53 British socialites

Prince Ali Salman Aga Khan, known as Aly Khan, was a son of Sultan Mahommed Shah, Aga Khan III, the leader of the Nizārī Ismaili Muslims, a sect of Shia Islam, the father of Aga Khan IV and a sayyid descendant of Muhammad through his cousin Ali, daughter Fatimah and grandson Husayn ibn Ali.

Sarah Kathleen Elinor Baring was an English socialite and memoirist, who worked for three years as a linguist at Bletchley Park, the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. She was married to William Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor, from 1945 to 1953.

Dido Elizabeth Belle was a British heiress and a member of the Lindsay family of Evelix. She was born into slavery; her mother, Maria Belle, was an African slave in the British West Indies. Her father was Sir John Lindsay, a British career naval officer who was stationed there. Her father was knighted and promoted to admiral. Lindsay took Belle with him when he returned to England in 1765, entrusting her raising to his uncle William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, and his wife Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Mansfield. The Murrays educated Belle, bringing her up as a free gentlewoman at their Kenwood House, together with another great-niece, Lady Elizabeth Murray, whose mother had died. Lady Elizabeth and Belle were second cousins. Belle lived there for 30 years. In his will of 1793, Lord Mansfield conferred her freedom and provided an outright sum and an annuity to her, making her an heiress.

Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough, born Lady Henrietta Frances Spencer, was the wife of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough; the couple were the parents of Lady Caroline Lamb. Her father, John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer, was a great-grandson of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. Her sister was Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire.

Gertrude Elizabeth, Lady Colin Campbell was an Irish-born journalist, author, playwright, and editor. She was married to Lord Colin Campbell, a brother-in-law of Princess Louise, Queen Victoria's fourth daughter.

Charmian Campbell was a British socialite and artist.

Amelia Anne "Emily" Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry, from 1794 until 1821 generally known as Lady Castlereagh, was the wife of the Georgian-era Irish statesman Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, who from 1812 to 1822 was British Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons. Well-connected by birth to the aristocracy and wife of a prominent politician who was Britain's leading diplomat during the close of the Napoleonic Wars, Lady Castlereagh was an influential member of Regency London's high society.

Mary Adelaide Virginia Thomasina Eupatoria "Patsy" Cornwallis-West was an Irish born aristocrat and a prominent mistress of the future King Edward VII.

Frances Anne Crewe, Lady Crewe, née Greville, was the daughter of Fulke Greville, envoy extraordinary to the elector of Bavaria, and his Irish wife, Frances Macartney, who was a poet, best known for "A Prayer for Indifference". She was considered one of the most beautiful women of her time, and was a political hostess with a sharp wit. In late 1783, when William Pitt the younger took office, she famously remarked that he "could do what he pleased during the holidays, but it would only be a mince-pie administration".

Quentin Crisp was an English writer, raconteur and actor.

Daisy, Princess of Pless was a noted society beauty in the Edwardian period, and during her marriage a member of one of the wealthiest European noble families. Daisy and her husband Hans Heinrich XV were the owners of large estates and coal mines in Silesia which brought the Hochbergs enormous fortune.

Ethel Anne Priscilla Grenfell, Baroness Desborough was a British society hostess.

Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was an English socialite, political organizer, style icon, author, and activist. Of noble birth from the Spencer family, married into the Cavendish family, she was the first wife of William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, and the mother of the 6th Duke of Devonshire.

Sir Charles Michael Robert Vivian Duff, 3rd Baronet was a British socialite who was Lord Lieutenant first of Caernarvonshire and then of Gwynedd.

Amanda Eliasch is an English photographer, artist, poet and filmmaker.

Dorothy Mary "Dickie" Fellowes-Gordon was a Scottish socialite, coal industry heiress and singer.

Daisy Fellowes was a prominent French socialite, acclaimed beauty, minor novelist and poet, Paris editor of American Harper's Bazaar, fashion icon, and an heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune.

Sabine Getty is a Swiss-English jewelry designer, socialite, and contributing editor at Tatler.

Colin Christopher Paget Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner was a British aristocrat. He was the son of Christopher Grey Tennant, 2nd Baron Glenconner, and Pamela Winefred Paget. He was also the nephew of Edward Wyndham Tennant and Stephen Tennant, and the half-brother of the novelist Emma Tennant.

Frances Evelyn "Daisy" Greville, Countess of Warwick was a campaigning socialist who supported many schemes to aid the less well off in education, housing, employment, and pay. She established colleges for the education of women in agriculture and market gardening, first in Reading, then in Studley. She established a needlework school and employment scheme in Essex as well as using her ancestral homes to host events and schemes for the benefit of her tenants and workers. She was a long-term confidant or mistress to the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII.

Dame Margaret Helen Greville, Hon Mrs Ronald Greville,, was a British society hostess and philanthropist. She was the wife of the Hon. Ronald Greville (1864–1908).

Maureen Constance Guinness, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava was an Irish socialite, known as one of the "Guinness Golden Girls".

Oonagh Guinness was an Anglo-Irish socialite, society hostess and art collector, and the second wife of Dominick Browne, 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne.

Jade Sheena Jezebel Jagger is a British jewellery designer, home designer, and former model. She is the daughter of Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger and 1970s fashion icon and human rights advocate Bianca Jagger.

Alice Frederica Keppel was a British society hostess and a long-time mistress and confidante of King Edward VII.

Harriet Leveson-Gower, Countess Granville was a British society hostess and writer. The younger daughter of the 5th Duke of Devonshire, she was a member of the wealthy Cavendish and Spencer families and spent her childhood under the care of a governess with her two siblings.

Marguerite Lamkin Brown Harrity Littman was an American-British socialite and HIV/AIDS activist. As a Southern American accent coach she is known to have coached actors including Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman. She is also noted for her role in HIV/AIDS advocacy, including fundraising for charities.

Edith Helen Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry, DBE was a noted and influential society hostess in the United Kingdom between World War I and World War II, a friend of the first Labour prime minister, Ramsay MacDonald. She was a noted gardener and a writer and editor of the works of others.

Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell is a British former socialite, known for her association with financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. She worked for her father, the publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell, until his death in 1991 when she moved to the United States and became a close associate of Epstein. Maxwell founded the self-described ocean-advocacy group The TerraMar Project in 2012. The organisation announced cessation of operations on 12 July 2019, a week after the sex trafficking charges brought by New York federal prosecutors against Epstein became public.

Unity Valkyrie Freeman-Mitford was a British socialite, known for her relationship with Adolf Hitler. Both in Great Britain and Germany, she was a prominent supporter of Nazism, fascism and antisemitism, and belonged to Hitler's inner circle of friends. After the declaration of World War II, Mitford attempted suicide in Munich, and was officially allowed safe passage back to England in her invalid condition, but never recovered.

Elizabeth Montagu was a British social reformer, patron of the arts, salonnière, literary critic and writer, who helped to organize and lead the Blue Stockings Society. Her parents were both from wealthy families with strong ties to the British peerage and learned life. She was sister to Sarah Scott, author of A Description of Millenium [sic] Hall and the Country Adjacent. She married Edward Montagu, a man with extensive landholdings, to become one of the richer women of her era. She devoted this fortune to fostering English and Scottish literature and to the relief of the poor.

Harriet Mary Baring, Baroness Ashburton was a socialite and hostess.

Maud Julia Augusta Russell (née Nelke; was a British socialite and art patron, who aided Jewish relatives in their escape from Nazi Germany during the 1930s.

Caroline, Lady Duff was an English socialite and actress.

Lady Clara Elizabeth Iris Paget is an English aristocrat, model and actress known for her roles in films St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold and Fast & Furious 6 and her role as Anne Bonny in the television series Black Sails.

Emily Temple, Viscountess Palmerston (1787–1869), was a leading figure of the Almack's social set, sister to Prime Minister Lord Melbourne, wife to the 5th Earl Cowper, and subsequently wife to another Prime Minister Lord Palmerston.

Florence Tyzack Parbury (1881–1960) was a British socialite, author, musician, painter and traveller. She was involved in aviation in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1910s and 1920s.

Kathleen Pelham Burn Moore, Countess of Drogheda was a British socialite, aviator, and sportswoman. She was one of the "bright young things".

Gwendoline Maud Plunket Greene was an English writer on religion.

Babe Plunket Greene, birth registered as Enid Margot Bendir, was one of the 1920s socialites known as the "Bright Young Things". She also used the surname of her mother's first husband, McGusty, and the first name "Marguerite".

Elizabeth Ponsonby was a prominent member of the Bright Young Things, well-connected socialites who featured heavily in the contemporary tabloid press for what were perceived to be their hedonistic antics.

Anne Parsons, Countess of Rosse, was a society hostess and one of the founders of The Victorian Society and the mother of Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon.

Ethel Sands was an American-born artist and hostess who lived in England from childhood. She studied art in Paris, where she met her life partner Anna Hope Hudson (Nan). Her works were generally still lifes and interiors, often of Château d'Auppegard that she shared with Hudson. Sands was a Fitzroy Street Group and London Group member. Her works are in London’s National Portrait Gallery and other public collections. In 1916 she was made a citizen of England. Although a major art patron, she is most remembered as a hostess for the cultural elite, including Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry and Augustus John.

Shammi Shinh is a British businessman, known for creating luxury wine and spirit brands, including the world's most expensive champagne.

Gladys Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough

Gladys Marie Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough was a French American aristocrat and socialite. She was the mistress and later the second wife of Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough.

Beatrice Venetia Stanley Montagu was a British aristocrat and socialite best known for the many letters that Prime Minister H. H. Asquith wrote to her between 1910 and 1915.

Lucy Sykes Rellie is a British-American entrepreneur, fashion executive, independent consultant and socialite based in New York City. She is most known for being the fashion director of Marie Claire from 2001 to 2007 and the fashion director of Rent the Runway from 2011 to 2012.

Carrie Symonds is a British political activist, conservationist, and the fiancée of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson. She is the first unmarried partner of a Prime Minister to reside in 10 Downing Street. She works as a senior advisor to ocean conservation charity Oceana.

Mary Duff Stirling, Lady Twysden was a British socialite best known for being the model for Brett Ashley in Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises.

Elizabeth Vesey was a wealthy Irish intellectual who is credited with fostering the Bluestockings, a society of women which hosted informal literary and political discussions of which she was an important member.

Helen Venetia Vincent, Viscountess D'Abernon was a British noblewoman, socialite and diarist.

Anne Wignall, known as Lady Ebury, née Acland-Troyte;, was an English socialite and author as Alice Acland and Anne Marreco.

Dorothy Ierne Wilde, known as Dolly Wilde, was an English socialite, made famous by her family connections and her reputation as a witty conversationalist. Her charm and humour made her a popular guest at salons in Paris between the wars, standing out even in a social circle known for its flamboyant talkers.