Virginia, Countess of Airlie dead at 91: She was lady of the bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth II

Virgina, Countess of Airlie may not be a household name, but she was a pivotal figure in the life of the late monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. King Charles has paid tribute to the Countess of Airlie and a statement from Buckingham Palace said: “His Majesty was deeply saddened to hear the news, having known Lady Airlie for so much of his life and having so greatly appreciated her immense devotion and dedicated service to Her Late Majesty over so many years.”

Virginia, Countess of Airlie was the granddaughter of German-American financier Otto Khan and was born in February 1933 in Newport, Rhode Island. She married David Ogilvy, the 13th Earl of Airlie in October 1952. The couple who met when Virginia was 19 years old, wed at St Margaret’s Church in Westminster. 

The Times reported that “Witty and unconventional, Ginnie (never Ginny) Ogilvy had been appointed lady of the bedchamber in 1973 and remained with the Queen until her death in September 2022. She brought a breath of fresh air to the royal household, often pedalling her old boneshaker bicycle to Buckingham Palace. So close was she to the Queen that when Ogilvy celebrated her 70th birthday at Annabel’s in 2003, the monarch made what was thought to have been her only visit to a nightclub since her marriage.”

Virginia, Countess of Airlie and her husband, who became  13th Earl of Airlie, had six children,  Doune, Jane, David (the 14th Earl of Airlie), Bruce, Elizabeth and Patrick. David Ogilvy, the 13th Earl of Airlie, died at the age of 97 on 26 June, 2023.

David Ogilvy, the 13th Earl of Airlie was the fourth of six children, his mother was Lady Alexandra Coke, the daughter of the 2rd Earl of Leicester and his father was the 12th Earl of Airlie. When it came to his wife, Virginia, Countess of Airlie becoming the lady of the bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth II, she was following in a family tradition as her husband’s grandmother, Mabell, Countess of Airlie was lady of the bedchamber to Queen Mary.