Funeral Service: Lord Ogmore

James Hughes-onslow

Morgan Rees-williams, 3rd Baron Ogmore, was an early victim of COVID-19. He was vulnerable, having had a heart attack 12 years ago.

His service, with a restricted congregation of 12, was conducted by his brother-in-law the Rev Jonathan Aitken at Putney Vale Crematorium and Zoomed to relatives and friends in South Wales and Hollywood.

Rev Jonathan, who has also had COVID-19, told how he broke the sad but not unexpected news of Morgan’s death to his sister, Elizabeth.

‘She shed a tear or two but later she said, “Oh, I do hope that when he meets St Peter, Morgan won’t start telling him one of his dreadful jokes.” Well, who knows? Humour surely has its place in heaven. And Morgan could be irreverently humorous in and around churches.’

‘Morgan was not an ambitious man,’ said Aitken. ‘But, paradoxically, he was a competent and diligent one. At least until Friday afternoons, when he changed gear into his freewheeling lifestyle. He was the life and soul of his Chelsea local, the Queen’s Elm. He knew all its colourful regulars like Anthony Hopkins, JAK, the Evening Standard cartoonist, and Laurie Lee, author of Cider with Rosie.’

Lord Ogmore’s jobs included being a chef, wine-bar manager, theatrical agent and successful sales executive for Banham alarms. At Banham, he married the prettiest girl in accounts, Bea, his wife of 30 years and the mother of Tudor and Dylan.

‘Perhaps Morgan might have achieved more in his life had it not been for his anarchic tendency to leave and even knock over the card table when he was holding the aces,’ said Aitken. ‘He was so highly regarded as a young second lieutenant that, towards the end of his National Service, his commanding officer begged his father, Lord Ogmore, to try and persuade his younger son to apply for a full regular commission.’

In his early years, Lord Ogmore’s courage shone through during his National Service in Cyprus. He was helping to keep the peace when EOKA terrorists were shooting at British soldiers.

‘Later in life, as an agent to the stars,’ said Aitken, ‘he won the showbiz equivalent of the Victoria Cross by managing the notoriously unmanageable, explosive couple Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, when they were filming in London.’ JAMES HUGHES-ONSLOW