Heemstra, Ella van (1900–1984)

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Heemstra, Ella van (1900–1984)

Dutch aristocrat. Born 1900; died 1984; dau. of Baron Aarnoud Van Heemstra (burgomeister of Arnhem and lawyer at court of Queen Wilhelmina) and Elbrig Van Asbeck (baroness); m. Jan Hendrik Gustaaf Quarles van Ufford of House of Orange-Nassau (aristocrat), 1920; m. Joseph Victor Anthony Hepburn-Ruston (English-Irish banker), Sept 1926; children: (1st m.) Alexander and Jan (Ian); (2nd m.) Audrey Hepburn (1929–1993, actress).

Grew up in a sizeable castle at Doorn in Utrecht, until estate was sold to Kaiser Wilhelm II (1918) as his last refuge when he fled Germany; worked in the Resistance.

See also Women in World History.