Sylvia Brooke
| Sylvia Brett | |
|---|---|
H.H. The Ranee of Sarawak, by Paul Tanqueray, 1930
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| Born |
25 February 1885 No. 1, Tilney Street, Park Lane, Central London |
| Died | 11 November 1971 (aged 86) |
| Spouse | Charles Vyner Brooke |
| Issue | Leonora Margaret Brooke Elizabeth Brooke Nancy Valerie Brooke |
| Father | Reginald Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher |
| Mother | Eleanor Van de Weyer |
Sylvia Leonora, Lady Brooke, Ranee of Sarawak, born The Hon. Sylvia Leonora Brett, (25 February 1885 – 11 November 1971), was an English aristocrat who became the consort to Sir Charles Vyner de Windt Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak, the last of the White Rajahs.
Sylvia was born at No. 1, Tilney Street, Park Lane,Central London, the second daughter of Reginald Baliol Brett, the 2nd Viscount Esher, KCB. Her mother Eleanor was the third daughter of the Belgian politician and revolutionary Sylvain Van de Weyer and his wife Elizabeth, who was the only child of the great financier Joshua Bates of Barings Bank. Sylvia grew up at the family home, Orchard Lea, at Cranbourne in Winkfield parish in Berkshire. Her paternal grandmother Eugenie Meyer was French, born in Lyons.
Sylvia's early life was somewhat troubled; by the age of 12 she had made two attempts at suicide, the first by eating rotten sardines, and the second by lying naked in the snow.
She married His Highness Rajah Vyner of Sarawak at St Peter's Church, Cranbourne, Berkshire, just before her 26th birthday on 21 February 1911. They first met in 1909 when she joined an all-female choral orchestra, established by Vyner's mother. She first visited Sarawak in 1912, where her husband (from 1917) ruled a 40,000-square-mile (100,000 km2) jungle kingdom on the northern side of Borneo with a population of 500,000, an ethnic mix of Chinese, Malays, and the headhunting Dayak. Sylvia was invested with the titles of Ranee of Sarawak on 24 May 1917 and Grand Master of The Most Illustrious Order of the Star of Sarawak on 1 August 1941. Rajah Vyner died in 1963.
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