Alexandra Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn

The Duchess died on 10 December 2018 at the age of 72 following an illness. Following a private funeral, she was buried at Baronscourt Parish Church, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. A memorial service was held at St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, on 30 May 2019, which was attended by the Duke of York.

A trained psychologist, she ran workshops throughout Ireland and Great Britain. The Duchess was the founder of the Pushkin Prizes and the Pushkin Trust, organizations promoting art therapy for young people. The Duchess held many patronages, such as Abercorn House at Cambridge House Grammar School, the Omagh Community Youth Choir and the BEARR Trust. She was honorary secretary of the Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma & Transformation in Omagh, County Tyrone. Her work in Omagh was in response to the 1998 Omagh bombing.

In June 1979, James succeeded his father as 5th Duke of Abercorn and moved to the family seat, Baronscourt, near Newtownstewart in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

On 20 October 1966, at the age of 20, Phillips married James Hamilton, Marquess of Hamilton, Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone and son and heir apparent of the 4th Duke of Abercorn, at Westminster Abbey. The Queen and other members of the royal family attended, including Prince Andrew, who was a pageboy.

She was educated at St Mary's School, Wantage, and in Paris, but her mother forbade university. She had a debutante ball attended by 800 guests including The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Luton Hoo, the Bedfordshire seat of her maternal grandparents, the Wernhers, in the summer of 1964.

Alexandra Anastasia Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn, OBE OStJ (née Phillips; 27 February 1946 – 10 December 2018) was a British peeress and philanthropist. She was the wife of James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn, and a descendant of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, in whose honour she founded the Pushkin Trust and the Pushkin prizes.