Bronwen Astor

Who is Bronwen Astor?

Janet Bronwen Alun Pugh is a former English model. She was muse to the couturier Pierre Balmain, who called her one of the most beautiful women he had ever met.

The daughter of John Alun Pugh, she is generally known by her middle name Bronwen. After the sudden death of a friend in 1951, she embarked on an inner journey of self-discovery culminating in 1959 in a profound mystical experience.

On October 14, 1960 she married Viscount William Waldorf "Bill" Astor II, the eldest son of Viscount Waldorf Astor and Viscountess Nancy Witcher Langhorne. Upon her marriage Bronwen became the mistress of Cliveden, the mansion which her mother-in-law had made famous with her political salons. Within three years of her marriage Bronwen's world was turned upside down by the infamous Profumo Affair, which brought down Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's government. Bill died from a heart attack in 1966, leaving Bronwen with two young daughters.

Bronwen opened her new home to the homeless and in 1983 trained as a psychotherapist. Her biography, Bronwen Astor: Her Life and Times, authored by Peter Stanford, was published in 2000. After she left Cliveden she lived in Tuesley Manor, Godalming, Surrey, England until 2002 when it was sold for £1.85 million.