Editing Joyce Grenfell (section)

===Early years===
Born in [[Montpelier Square]], [[Knightsbridge]], London, Grenfell was the daughter of an American socialite, Nora Langhorne, one of five daughters of [[Chiswell Langhorne]], an American railway millionaire), and of the architect Paul Phipps, the grandson of [[Charles Paul Phipps]] and a second cousin of the [[diseuse]] [[Ruth Draper]], in whose professional footsteps she followed. The Phipps family were wealthy clothiers, whose success allowed them to join the gentry of their native Wiltshire.<ref>''A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland'', vol. IV, 1838, pp. 509–510, "Phipps of Leighton House" pedigree</ref> [[Nancy Astor]] was one of her maternal aunts;<ref name=odnb/> Grenfell often visited her at the Astors’ home of [[Cliveden]]<ref>''National Trust Magazine,'' Spring 2010, p. 11</ref> and lived in a cottage on the estate, a mile from the main house, in the early years of her marriage.<ref>Hampton (2002), p. 59</ref>

Joyce Phipps had an upper middle-class London childhood. Among her friends was [[Virginia Graham (English writer)|Virginia Graham]], with whom she kept up a lifelong correspondence,<ref>''Joyce & Ginnie: the letters of Joyce Grenfell and Virginia Graham'', edited by Janie Hampton, 1997</ref> and who wrote Grenfell's biography in the ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]''.<ref name=odnb>Graham, Virginia [https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/31172 Grenfell (née Phipps), Joyce Irene (1910–1979)], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press 2004. Retrieved 22 September 2021 {{ODNBsub}}</ref> Grenfell attended the [[Francis Holland School]] in central London, and the [[Claremont Fan Court School]], in [[Esher, Surrey]]. She then went to a [[finishing school]] in Paris at the age of 17.<ref>Hampton (2002), p. 37</ref> After this she enrolled at the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]] in London, but found the hard work of learning the craft of acting less glamorous than she had imagined and left after a single term.<ref>Hampton (2002), p. 39</ref> She supposed at the time that this "was the finish of my dreams of becoming an actress".<ref name=odnb/> On 23 May 1928 she was presented as a [[Debutante#United Kingdom|débutante]] at [[Buckingham Palace]].<ref>Hampton (2002), p. 40</ref>

In 1927 she had met Reginald Pascoe Grenfell (1903–1993), a mining executive and later a lieutenant colonel in the [[King's Royal Rifle Corps]].{{refn|Reggie Grenfell was a maternal grandson of the [[Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey|4th Earl Grey]], ninth [[Governor General of Canada]], and great-nephew of the soldier and [[Governor of Malta]] Field Marshal [[Francis Wallace Grenfell, 1st Baron Grenfell]].<ref>Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, pp. 1658–1659</ref><ref name=indyobitRG/><ref>Victoria Crosses on the Western Front August 1914–April 1915: Mons to Hill 60, Paul Oldfield, Pen and Sword Books Ltd, 2014</ref>|group=n}} They were married two years later, on 12 December 1929  at [[St Margaret's, Westminster]],<ref>"Lady Astor's Niece Weds: Miss Joyce Phipps Bride at Big London Affair", ''The Spokesman-Review'', Spokane, Washington, 13 December 1929, p. 1</ref> and remained together until her death nearly 50 years later.<ref name=odnb/> They were a devoted couple: Reggie Grenfell looked after his wife's financial and business affairs, and his encouragement gave her strong support.<ref name=indyobitRG/> After she became a celebrity she unobtrusively made sure that he was never seen as a mere adjunct to her.<ref>Lyttelton and Hart-Davis, p. 80</ref> They were unable to have children of their own.<ref name=indyobitRG>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-reginald-grenfell-1452966.html Obituary: Reginald Grenfell], ''[[The Independent]]'', 3 April 1993</ref>