Sylvia_Brett

Sylvia Brett

Sylvia Leonora, Lady Brooke, Ranee of Sarawak, born The Hon. Sylvia Leonora Brett, (25 February 1885 - 11 November 1971), was the consort to Vyner of Sarawak, last of the White Rajahs.

Early life

Sylvia was born at at No. 1, Tilney Street, Park Lane,, Central London, the second daughter of Reginald Baliol Brett, the 2nd Viscount Esher, KCB. Her mother Eleanor was the third daughter of the Belgian politician and revolutionary Sylvain Van de Weyer and his wife Elizabeth, who was the only child of the great financier Joshua Bates of Barings Bank. Sylvia's paternal grandmother, Eugenie Meyer, was thought to be an illegitimate daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Sylvia's early life was somewhat troubled; by the age of 12 she had made two attempts at suicide, the first by eating rotten sardines, and the second by lying naked in the snow.

Ranee of Sarawak

She married His Highness Rajah Vyner of Sarawak at St Peter's Church, Cranborne, just before her 26th birthday on 21 February 1911. They first met in 1909 when she joined an all-female choral orchestra, established by Vyner's mother. She first visited Sarawak in 1912, where her husband (from 1917) ruled a 40,000 square mile jungle kingdom on the northern side of Borneo with a population of 500,000, an ethnic mix of Chinese, Malays, and the headhunting Dyak. Sylvia was invested with the title of Ranee of Sarawak 24th May 1917, Grand Master of The Most Illustrious Order of the Star of Sarawak (1 August 1941). Rajah Vyner died in 1963.

Sylvia was distraught that her daughter, Leonora, under Islamic law, could not take the throne; as a result she hatched various plots to blacken the name of the heir apparent, Anthony, the Rajah Muda.

Richard Halliburton, the celebrated adventurer, met her as he circumnavigated the globe in 1932 with his pilot, Moye Stephens. She became the first woman in Sarawak to fly when the pair gave her a flight in their biplane, the Flying Carpet. Halliburton narrates the visit in his book of the same name.

She was described by her brother as "a female Iago", and by the Colonial Office as "a dangerous woman, full of Machiavellian schemes to alter the succession, and spectacularly vulgar in her behaviour". She died in Tuffett Cottage, Sandy Lane, St James, Barbados.

She was the author of eleven books, including "Sylvia of Sarawak" and "Queen of the Head-Hunters" (1970).

Children

She was survived by three daughters:

Dayang Leonora Margaret, Countess of Inchcape, wife of 2nd Earl of Inchcape (by whom she had a son, Lord Tanlaw, and a daughter), and later wife of Colonel Francis Parker Tompkins (by whom she had a son).
Dayang Elizabeth, a RADA educated singer and actress, wife of firstly Harry Roy (with whom she had a son and daughter), secondly, Richard Vidmer until her death.
Dayang Nancy Valerie, married, firstly, Robert Gregory, an American wrestler, secondly, Senor José Pepi Cabarro, a Spanish businessman, thirdly, Scot, Andrew Aitken Macnair, and fourthly, Memery Whyatt. She died in Florida and had one son, Stewart Macnair (b. 1952) .

Sister

Sylvia's elder sister Dorothy Brett, also known as Brett (1883-1977), went to the Slade School of Art in 1910 and became friends with painter Mark Gertler (1891-1939), and then of salon hostess Lady Ottoline Morrell (1873-1938), living for a while at Garsington Manor.

Ancestors

Some of Sylvia Brett's ancestors
Headhunter Sylvie	2nd Viscount Esher (1852-1930)	1st Viscount Esher (1815-99)	Rev. Joseph Brett LLB (1790-1852)
			Dora, daughter of George Best of Chilston, Lenham, Kent
		Eugenie Mayer (Lyons 1814-1904)	Either- Louis Mayer or Napoleon
			Fanny, Mrs Mayer
	Eleanor van de Weyer, DJSt.J, (d.1940)	Jean-Sylvain van de Weyer	Josse-Alexandre van de Weyer (1769-1838)
			Francoise-Martine Goubau
		Elizabeth Bates	Joshua Bates (1788-1864)
			Lucretia Augusta Sturgis