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Edith, Lady Queenborough (formerly Edith Starr Miller) (July 16, 1887 – January 16, 1933) was an American-born British socialite, author, and conspiracy theorist.

Early life

Edith was born in Newport, Rhode Island, on July 16, 1887. She was the only child of William Starr Miller II (1856–1935) and Edith Caroline (née Warren) Miller. (1866–1944). Her father, a Harvard and Columbia Law School graduate, was a wealthy industrialist and real estate operator in New York City.

His paternal grandparents were Sarah Caroline Tucker (née Chace) Miller and George Norton Miller (brother of her father's namesake, U.S. Representative William S. Miller). Her maternal grandparents were George Henry Warren (one of the founders of the Metropolitan Opera) and Mary Caroline (née Phoenix) Warren (a daughter of U.S. Representative Jonas P. Phoenix and granddaughter of Stephen Whitney, one of the wealthiest merchants in New York City). Among her extended family were uncles Whitney Warren and Lloyd Warren, prominent architects, and cousins Robert Walton Goelet (a financier and real estate developer) and Constance Whitney Warren (a sculptor who married Count Guy de Lasteyrie).

Occult Theocrasy

Edith and her husband were allegedly pro-Fascist, and Edith in particular was friendly with Brigadier-General Robert Byron Drury Blakeney. Blakeney was the second president of the British Fascisti from 1924 to 1926, and was later active in the Imperial Fascist League, The Britons, the British Union of Fascists, and the Nordic League.

Edith and her close friend L. Fry (Paquita de Shishmareff) (1882–1970) spent about 10 years (1922–1931) researching many of the most important secret societies existing at that time in Europe and the Middle East. They detailed their findings in Occult Theocrasy (2 vols.) (Chatou, France: British American Press, 1931-1933), a work whose publication was completed shortly after Edith's death. "Occult Theocrasy" is now widely regarded as a "conspiracy classic." The work summarizes what was known at that time about the organizations and secret societies which collectively form what is now referred to, variously, as the Cabal, the Illuminati, the One World Government, the Secret World Government, or the New World Order. As a whole, Occult Theocrasy was more comprehensive and up-to-date in its subject-matter than any other similar work available in the English language at that time. The work contains overt antisemitic elements and attributes much of world history to a conspiracy of Jews. It gives credence to the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and has two chapters that express praise for the mission of the Ku Klux Klan. Most of the source information for Occult Theocrasy is listed in the book's bibliography. The work also features a brief occult glossary, and a detailed index.

Personal life

On July 19, 1921, Edith became the second wife of Almeric Hugh Paget, 1st Baron Queenborough, a British industrialist and former Conservative MP. Lord Queenborough, a son of Lord Alfred Paget (himself the fifth son of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey), was widowed from first wife, the former Pauline Payne Whitney (a daughter of fellow Americans William C. Whitney and Flora Payne Whitney), who died in 1916. After Pauline's death, Paget resigned from the House of Commons and was elevated to the peerage as Baron Queenborough. Edith's marriage to Lord Queenborough took place at the New York townhouse of Edith's parents, which was located at 1048 Fifth Avenue on the corner of 86th Street in Manhattan. Lord Queenborough was in New York visiting his late wife's brothers, Harry Payne Whitney and Payne Whitney and attending the Harding inauguration. After their marriage, the Pagets lived at Camfield Place, near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The interiors of the house were designed by Edith herself. Together, the Pagets had three daughters:

• Hon. Audrey Elizabeth Paget (1922–1990), who became an aviator who married four times: Christian Martell DFC, Anthony Ronan Nelson (son of Thomas Arthur Nelson), Claud Peter Harcourt Lucy (son of Claud Arthur Lucy), and Sir Thomas Musker.
• Hon. Enid Louise Paget (b. 1923), who married Capt. Count Roland de la Poype, in 1947. They later divorced.
• Hon. Cicilie Carol Paget (1928–2013), who married Capt. Robert Victor John Evans, son of Brigadier John Meredyth Jones Evans and actress Camille Clifford, in 1949.

The Pagets later separated, and Edith sued for legal separation in New York City on January 8, 1932, citing cruelty and abandonment of her and their three children.

Edith died a year later in a hospital in Paris after a surgery on January 16, 1933, at the age of forty-five. Lord Queenborough died in 1949, at which point the barony became extinct.

Descendants

Through her daughter Audrey, she was posthumously a grandmother of Thomas Lorne Nelson (b. 1947), Audrey Caroline Nelson (b. 1949), and Elizabeth Christian Nelson (b. 1950). In 1979, Thomas married Georgina Astor, daughter of Michael Astor (the fourth son of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor and Nancy Astor), after her divorce from Hon. Anthony Ramsay, a son of the 16th Earl of Dalhousie. In 1978, garden designer Audrey married Max Wyndham, 7th Baron Leconfield, 2nd Baron Egremont and they reside at Petworth House in Sussex.

Through her daughter Enid, she was also posthumously a grandmother of Charles Henri de la Poype (b. 1949) and Isabelle Victoria de la Poype (b. 1951).

Through her daughter Cicilie, she was also posthumously a grandmother of Eton graduate John Almeric Evans (b. 1950), Camilla Carol Evans (1952–1963), Michael Hugh Evans (b. 1956), and Patricia Antoinetta Evans (b. 1959).

Publications

• Common Sense in the Kitchen: Normal Rations in Normal Times. New York: Brentano's (1918).
• Occult Theocracy (2 vols.) (1933). Published posthumously.

References

1. Dyrendal, Asbjørn; Robertson, David G.; Asprem, Egil (1 November 2018). Handbook of Conspiracy Theory and Contemporary Religion. Brill. p. 213. ISBN 9789004382022.
2. "William Starr Miller". The New York Times. September 15, 1935. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
3. Genealogies of the State of New York: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. 1915. p. 358. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
4. ^ Phoenix, Stephen Whitney (1878). The Whitney Family of Connecticut, and Its Affiliations: Being an Attempt to Trace the Descendants, as Well in the Female as the Male Lines, of Henry Whitney, from 1649 to 1878. Priv. Print. . p. 821. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
5. Lord Queenborough, "World Plan in Action", English Review, August 1935.
6. Lord Queenborough, "All that we hold most dear", Saturday Review, September 19, 1936.
7. Simon Haxey, England's Money Lords. Tory M.P., p. 131. New York: Harrison-Hilton Books, 1939.
8. Charles Domville-Fyfe, This is Germany, Foreword by Lord Queenborough. London: Seely Service & Co., Ltd., 1939.
9. Lady Queenborough; de Shishmareff, Paquita (1931–1933). Occult Theocrasy (2 vols., 1933). Chatou, France: British American Press.
10. Parfrey, Adam; Thomas, Kenn (2008). Secret and Suppressed II: Banned Ideas and Hidden History Into the 21st Century. Feral House. p. 277. ISBN 9781932595352. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
11. Occult Theocrasy (pp. 667–676)
12. Occult Theocrasy (Appendix III: Masonic and Pagan Symbolism) (pp. 709–720)
13. Occult Theocrasy (pp. 721–741)
14. ^ "LORD QUEENBOROUGH WEDS MISS MILLER; British Peer Quietly Marries Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Starr Miller IN FIFTH AVENUE HOME Thirty Relatives at Second Marriage of Son-in-Law of Late W.C. Whitney--Sail Soon for England. Bride's Father Gives Her Away. Lord Queenborough's Second Marriage. Widely Known Sportsman. Gallagher--Sleicher". The New York Times. 20 July 1921. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
15. Mosley, Charles, ed. (1999). Burke's Peerage and Baronetage. Vol. 1 (100 ed.). Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd. p. 77.
16. "MRS. ALMERIC H. PAGET DIES; Former Miss Pauline Whitney of New York Expires at Esher, Eng". The New York Times. 23 November 1916. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
17. ^ "Lady Queenborough Dies in Paris at 45. Former Edith Stair Miller of New York Was Wed to British Baron in 1921". The New York Times. January 17, 1933. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
18. Robert Sencourt, Heirs of Tradition. Tributes of a New Zealander, pp. 105-106n. London: Carroll & Nicholson, 1949.
19. ^ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999.
20. "Hon. Mrs. A. Martell Becomes Affianced". The New York Times. 30 November 1946. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
21. "Hon. Audrey Elizabeth Lucy (née Paget) (1922-1991". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
22. "Hon. Enid L. Paget Married in London". The New York Times. 12 December 1947. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
23. Magazine, Le Point (24 October 2012). "Décès de Roland La Poype, pilote du Normandie-Niémen et Compagnon de la Libération". Le Point (in French). Retrieved 18 March 2020.
24. "MISS PAGET IS FOUND; Daughter of the Late Admiral Paget Was Missing for a Week". The New York Times. 4 February 1926. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
25. "SEPARATION ASKED BY LADY PAGET HERE; American Wife Accuses Baron Queenborough of Abandoning Her and Three Children. PROPERTY SOUGHT IN BANKS Referee Named for State Quest With View to Alimony -- Cruelty Laid to Wealthy Englishman". The New York Times. 9 January 1932. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
26. "British Peer Arrives with Daughters for Vacation Here". The New York Times. 3 August 1938. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
27. "QUEENBOROUGH, 88, A BARON, ONCE M. P.; Former Cowpuncher Who Came to U. S. With £5 in Youth and Made a Fortune Dies". The New York Times. 23 September 1949. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
28. "Extinct United Kingdom Baronies". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 18 March 2020.

External links

• Edith Starr Miller biography anti-masonry.info

• 1887 births
• 1933 deaths
• American socialites
• American fascists
• Paget family
• Anti-Masonry
• Illuminati conspiracy theorists
• Critics of Mormonism
• American conspiracy theorists
• People from Newport, Rhode Island
• Wives of knights
• Deaths from surgical complications