Katharine, Duchess of Kent
Katharine, Duchess of Kent,( born Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley; 22 February 1933) is a member of the British royal family.
Her husband, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, is a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Duchess of Kent gained attention for her conversion to Catholicism in 1994; she was the first member of the royal family to convert publicly since the passing of the Act of Settlement 1701.
The Duchess of Kent is strongly associated with the world of music and has performed as a member of several choirs.
Anne Murray, Duchess of Atholl
Anne Murray, Duchess of Atholl( 17 June 1814 – 22 May 1897), born Anne Home- Drummond and known as The Lady Glenlyon between 1839 and 1846, as The Duchess of Atholl between 1846 and 1864 and as The Dowager Duchess of Atholl between 1864 and 1897, was a Scottish courtier and close friend of Queen Victoria.
Murray was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, the daughter of Henry Home- Drummond, of Blair Drummond, by Christian, daughter of Charles Moray.
On 29 October 1839 she married George Murray, 2nd Baron Glenlyon, at Blair Drummond, thereby becoming Lady Glenlyon.
In 1846 he succeeded his uncle as sixth Duke of Atholl, and Anne became Duchess of Atholl.
She served as Mistress of the Robes to Queen Victoria in Lord Derby's short- lived government of 1852.
She subsequently served the queen as a Lady of the Bedchamber for almost forty years and was one of Victoria's closest friends.
When The Prince Consort died, the Queen came out of the room where he had died and proclaimed," Oh, Duchess, he is dead!"
The Duke of Atholl died in 1864, and Anne became the Dowager Duchess of Atholl.
In 1892, when Gladstone again came to power, his policy of Home Rule for Ireland had alienated many of the upper classes, and no lady of ducal rank could be found who was willing to serve as Mistress of the Robes.
The post therefore remained vacant, while the Dowager Duchess of Atholl and the Duchess of Roxburghe performed the duties of the office.
The duchess and her husband preferred the spelling" Athole" for their title and residence.
The Duke and Duchess had one child, John Stewart- Murray, 7th Duke of Atholl.
The Duchess of Atholl died at Dunkeld, Perthshire, in May 1897, aged 82, and was buried at Blair Atholl.
Maria Plyta
Maria Plyta( 1915–2006) was a Greek screenwriter and film director.
The Duchess of Plakendia
The Duchess of Plakendia( Greek: I doukissa tis Plakentias) is a 1956 Greek historical drama film directed by Maria Plyta and starring Rita Myrat, Voula Harilaou and Alekos Deligiannis.
Elizabeth Campbell, Duchess of Argyll
Elizabeth Georgiana Campbell, Duchess of Argyll(" née" Leveson- Gower; 30 May 1824 – 25 May 1878) was a British noblewoman and abolitionist.
Born into the wealthy Sutherland- Leveson- Gower family, she was the eldest daughter of the 2nd Duke of Sutherland by his wife, the political hostess Lady Harriet Howard.
In 1844 Elizabeth married George Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, eldest son and heir to the 7th Duke of Argyll.
She became the Duchess of Argyll in 1847 when her husband succeeded his father.
Like her mother, the Duchess of Argyll was a prominent opponent of slavery.
The pair helped write a letter titled" An Affectionate and Christian Address of Many Thousands of Women of Great Britain and Ireland to Their Sisters, the Women of the United States of America", calling for an end of slavery; it attracted signatures from 562,848 British women.
The two often hosted the American abolitionist and author Harriet Beecher Stowe when she visited England.
The Duchess and Beecher Stowe were friends and maintained a correspondence.
In 1868, the Duchess of Argyll succeeded the Duchess of Wellington as Mistress of the Robes to Queen Victoria, holding the position until 1870, when she resigned due to ill health.
Soon after being appointed a member of the newly created Order of the Crown of India, she died in 1878 whilst eating with William Ewart Gladstone in London.
Charlotte Lennox, Duchess of Richmond
Charlotte Lennox, Duchess of Richmond( née Lady Charlotte Gordon; 20 September 1768 – 5 May 1842), was a British peeress best known as the hostess of the Duchess of Richmond's ball.
Endless Bummer (film)
National Lampoon Presents Endless Bummer is a 2009 comedy film directed by Sam Pillsbury, starring Jim Piddock and Khan Chittenden.
The plot involves a group of teens and a veteran surfer, who take a road trip from Ventura, CA to the San Fernando Valley, in order to track down a prized stolen surfboard.
Georgiana Russell, Duchess of Bedford
Georgiana( or Georgina) Russell, Duchess of Bedford( 18 July 1781 – 24 February 1853), formerly Lady Georgiana Gordon, was a British aristocrat and patron of the arts.
Georgiana was born at Gordon Castle in Scotland, a younger daughter of Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, and his first wife Jane.
In 1802, after the Treaty of Amiens, the Duchess of Gordon took Georgiana to Paris to pursue the option of a marriage with Eugène de Beauharnais, stepson of Napoleon, who was around her own age, but political sensitivities put an end to the plan.
As a second option, the Duchess of Gordon then arranged for her to become engaged to Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford; he died, aged 36, before they could marry.
The duchess advised Georgiana to wear black when meeting Francis's younger brother, who had inherited the title and had been widowed with several children.
John Conroy
Sir John Ponsonby Conroy, 1st Baronet, KCH( 21 October 1786 – 2 March 1854) was a British army officer who served as comptroller to the Duchess of Kent and her young daughter, Princess Victoria, the future Queen of the United Kingdom.
Conroy was born in Wales to Anglo- Irish parents.
In 1817, after holding several ranks in the army, he became the equerry of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn.
Edward died two years later, leaving a widow and infant daughter.
Holding the position of comptroller of the Duchess of Kent's household for the next nineteen years, Conroy also acted as her confidant and political agent, among other roles.
Together, they designed the Kensington System, an elaborate and strict system of rules for the upbringing of young Victoria, designed to render her weak- willed and utterly dependent upon them in the hope of allowing them one day to wield power through her.
Princess Victoria grew to hate Conroy, thanks to the oppressive system, and he was also unpopular among the rest of the British royal family.
His efforts to place the Duchess in the role of regent were ultimately unsuccessful, as Victoria ascended the throne after reaching her majority in 1837.
Conroy was immediately expelled from Victoria's household, though he remained in the Duchess of Kent's service for several more years.
Given a pension and a baronetcy, Conroy retired to his estate near Reading, Berkshire, in 1842 and died heavily in debt twelve years later.
Historians have often referred to Conroy as someone with strong ambition, with varying degrees of positive or negative opinion.
Rumours circulated during and after his lifetime that he was perhaps the Duchess of Kent's lover.
Queen Victoria was shocked to hear this, stating that her mother's piety would have prevented it.
Sam Pillsbury
Sam Pillsbury is an American film director and producer.
Massachusetts- raised Sam Pillsbury emigrated to New Zealand at the age of 14.
Aged 23, he began working at the Government- owned National Film Unit, joining a group of emerging filmmakers who were investigating new subjects and styles.
Pillsbury directed seven films at the National Film Unit, including a multi-faceted study of artist Ralph Hotere, and a satirical look at workplace relations( Men and Supermen).
He was also part of the directing team on Commonwealth Games chronicle Games 74, and worked both on set and at the editing bench for Paul Maunder's Gone Up North for a While.
Pillsbury went solo in 1975.
Documentary Birth with R.D. Laing won awards on both sides of the Tasman, and controversy in England and the United States.
The film featured controversial Scottish psychiatrist R.D. Laing critiquing Western medical handling of childbirth.
Pillsbury also worked on four documentaries for TV slot Seven Days, which variously looked into life for a solo mother, an ex-convict, hospital patients, and young Māori in the city.
More TV docos followed, then in 1978, Against the Lights, a short drama based on a Witi Ihimaera tale.
Pillsbury's Round the Bays doco The Greatest Run on Earth won awards at festivals in Chicago and Torino.
Pillsbury's feature film debut in 1981 was with The Scarecrow, based on the gothic novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson.
Presented through the eyes of two teenage boys, the film chronicles the arrival in a 50s town of a mysterious stranger( played by American movie legend John Carradine).
In 1982 The Scarecrow became the first Kiwi film to win invitation to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, in the non-competitive Director's Fortnight section.
Teen star Jono Smith later reinvented himself as a cinematographer in England.
Pillsbury then worked extensively on a screen adaptation of end of the world sci- fi novel
The Quiet Earth, before handing the project to director Geoff Murphy after deciding it needed fresh eyes( he later joked at being one of the only directors who had fired himself).
Instead Pillsbury helmed 1880s immigrant tale Heart of the High Country for TV( based on a novel by Elizabeth Gowans), then segued into period road movie Starlight Hotel, which starred Smash Palace discovery Greer Robson.
Since Starlight Hotel, Pillsbury has directed extensively, mainly on American tele- movies.
He returned to Kiwi moviemaking in 2000 for Crooked Earth, the tale of a clash between two Māori: a militant drug- dealer, and former military man Temuera Morrison.
Pillsbury's other features include Free Willy 3: The Rescue, 2008 road movie Endless Bummer and Where The Red Fern Grows.
These days Pillsbury has a second career as a winemaker.
In 2000 he and a business partner planted a Vineyard in Cochise County, Arizona, and in 2006 sold it to a group headed by the lead singer for rock group Tool.
Pillsbury Wine Company was launched soon afterwards, with his new vineyard& tasting room across the road in Willcox, Arizona, and a Tasting Room in Old Town Cottonwood, Arizona.
Pillsbury's wife is the daughter of sculptor Geny Dignac.

Question: Are the directors of both films Endless Bummer (Film) and The Duchess Of Plakendia from the same country?
Answer: no