Audrey Hepburn, daughter of a Dutch Baroness

Since finding out about the title I have been looking for role models; being that my mother passed away and she is not here to guide me through. Also I have been looking critically at how society views Baronesses. I have done this by learning about Baronesses and have decided to feature some of the ones I find the most interesting.

Whenever anyone thinks of unassuming style and sophistication, Audrey Hepburn comes to mind. I was watching one of my favorite movies Roman Holiday and started wondering if Audrey had some royal blood because she is so aristocratic looking in all of her roles and even if she didn't she is an excellent role model for an aristocrat.

I came across How to Be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life. This biography is a selection of Audrey's thoughts on issues ranging from poverty stricken countries to her views on how to be charming. One of the excerpts mentioned her mother who turns out to BE A BARONESS!?
What better way to learn about a Baroness then from her own daughter? Below is the excerpt.

Listen to Your Mother
Audrey's mother, born Baroness Ella van Heemstra, grew up "wanting more than anything else to be English, slim, and an actress," but her aristocratic heritage prevented such foolishness. Marriage and motherhood were on her agenda.

"Being the daughter of a baroness doesn't make you any different, except that my mother was born in 1900 and had had herself a very strict, Victorian upbringing, if you like. So, she was very demanding of us-of me and my brothers. 'Manners,' as she would say, 'don't forget, are kindnesses. You must always be kind.' Opening the door for old ladies is just a routine so that you know she's helped. And she was always very adamant about that."
"My mother taught me to stand straight, sit erect, use discipline with wine and sweets and to smoke only six cigarettes a day."
"I was given an outlook on life by my mother. . . . It was frowned upon not to think of others first. It was frowned upon not to be disciplined."
"It's that wonderful old-fashioned idea that others come first and you come second. This was the whole ethic by which I was brought up. Others matter more than you do, so don't fuss, dear; get on with it."
"As a child, I was taught that it was bad manners to bring attention to yourself, and to never, ever make a spectacle of yourself. . . .
All of which I've earned a living doing."

-Audrey Hepburn

"I can really take no credit for any talent that Audrey may have. If it's real talent, it's God-given. I might as well be proud of a blue sky, or the paintings in the Flemish exhibition at the Royal Academy."
—her mother, Baroness Ella van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston

Busy Baroness

Well I have gotten the ok from the association governing the title and now am completely official. Then on the same day I received a huge assignment for school. I wonder what they would do if I sent it back with a note speaking in third person like, " The Baroness shall not be doing anymore work for the semester she is busy getting ready for meeting the Ambassador, two Galas, and on top of that planning a wedding to her "fiancee" who has really been her husband for almost four years. Also he recently found out that he has a little royal blood in him as well and we are now appealing to the Court of Lyon in Scotland to get more information.

Now i see why royalty has assistants! So to help ease the to-do list we have decided to sign up for an online concierge service called Red Butler. Their link is http://www.redbutler.com/ They are $35 a month and look very competent and we chose them over http://www.asksunday.com/. Both are competent companies but Red Butler seemed to have that extra polish we needed in order to arrange all the particulars for the social calendar that has come with the title. In addition we have just, out of shear luck, secured a very chic apartment in a sought after upscale elevator doorman building and we are getting a maid to come twice a month.

I have never been very good at pampering myself but since I found out about my title it seemed like a good excuse to make some little changes. Little changes turned into big changes and I look forward to what the future will bring.

I feel a bit of responsibility to the country the title comes from, even though there is no monarchy there anymore I would like to help the poor anyway that I could. So I am donating some money to a children's charity for the country. It is not much because I am essentially a broke Baroness until I finish law school. But in time I hope to do more. In this way I see that a title is in someway an obligation to try and do more for the country it comes from.