Frances Campbell-Preston

Campbell-Preston turned 100 on 2 September 2018, and died on 22 November 2022 at age 104.

Campbell-Preston was appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in the 1977 New Year Honours and promoted to Dame Commander (DCVO) on the occasion of the Queen Mother's 90th birthday in the 1990 Queen Mother's Birthday Honours.

She was a member of Argyll County Council from 1960 to 1964 before being asked in 1965 by the Queen Mother's private secretary, Sir Martin Gilliat, who had been imprisoned with her husband at Colditz, to become a lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother. She continued in that role, attending events nationally and abroad, until the Queen Mother's death in 2002. Campbell-Preston was described as a stalwart of the staff who was not hesitant to ask the Queen Mother difficult questions when other members were reluctant.

On 2 December 1938, she married Lt.-Col. (George) Patrick Campbell-Preston DL MBE (1911–1960), the son of Col. Robert William Pigott Clarke Campbell-Preston and Mary Augusta Margaret Nicol Thorne and nephew of Gen. Sir Augustus Francis Andrew Nicol Thorne. Patrick, an officer in the Black Watch at the time of their marriage, was an equerry to Lord Tweedsmuir during the 1930s and was later imprisoned at Colditz Castle during the Second World War. He died in a car crash in 1960, after he and Frances had had four children.

After coming out as a debutante in 1937, Campbell-Preston sailed to Canada the following year to become an informal lady-in-waiting to the viceregal consort, Lady Tweedsmuir. During the Second World War, she served with the Women's Royal Naval Service.

Dame Frances Olivia Campbell-Preston DCVO (née Grenfell; 2 September 1918 – 22 November 2022) was a British courtier and author who served as lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother from 1965 to 2002.