Editing Thomas Beecham (section)

===Personal life===
[[File:Adrian-Beecham.jpg|thumb|left|150px|alt=full length portrait of young man in 1920s clothes|Beecham's son, the composer Adrian Beecham]]
Beecham was married three times. In 1903 he married Utica Celestina Welles, daughter of Dr Charles S. Welles, of New York, and his wife Ella Celeste, ''née'' Miles.<ref>Lucas, pp. 11, 12 and 24</ref> Beecham and his wife had two sons: Adrian, born in 1904, who became a composer and achieved some celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s,<ref>"The World of Music", ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'', 30 September 1922, p. 514</ref> and Thomas, born in 1909.<ref name=reid62/> After the birth of his second child, Beecham began to drift away from the marriage. By 1911, no longer living with his wife and family, he was involved as co-respondent in a much-publicised divorce case.<ref>Reid, pp. 112–120</ref> Utica ignored advice that she should divorce him and secure substantial alimony; she did not believe in divorce.<ref name=reid120>Reid, p. 120</ref> She never remarried after Beecham divorced her (in 1943), and she outlived her former husband by sixteen years, dying in 1977.<ref>Obituary, ''The Times'', 14 October 1977, p. 17</ref>

In 1909 or early 1910, Beecham began an affair with Maud Alice (known as Emerald), [[Maud Cunard|Lady Cunard]]. Although they never lived together, it continued, despite other relationships on his part, until his remarriage in 1943.<ref name=dnb/> She was a tireless fund-raiser for his musical enterprises.<ref>Reid, pp. 134–137</ref> Beecham's biographers are agreed that she was in love with him, but that his feelings for her were less strong.<ref name=reid120/><ref>Jefferson, p. 39</ref> During the 1920s and 1930s, Beecham also had an affair with [[Dora Labbette]], a soprano sometimes known as Lisa Perli, with whom he had a son, Paul Strang, born in March 1933.<ref>Lucas, p. 212</ref> Strang, a lawyer who served on the boards of several musical institutions, died in April 2024.<ref>''[https://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/remembering-paul-strang-1933-2024/ Remembering Paul Strang (1933–2024)]'', Trinity Laban, 4 April 2024</ref>

In 1943 Lady Cunard was devastated to learn (not from Beecham) that he intended to divorce Utica to marry [[Betty Humby Beecham|Betty Humby]], a concert pianist 29 years his junior.<ref name=reid220>Reid, p. 220</ref> Beecham married Betty in 1943, and they were a devoted couple until her death in 1958.<ref name=reid238/> On 10 August 1959, two years before his death, he married in Zurich his former secretary, Shirley Hudson, who had worked for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's administration since 1950. She was 27, he 80.<ref>Reid, p. 241</ref>