"To be or not to be" Thursday (The Earl and Countess Basquith)

At last year's Christmas Ball we had the unexpected pleasure of seeing several "first timers" to the official public red carpet. Another rare appearance was made by the Earl Basquith. His Lordship was quoted to say that he felt to add his weight to the public appearance of Nobles to the historic event held in Scotney even though his wife who completely shuns public appearances decided to still remain out of the limelight. The Countess Basquith is a 2nd cousin of the Duke of Swann through her father the Baron Walker who is a Swanobian Noble.

In the front left we see the only close up taken of the rarely photographed Earl Basquith who attended the 2013 Christmas Ball without his wife who refrained from attending due to illness.

Another rare appearance, although completely overlooked by the press, was made by the Earl as a pall bearer to Empress Crystobel at the funeral in 2013. We see the Earl at the far left in the photo above. This honour belies the Earl and his wife's high status among the high ranking Royals even though they almost never appear in public. The Noble couple currently live in South Africa where the Earl works in the automotive industry.

As family relations of the Duke of Swann the Earl and Countess Basquith made one of their exceptional appearances at the Duke of Swann's 2004 coronation. Although not taking part in the religious ceremony they did attend the more private and un-publisized state dinner that was held after. This was the last time the Countess appeared in what may be counted as a public event and the photo above is all we have of this elusive personage to date. We can but hope to see more of them and also their jewels as these families always have historic treasures to share.