Lady Helena Gleichen

Who was Lady Helena Gleichen?

Lady Helena Emily Gleichen, OBE, DStJ was a British painter of landscapes, flowers, and animals, with a particular passion for horses.

Her brother, Lord Edward Gleichen, a professional soldier, wrote several books. Her sister, Lady Feodora Gleichen was a sculptor. They were the children of Count Victor Gleichen aka Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a half-nephew of Queen Victoria and himself a sculptor and naval officer, and his morganatic wife Laura Williamina Seymour, a daughter of Admiral Sir George Seymour.

She helped with illustrations for the Younghusband Expedition to Tibet in 1904. During World War I she abandoned her German titles, accepted the rank of a marquess's daughter and headed the 4th Radiographic British Red Cross Unit stationed in the Villa Zucco in Cormons, Italy. She later received the Italian Bronze Medal of Military Valour and was invested as a Dame of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and as an OBE in 1920. She was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

She worked from her father's former studio in St James's Palace opposite Friary Court. The family home was a rambling estate Hellens Manor at Much Marcle in Herefordshire, used during World War II by the Tate for the safe storage of art works. Gleichen organised her estate staff of some 80 people into a local home guard during World War II.