#11432, Laura Verrall (Birdie) WILLETT

Birdie was the only daughter of William Catt (who assumed the surname of Willett by Royal Licence, 27 6 1863), of White Lodge, Abridge, Essex and later of Florida, USA.

Her presentation at Court was cancelled; 1894, settled in France; she was known as the 'Countess de Claire' from about 1903; 1911, of Chateau de Bellefontaine, Neufchatel, Pas de Calais; 1946, Birdie's British nationality restored. She is buried in a rocky grotto in Monte Carlo Cemetery together with her mother and third husband, the Marquis (whose body had been buried first in Nice and was later moved to Monte Carlo); when the 30-year lease on the vault expired, Monique and her half-sisters and brother declined to renew it.

Birdie married secondly, 16 04 1914 at St Marylebone Register Office (divorce 1924) Raymond Celice (dit Baron) d'Arger, son of Maurice Celise d'Arger.

Birdie married thirdly, 03 04 1930, at le Marie, Monaco, Stanislas Emmanuel Laurent Alexandre Marie Thibaud, Marquis de la Rochethulon et Grente, eldest son of Emmanuel Stanislas Marie de Grente; he had married firstly, Agatha Therese Taillepied de Bondy; he died 08 02 1941.

Taken from the family records of Robert (Robin) Morley Fletcher (1935-2015)

(Vanessa Griffith - March 2017)