Elizabeth, Duchess of Hamilton, widow of the 14th Duke and founder of the influential Lamp of Lothian charity, has died at the age of 92.

The eldest daughter of the 8th Duke of Northumberland, the duchess was caught up in one of the most dramatic events of the Second World War, when Rudolf Hess, the deputy Führer, flew to Scotland in an abortive attempt to make peace between Germany and Britain.

Hess, who had crash-landed his Messerschmitt in May 1941 at a farm south of Glasgow, was interviewed by the Duke of Hamilton, who then prepared to fly south to report to Winston Churchill. Before he went he showed Elizabeth the photographs of the German prisoner he had just interviewed in Maryhill Barracks in Glasgow. He told her that if anything happened to him on his journey to see the Prime Minister, he was of the opinion that the prisoner was indeed Rudolf Hess, and to inform Churchill that Hess had been treated correctly as a prisoner of war.

The duchess, who was born Elizabeth Percy, had been brought up in the splendour of Alnwick castle in Northumberland. In 1937 she was one of the maids of honour at the Coronation of King George VI. That year she was married to Douglas, Marquis of Douglas and Clydesdale, the future Duke of Hamilton. The marriage of a Percy to a Douglas was a matter for some comment in Scotland, since the two families had been deadly enemies in the Middle Ages.

It was, however, for her tireless charity work that the Duchess will be remembered. She founded the Lamp of Lothian in 1967 and helped to raise the funds required to restore St Mary's Church in Haddington, beside the River Tyne, which had been destroyed by an English army at the time of the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. Only the lower part of the cross remained, and for centuries most of the church lay in ruins. Its restoration and conservation work, which took several years, was a triumph.

She also helped to raise funds to restore the old mill, the granary and the Community Centre across the road. The project won a significant European Architectural Heritage Award. She was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for East Lothian, serving from 1984-89 and received the OBE for her public services to the charity in 1988. Last year the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh visited the Lamp of Lothian to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

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