Susan Barrantes

Susan Mary Barrantes (née Wright, previously Ferguson; 9 June 193719 September 1998) was a documentary filmmaker and the mother of Sarah, Duchess of York, as well as the maternal grandmother of princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Her elopement with an Argentinian polo player caused a stir in social circles. After his death, she became a film producer in Buenos Aires. She died in a car crash at the age of 61. Early life and first marriage Barrantes was born in Bramcote, Nottinghamshire, the daughter of FitzHerbert Wright and the Honourable Doreen Wingfield, sister of Mervyn Patrick Wingfield, 9th Viscount Powerscourt. She was the youngest of four children, with two sisters, Brigid and Davinia, and a brother, Bryan. Susan's maternal grandfather was Mervyn Wingfield, 8th Viscount Powerscourt. Her father was a director of the coal and iron-producing Butterley Company in Ripley, Derbyshire, and was the great-grandson of industrialist and philanthropist Francis Wright. Susan Wright completed school and for a short time attended secretarial college. During the debutante season of 1954, she was presented at the court of Queen Elizabeth II.