Ella van Heemstra


Baroness Ella van Heemstra, was a Dutch-British aristocrat and the mother of the actress Audrey Hepburn. After her marriage to Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, she became a British citizen.

Biography

Ella van Heemstra was a Dutch aristocrat and the third of five daughters of Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, who was mayor of Arnhem from 1910 to 1920 and served as Royal Governor of Suriname twice between 1921 and 1928. Ella's mother was Elbrig Willemine Henriette, Baroness van Asbeck, who was a granddaughter of jurist Count Dirk van Hogendorp. She spent much of her childhood at Huis Doorn.

Personal life

Van Heemstra was married and divorced twice, and had three children.
Aged 19, Van Heemstra married Jonkheer Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford. They divorced in 1925. Van Heemstra had two sons from this marriage, both of whom were born in the Dutch East Indies:
  1. Michael Allan Quarles van Ufford
  2. Evelyn Joyce Quarles van Ufford
  1. Audrey Yvonne Quarles van Ufford
  2. Sandra Claire Quarles van Ufford
  3. Andrew Ian Quarles van Ufford
Van Heemstra married secondly Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston on 24 September 1926 at Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies. They were divorced on 24 June 1939 and had one daughter:
In the early 1960s she lived in Los Angeles with her friend Leonard Gershe and then later in San Francisco where she did volunteer work for soldiers coming back from Vietnam.
When she visited Los Angeles she was entertained by friends like George Cukor, Mrs. Mildred Knopf and Veronique Peck. She spent the rest of her life in her daughter's house in Tolochenaz, Switzerland where she died in 1984. Audrey accompanied her mother's body to the Netherlands for funeral.

Honours

Ella was named Dame of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem by Queen Elizabeth II on 7 September 1971.

Ancestry