US Edition
Jane Stevens, debutante who became lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret and her close friend – obituary
She was once called upon to drive for the Princess – who told her, when she crashed into their motorcycle escort, to simply carry on
Janie Stevens, who has died aged 85, was the former wife of Jocelyn Stevens, and a long serving lady-in-waiting and close friend of Princess Margaret. A glamorous debutante herself in the 1950s, she had the additional late-life distinction of being the grandmother of the Delevingne super-models.
She was born Jane Armyne Sheffield on March 4 1937, the daughter of John Sheffield, CBE, of Laverstoke House, Hampshire, whose ingenious company, Norcros saved his family fortune and offered an umbrella under which former private companies could remain under the management of their original owners while gaining the advantages of being part of a group that was listed on the Stock Exchange. Her mother was Anne Faudel-Phillips (who died in 1969).
Janie was educated at Southover Manor School in Sussex and came out in 1955 with a dance at Laverstoke. She was soon being described as “top deb” of the year. In the course of that summer she could be found in the company of the likes of Ronald Ferguson, Billy Abel Smith, Lord Howard de Walden and Marquess Townshend, and was famously photographed receiving a kiss from the Duke of Kent in a skiing party of 29 at the Gasthaus Wyneck, in Klosters.
But if the world hoped for a royal romance they were soon disappointed as she stayed on at the villa of Edward Hulton, whose nephew, Jocelyn Stevens (then a supremely fashionable magazine man, and about to become owner and publisher of Queen magazine) had lately broken his ankle and was also a guest.
That year, 1956, was a leap year, so she nearly proposed to him, but as things turned out he proposed on her 19th birthday. She was soon spotted by William Hickey choosing her trousseau and sporting a gold brooch of a rose with a diamond dewdrop given her by Stevens, along with a gold on onyx owl brooch with ruby eyes. In May 1956 her engagement photograph by Tony Armstrong-Jones was the frontispiece of The Sketch.
Once the season was over, she was persuaded to give her views on the dos and don’ts of “debbery”. She said she found the whole business monstrous, cruel, and terrifying, and warned other debutantes not to pepper their conversations with “Mummy says I mustn’t” or “Mummy says I should”. The worst solecism, unexplained, was to say at the beginning of the season: “No nightclubs until after Lord’s.”
Her fiancé revealed that the prospects of many a deb was decided by a group of young bloods lunching at Pimm’s in Threadneedle Street, where the party of the night before was mulled over.
She married Jocelyn Stevens at Holy Trinity, Brompton, on 14 June 1956. The Rev Simon Phipps officiated and Janie wore a Victorian-style gown of white satin mounted on silk organza with a long tulle veil, embroidered with silver stars, held in place by a coronet of flowers.
The groom gave her a £3,000 American two-seater car and a silver-mink coat; 1,000 guests attended the wedding reception. Tony Armstrong-Jones took the photos and presently photographed her again in many stylish outfits and with elaborate hairstyles by René of Mayfair.
She and Jocelyn had two sons and two daughters, and led a glamorous life of parties in London, Hampshire, and at their home on the beach at Lyford Cay in Nassau, Janie always elegantly and stylishly dressed. Norman Hartnell loaned her clothes, and she ran a dress shop, O, in Walton Street and wrote a column called Serendipity in Vogue, which highlighted new discoveries in London.
Jocelyn Stevens had hired Snowdon as his photographer when he revamped Queen in the late 1950s. He thus observed the courtship between him and Princess Margaret and told him that he did not think he would fit into the Royal family.
This caused something of a rift between them but Princess Margaret brought them together again about a year after the marriage, and as a result Jocelyn and Janie became close friends with the royal couple, enjoying in particular cultural holidays, when they travelled round Italy together, looking at churches or buildings of particular interest, and in London going to the theatre or cinema.
At their Hampshire home, Testbourne, near Whitchurch, Tony made the frequently shown film of Princess Margaret with Peter Sellers, when the actor disappeared behind a screen and the princess emerged in his place. It all seemed to be going well, and when the marriage began to crumble, the Stevenses invited them to stay at Lyford Cay, where they were all much photographed together. Janie was godmother to Princess Margaret’s daughter, Lady Sarah Chatto.
Jocelyn and Janie parted, divorcing in 1979. Three years later, Princess Margaret invited Janie Stevens to be one of her ladies-in-waiting, and the friendship developed, Janie accompanying her on numerous engagements, including overseas travel, and moving into the children’s nursery at Kensington Palace, her London base until 2002.
Early on, there was a day when the chauffeur was absent, and Princess Margaret instructed Janie to drive the Rolls Royce. When it crashed into the motorcycle escort, the princess simply urged her to drive on.
Janie Stevens would have Princess Margaret to stay at her lovely Mill House at Sutton Courtenay for New Year’s Eve, with figures such as Lady Penn, Professor Jack Plumb, Kenneth Rose, Ned Ryan and Sir Geoffrey Shakerley in attendance. She remained a loyal and sympathetic ally to the Princess till the very end.
She was with her in Mustique when she scalded her feet badly in 1999. She witnessed first hand the positive approach Princess Margaret took to her duties, as opposed to the tabloid image (cruelly exaggerated in The Crown), found her assiduous in her loyalty to her regiments, devoted to the NSPCC, knowledgeable about the Bible and Prayer Book and above all loyal to her sister, the Queen.
In the last years of her life, Princess Margaret’s health declined badly. Janie Stevens was sad when the Princess became partially sighted, could no longer do the crossword or enjoy looking at a painting. But even when rather piano, there were flashes of humour. Princess Margaret gave Janie a pair of glass swans. “Lalique?” asked a guest. “Lalique-esque,” replied the Princess.
At the Mill House Janie Stevens created a beautiful garden, which was bordered by the Thames, and when she moved to Shellingford she created another lovely garden. A close friend of Jeanie, Countess of Carnarvon, she was a keen patron of the Newbury Music Festival.
Above all she was devoted to her family, which in due course expanded to include the famous Delevingne granddaughters, and two great-grandchildren. She cared for her son, Rupert, who died of heart disease at the age of 24, but she is survived by her other son, Charles, and two daughters, Pandora and Melinda.
She was appointed LVO for her services as an Extra Lady-in-Waiting to Princess Margaret in 1993.
Jane Stevens, born March 4 1937; died April 15 2022