Penelope Loader, Lady Aitken, Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire, styled The Honorable Lady Aitken and nicknamed "Pempe", was an English socialite.
Background
Born Penelope Loader Maffey, she was the daughter of Sir John Maffey, later 1st Baron Rugby, who was to become Governor-General of the Sudan, Permanent Secretary of the Colonial Office and wartime Ambassador to Dublin. Earlier, he had been the private secretary to the Viceroy of India and Governor of the North-West Frontier Province, thus Penelope was born in Peshawar and spent her early years in India, where three of her siblings died in childhood.
Career
When she was seven years old, she returned to England for prep school, then went on to Sherborne School for Girls. Her parents had a house, Anmer Hall, on the King"s Sandringham estate, which led to her socialising with the royal family. Indeed, she became the King"s favourite.
Maffey was presented at Court and named Debutante of the Year.
In 1938 she met Canadian William Aitken, a nephew of media magnate Lord Beaverbrook, and a journalist at the Evening Standard. William had joined the Royal Air Force and Penelope joined the WRVS, helping to evacuate German children to Ireland.
The family fortune was wiped out by death duties and a stock market crash. She restarted her affair with Simon Elwes, and then had a long relationship with Sir John Davis, chairman of Rank Xerox.
Gardening was another passion.
She created a famous garden at Playford, her moated Tudor house near Ipswich. Later she created an English garden at her house near Santa Eulalia on the Spanish island of Ibiza, smuggling sacks of soil and rare plants through customs. Her house and her parties were often the scene of political machinations in Conservative circles and she was often seen holding court among politicians or her family, whether in London, her local public or the Gironde.
She was the grandmother of the actor Jack Davenport.
Politics
She devoted herself to community work in support of her husband"s political career, becoming a magistrate and running the Clothing Exchange, which played a major role in helping the victims of the East Coast floods in 1953. Lady Aitken continued to be seen at many parties and with many mentor
Membership
Her husband was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for Bury Street Edmunds in 1950, and he was knighted in 1963, making Penelope Lady Aitken. Eventually she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire).