Henrietta Russell, Dowager Duchess of Bedford (born Henrietta Joan Tiarks; 5 March 1940) is a landowner and horse breeder, and the widow of Robin Russell, 14th Duke of Bedford, with whom she lived at Woburn Abbey. Until her husband succeeded to the Dukedom in 2002, she was better known as the Marchioness of Tavistock.
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Family background
Henrietta Joan Tiarks was born in London, on 5 March 1940, daughter of Henry Frederick Tiarks III (Woodheath, Chislehurst, London, 8 September 1900 – Marbella, 2 July 1995), a wealthy merchant banker with Schroders, and wife (3 October 1936) Ina Florence Marshman Bell (Carlisle, Cumbria, 5 November 1903 – Marbella, 10 April 1989), an actress known as Joan Barry. Her parents married on 3 October 1936; both having been married previously, he on 27 April 1930, div. 1936, to Lady Millicent Olivia Mary Taylour, daughter of the 4th Marquess of Headfort (? - 24 December 1975) and she in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales, in October / December 1919 to Henry Hampson.
She is a granddaughter of Frank Cyril Tiarks and a relative of Mark Phillips.
Marriage and issue
She married the then Marquess of Tavistock, Robin Russell, on 20 June 1961 at St Clement Danes in London, thereby becoming the Marchioness of Tavistock. He succeeded his father, becoming the 14th Duke of Bedford, on 25 October 2002, at which point Henrietta became Duchess of Bedford. They had three sons: