grosvenor. [3]
In 1936 her name was linked with the name of Edward VIII as a possible future wife; the King had declared that the future queen had to be "English, good, beautiful and a sportswoman", and the newspaper identified four names: Lady Anne Hope, daughter of the viceroy of India; Lady Mary Grosvenor, daughter of the Duke of Westminster; Lady Angela Montagu-Douglas-Scott, sister of the Duchess of Gloucester; and Lady Lettice Ashley-Cooper. [4]
During World War II she was a Flight Officer of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, promoted to Corporal in charge of the Orderly Room. [2] [5]
She was appointed Officer of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (O.St.J.). [3]
In 1974 she wrote Two 17th Century Dorset Inventories and in 1986 Unusual Behaviour, published with Gollancz.