Alice Ormsby-Gore
Encyclopedia
Alice Magdalen Sarah Ormsby Gore (22 April 1952 - c. 17 April 1995) was a British socialite.
She was the youngest daughter of William David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech
and his first wife Sylvia Thomas. She became engaged to guitarist Eric Clapton
but never married. She died of a heroin overdose in 1995.
, former U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's."
. There is some speculation as to how they met. One account gives credit for the introduction to Ian Dallas in 1969 when Alice was 17. However, Clapton in his autobiography gives the credit to interior designer David Mlinaric
in 1968. Mlinaric was completing some work on Clapton's house, Hurtwood Edge, and had taken Ormsby Gore along with him.
David Mlinaric was part of a group of aristocratic hippies who hung out around London in the 1960s and was friends with Alice's siblings, Jane, Julian and Victoria Ormsby Gore, the older children of Lord Harlech, who had been British ambassador to Washington during the Kennedy era.
The couple announced their engagement on 7 September 1969. In 1970 Ormsby Gore moved into Hurtwood Edge with Clapton. Clapton had started using heroin quite heavily in an attempt to get over his continuing obsession with George Harrison
's wife Pattie Boyd
and Alice inevitably also became hooked on the drug. In his autobiography Clapton says “Alice came back to live with me, and she started using too”.
Time magazine reported their intention to marry on Monday, 16 March 1970
The couple did not marry but stayed together for five years. Clapton maintains he was not in love with Ormsby Gore but she was deeply in love with him. In Ray Coleman's book CLAPTON she says, “Maybe because I was only seventeen I wrongly thought of it as mutual. My extreme youth made any rational analysis of the situation impossible.”
Clapton broke the engagement and ended their relationship for good after recovering from his heroin addiction with the help of Ormsby Gore's family.
Alice Ormsby Gore died in poverty, found dead in a bedsit
in Bournemouth
, Dorset
, having taken six times the fatal dose of heroin. The syringe was still in her arm.
The Independent (London) reported on 21 April 1995, the day before her 43rd birthday:
She was the youngest daughter of William David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech
David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech
William David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech KCMG PC , known as David Ormsby-Gore until 1964, was a British diplomat and Conservative Party politician.-Early life:...
and his first wife Sylvia Thomas. She became engaged to guitarist Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
but never married. She died of a heroin overdose in 1995.
Teenage years
Time magazine reported on Friday, 12 April 1968 that Lord Harlech would be sending his "15-year-old daughter, Alice Ormsby Gore, to Manhattan's Dalton School for the coming spring term. Alice will stay at the East Side apartment of a family friend, John Hay WhitneyJohn Hay Whitney
John Hay Whitney , colloquially known as "Jock" Whitney, was U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, publisher of the New York Herald Tribune, and a member of the Whitney family.-Family:...
, former U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's."
Eric Clapton
Later in 1968, Ormsby Gore was to encounter guitarist Eric ClaptonEric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
. There is some speculation as to how they met. One account gives credit for the introduction to Ian Dallas in 1969 when Alice was 17. However, Clapton in his autobiography gives the credit to interior designer David Mlinaric
David Mlinaric
David Mlinaric is a British interior decorator of Slovenian descent.His work ranges from commissions for private clients including Lord Rothschild and Mick Jagger to public galleries and museums – the National Gallery, London, the National Portrait Gallery, London and Victoria and Albert museum...
in 1968. Mlinaric was completing some work on Clapton's house, Hurtwood Edge, and had taken Ormsby Gore along with him.
David Mlinaric was part of a group of aristocratic hippies who hung out around London in the 1960s and was friends with Alice's siblings, Jane, Julian and Victoria Ormsby Gore, the older children of Lord Harlech, who had been British ambassador to Washington during the Kennedy era.
The couple announced their engagement on 7 September 1969. In 1970 Ormsby Gore moved into Hurtwood Edge with Clapton. Clapton had started using heroin quite heavily in an attempt to get over his continuing obsession with George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
's wife Pattie Boyd
Pattie Boyd
Patricia Anne "Pattie" Boyd is an English model and photographer, and the former wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton...
and Alice inevitably also became hooked on the drug. In his autobiography Clapton says “Alice came back to live with me, and she started using too”.
Time magazine reported their intention to marry on Monday, 16 March 1970
“Rock Guitarist Eric Clapton, 25, son of a bricklayer, may soon marry Alice Ormsby Gore, 17, daughter of former British Ambassador to the U.S. Lord Harlech—with her father's blessing. "She has gone to see him in New York," said Harlech, "and if they want to get married it is entirely their own affair.”
The couple did not marry but stayed together for five years. Clapton maintains he was not in love with Ormsby Gore but she was deeply in love with him. In Ray Coleman's book CLAPTON she says, “Maybe because I was only seventeen I wrongly thought of it as mutual. My extreme youth made any rational analysis of the situation impossible.”
Clapton broke the engagement and ended their relationship for good after recovering from his heroin addiction with the help of Ormsby Gore's family.
Death of her brother
In 1974, aged 22, Ormsby Gore found her elder brother, Julian Ormsby Gore (33), dead in his apartment from gunshot wounds, an apparent suicide.Final years
Ormsby Gore's father (William) David Ormsby Gore died in a car accident in 1985. He was succeeded by his youngest son Francis Ormsby Gore, 6th Baron Harlech as his eldest, Julian Ormsby Gore, committed suicide in the 1970s, see above.Alice Ormsby Gore died in poverty, found dead in a bedsit
Bedsit
A bedsit, also known as a bed-sitting room, is a form of rented accommodation common in Great Britain and Ireland consisting of a single room and shared bathroom; they are part of a legal category of dwellings referred to as Houses in multiple occupation....
in Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, having taken six times the fatal dose of heroin. The syringe was still in her arm.
The Independent (London) reported on 21 April 1995, the day before her 43rd birthday:
Lord Harlech's sister, Alice Ormsby Gore, 42, who was once engaged to the rock guitarist Eric Clapton, died after taking a drug overdose at her flat, an inquest in Bournemouth, Dorset, heard.