Fiona Mary Petty-Fitzmaurice, Marchioness of Lansdowne, DL (née Merritt; born 3 October 1954), previously known professionally as Fiona Shelburne, is a British aristocrat, socialite and interior designer. Since 2022, she has served as a Queen's Companion to Queen Camilla.
Born in 1954, Fiona Merritt married in 1987, as his second wife, Charles Petty-Fitzmaurice, Earl of Shelburne. [1] She was styled Countess of Shelburne by courtesy until her husband succeeding to his father's titles in 1999. The family seat is Bowood House, Wiltshire. [2] Close friends of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, she is godmother of the Queen's daughter, Laura Lopes. [3] Lord and Lady Lansdowne have overseen the restoration of Bowood House. [4] [1]
Lady Lansdowne trained as an interior designer at the Inchbald School of Design and worked for Colefax & Fowler. She first met her husband (then Lord Shelburne) on a working visit to Bowood while employed by Charles Hammond in the early 1980s. [4]
In 2019, Lady Lansdowne was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire. [5] [6] and High Sheriff of Wiltshire for 2022–23. [7] She was appointed one of six of Queen Camilla's Queen's companions, the modern equivalent of ladies-in-waiting, in 2022. [8] She was one of her two ladies in attendance, alongside the Queen's sister Annabel Elliot, at the coronation on 6 May 2023. [2] [9]