Julia Camoys Stonor
Encyclopedia
Julia Maria Cristina Mildred Camoys Stonor (born 19 April 1939) is the eldest daughter of Sherman Stonor, 6th Baron Camoys
by his wife Jeanne Stourton. She is best known for her books about her family, exposing long-suppressed family scandals and her claims to be the rightful heir to the Camoys barony.
of Stonor Park and Newport, Rhode Island, USA (1913–1976), by his wife (Mary) Jeanne Stourton (1913–1987). Her mother was granddaughter maternally of the 4th Viscount Southwell
. According to Julia Stonor, the Spanish aristocrat Pedro de Zulueta was her mother's father.
Legally, Jeanne Stourton was the great-granddaughter patrilineally of the Charles Stourton, 19th Baron Stourton
. Jeanne Stourton's great-uncle the 20th Lord Stourton succeeded as 20th Baron Stourton in 1872, and as 23rd Baron Mowbray & 24th Baron Segrave in 1878 when those baronies (last held by the 9th Duke of Norfolk
) were called out of abeyance 101 years after his death in 1777.
and her own father-in-law. More controversially, she argued that her mother Jeanne had murdered her husband Lord Camoys (who died 1976) and that Lady Camoys had been murdered by her younger son Honourable Robert Camoys (died 1994).
In later years, Stonor has claimed that she is the only legitimate child of her parents; her mother's other four children, including the present Lord Camoys, being illegitimate and biologically unrelated to Sherman Stonor. Thus, she has argued that she is the rightful heir to the Camoys barony.
She is an active supporter of several charities, including Exiled Writers Ink!, and has worked as a freelance writer, author, human rights activist, volunteer, and charity-supporter.
Stonor was one of many in attendance at the memorial service of Sir John Mortimer in November 2009.
Sherman Stonor, 6th Baron Camoys
Sherman Stonor, 6th Baron Camoys was an English aristocrat and Justice of the Peace.-Biography:He was born in 1913, the only son of Ralph Stonor, 5th Baron Camoys and Mildred Sherman, daughter of William Watts Sherman....
by his wife Jeanne Stourton. She is best known for her books about her family, exposing long-suppressed family scandals and her claims to be the rightful heir to the Camoys barony.
Ancestry
Julia Camoys Stonor was born Julia Maria Christina Mildred Stonor, the eldest daughter and first child of Ralph Robert Watts Sherman Stonor, 6th Baron CamoysSherman Stonor, 6th Baron Camoys
Sherman Stonor, 6th Baron Camoys was an English aristocrat and Justice of the Peace.-Biography:He was born in 1913, the only son of Ralph Stonor, 5th Baron Camoys and Mildred Sherman, daughter of William Watts Sherman....
of Stonor Park and Newport, Rhode Island, USA (1913–1976), by his wife (Mary) Jeanne Stourton (1913–1987). Her mother was granddaughter maternally of the 4th Viscount Southwell
Thomas Southwell, 4th Viscount Southwell
Thomas Arthur Joseph Southwell, 4th Viscount Southwell KP was an Irish peer. He became Viscount Southwell in 1860 on the death of Thomas Southwell, 3rd Viscount Southwell and was appointed a Knight of the Order of St Patrick on 2 August 1871....
. According to Julia Stonor, the Spanish aristocrat Pedro de Zulueta was her mother's father.
Legally, Jeanne Stourton was the great-granddaughter patrilineally of the Charles Stourton, 19th Baron Stourton
Charles Stourton, 19th Baron Stourton
Charles Stourton, 19th Baron Stourton was the son and successor of William Stourton.The nineteenth Baron married Mary Lucy Clifford in 1825, and they had at least one son:...
. Jeanne Stourton's great-uncle the 20th Lord Stourton succeeded as 20th Baron Stourton in 1872, and as 23rd Baron Mowbray & 24th Baron Segrave in 1878 when those baronies (last held by the 9th Duke of Norfolk
Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk
Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal was a British peer. The son of Lord Thomas Howard and Mary Elizabeth Savile, he succeeded as Duke of Norfolk in 1732, after the death of his brother, Thomas Howard, 8th Duke of Norfolk.He married Mary Blount , daughter of Edward Blount and Anne...
) were called out of abeyance 101 years after his death in 1777.
Biography
Stonor is the author of Sherman's Wife: A Wartime Childhood Among the English Aristocracy, a rather scandalous memoir of her controversial mother Jeanne, Lady Camoys. She is currently at work on the second part of her memoirs, Sherman's Daughter. In the first book, she described her half-Spanish half-English mother, who was fathered by a Spanish aristocrat, and whose lover died in the Spanish Civil War on Franco's side. Stonor alleged in the book that her mother was an ardent Nazi sympathizer, and had been the lover of several men including Joachim von RibbentropJoachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
and her own father-in-law. More controversially, she argued that her mother Jeanne had murdered her husband Lord Camoys (who died 1976) and that Lady Camoys had been murdered by her younger son Honourable Robert Camoys (died 1994).
In later years, Stonor has claimed that she is the only legitimate child of her parents; her mother's other four children, including the present Lord Camoys, being illegitimate and biologically unrelated to Sherman Stonor. Thus, she has argued that she is the rightful heir to the Camoys barony.
She is an active supporter of several charities, including Exiled Writers Ink!, and has worked as a freelance writer, author, human rights activist, volunteer, and charity-supporter.
Stonor was one of many in attendance at the memorial service of Sir John Mortimer in November 2009.
Family
Stonor was married to Donald Robin Slomnicki Saunders (d. 1996), and the marriage ended in divorce 1977, followed by an annulment 1978. Two children were born- Alexander William Joseph Stonor Saunders (b. 1964) who married 2000 Mary Margaret Ohannessian, and has issue one son and one stepdaughter.
- Frances Hélène Jeanne Stonor SaundersFrances Stonor SaundersFrances Hélène Jeanne Stonor Saunders is a British journalist and historian.A few years after graduating with a first-class Honours degree in English from St Anne's College, Oxford, she embarked on a career as a television film-maker...
(b. 1966), or Frances Stonor Saunders, a British journalist and author, of among others, The Cultural Cold War: The C.I.A. and the World of Arts and Letters (The New Press, 2000; 1st published UK 1999)
Publications
- Sherman's Wife - A wartime childhood amongst the English Catholic Aristocracy, by Julia Camoys Stonor (published by Desert Hearts, 2006)
- Sherman's Daughter, by Julia Camoys Stonor (publication date to be confirmed)