Camilla’s final aria for opera loving friend

WHILE Prince Charles spoke out this week about how he’s missing hugging his grandchildren, his wife is mourning one of her best friends.

Mary Christie, chatelaine of Glyndebourne whose husband Sir George ran the country opera house, died of cancer on Thursday aged 83.

And the Duchess of Cornwall, who is at Birkhall in Aberdeenshire with Charles, has spoken to me of her sadness. Camilla says: ‘Mary was a life enhancer who’ll be sorely missed by many people from all walks of life.’

The Duchess spent her childhood at The Laines, an 18th-century country house in Plumpton, East Sussex. Mary married Eton-educated George Christie, whose father, John, founded Glyndebourne, eight miles away.

Camilla tells me: ‘That special corner of Sussex, where we all grew up, will not be the same without Mary’s warmth and laughter.’

Mary was only 24 when her husband took over at Glyndebourne and the couple presided over the opera house for almost 40 years. They transformed its fortunes and put it on a firm financial footing. Mary would charm potential sponsors and benefacters over dinner at the 600-year-old ancestral home.

Their son Gus took over the opera house in 2000 and Mary helped ensure stability when his 11-year marriage to Imogen, granddaughter of the late Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman, broke down.

Mary said at the time: ‘I’ve been married nearly 50 years. But marriage is much more complicated these days, and people don’t seem to stay married for all those years any more.’

Gus went on to marry glamorous soprano Danielle de Niese. He says: ‘My dear mother will be remembered, in the words of my late father, as “the heartbeat which is at the core of Glyndebourne’s existence”. Her devotion to Glyndebourne, and in particular her love of the gardens, has enriched the lives of so many of us.’

He adds: ‘She will be missed by her children, grandchildren and extended family and we will dedicate Festival 2021 to her memory.’