The Hon. Constance, Lady Trulock CBE

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The Hon. Lady Trulock, formerly Lady Crispin Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, born the Hon. Constance Ivy Diana de Clifforde,  was born at Nether Wallop, Hants, on 12 February 1965, the daughter and only child of the 24 th Baron Mallerstang, 13 th Baron Swarthfell, 10 th / 12 th Baron Mallerstang & Swarthfell   (Rodger Alban Percival Thomas de Clifforde) & his baroness Pamela Mary Penelope (née Portingale-Vypont), daughter of the Earl of Wigan.

 She is the widow of the late Lord Crispin Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, who was the younger brother of the Duke of Taunton; is mother to Rupert, now Master of Dilton, James, and Henrietta Maria (‘Hetty’), whom she, with the aid of her brother-in-law Charles, Duke of Taunton, raised; and the wife, since 2017, of Sir Giles Trulock KBE LVO FRCVS.

She is a noted dog-breeder, of bassets, beagles, and bobtails: the Old English Sheepdog, of which she has bred a ‘working’ line which, in accordance with her researches into the breed, is not merely a herding and droving sheepdog, but a livestock guardian breed as well, like the Briard. She was made CBE in the 2017 New Year’s Honours List for services to dog-breeding and to the revival of traditional lace-making.

Life
Born in Hants to the most impoverished peer in the United Kingdom, in what amounted to a grace-and-favour house provided by the almost equally skint Lord Wigan, the Hon. Constance was aware from an early age that she had her own way to make in the world. Funds were scraped sufficient for her to attend Roedean; but she was aware from the off that any prospect of a university education must rely upon her being awarded academic bursaries. This she achieved; and when up at Somerville, she was dazzled by Lord Crispin as well as being, by her own admission, aware that any wife he took should want for nothing.

Materially, this was true, as she found when she pulled off what first appeared to have been a brilliant marriage. They wed, on 10 June 1986, at The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy. Lamentably, Lord Crispin was slack-twisted by nature, louche, notoriously unfaithful to her both with women and with youths, an alcoholic who drugged upon occasion, and wholly unsuitable. The model of the modern remittance man, he spent most of his time not merely away, but abroad. It was only after three several miscarriages that the then Lady Crispin, as in duty bound, presented him with a son; after which, a son and, quite late in her childbearing years, a daughter, followed. Shortly after the birth of their daughter Henrietta Maria, Lord Crispin fully and finally deserted his wife, and they remained separated – commonly by several oceans and a few continents – until his death.

His Grace promptly installed his sister-in-law, nephews, and nieces in the Dower House at Wolfdown, and took over their care and costs: which Lord Crispin signally failed to do.

The effect of these domestic disasters upon her temperament, and indeed her temper, was profound. She naturally despised her husband, although she refused to divorce him; and she found it increasingly difficult not to resent her brother-in-law’s charity, and her dependant status. It was during this period that the Duke, who in all senses supported his brother’s deserted and much-tried wife and children despite his exasperation with his sister-in-law’s resentments, nicknamed her, ‘Consternation’; and the two were notorious for exchanging sniper fire over the family table.

Giles Trulock – who got his K, for service to equine veterinary medicine and consulting with the Royal Mews and the Royal Stud at Sandringham, in the same Honours List as that in which the widowed Lady Crispin was made CBE – had been an admirer of the unfortunate and deserted lady for many years, his own wife having died, quite young, on the hunting field. With no little urging by – and indeed, moved by the ‘fine, Italian hand’ of – HG the Duke of Taunton, the two were thrown increasingly together, and the widowed Lady Crispin accepted his proposal of marriage late in 2016.

They were married in February of 2017, three days after the marriage of TG the Duke and Duchess of Taunton. Her much happier second marriage has done a great deal to improve her outlook upon life.

The former Lady Crispin is now therefore styled, The Hon. Lady Trulock CBE.

Education
The former Lady Crispin is an Old Roedeanian and an MA of Somerville Oxon.

Rural interests
Lady Trulock has for many years devoted herself to charitable work in the parish and community, including as Patroness of the Woolfonts CLCGB and of the Woolfonts & District YFC. She is very much interested in gardening and horticulture, and is a member of the RHS; a long-standing involvement in embroidery and needlework has led her into being one of the founders of the local group dedicated to resurrecting the old traditions of local lace.

She is a leading light in the Royal Bath & West Society; the Duke of Taunton’s Hunt and its associated Pony Club; the Woolfonts & District Beagles; the Wolfbourne Bassets; the Woolfonts CLCGB; the Guide Association; the Woolfonts & District Horticultural Society; the Wilts Horticultural Society; the West Wilts Horticultural Society; the Woolfonts Combined Benefice Mothers Union; the WI; the Kennel Club; the West of England Old English Sheepdog Club; and the Old English Sheepdog Club.

She retains, with Sir Giles, at the Duke’s insistence, the Dower House; but they now make their home primarily in Woolfont Parva, near to Sir Giles’ surgery.