Editing Susan Barrantes

{{short description|Mother of Sarah, Duchess of York (1937–1998)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Susan Barrantes
| birth_name         = Susan Mary Wright
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1937|6|9|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Bramcote]], [[Nottinghamshire]], England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1998|9|19|1937|6|9|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Tres Lomas]], Argentina
| spouse             = {{Ubl
  |{{Marriage|[[Ronald Ferguson (polo)|Ronald Ferguson]]|17 January 1956|1974|end=div.}}
  |{{Marriage|[[Héctor Barrantes]]|25 July 1975|10 August 1990|end=d.}}
}}
| children           = {{Ubl
  |Jane Luedecke
  |[[Sarah, Duchess of York]]
}}
}}
'''Susan Mary Barrantes''' (''née'' '''Wright''', previously '''Ferguson'''; 9 June 1937{{Snd}}19 September 1998) was a documentary filmmaker and the mother of [[Sarah, Duchess of York]], as well as the maternal grandmother of princesses [[Princess Beatrice|Beatrice]] and [[Princess Eugenie|Eugenie]].

Her elopement with an Argentinian [[polo]] player caused a stir in social circles. After his death, she became a [[film producer]] in [[Buenos Aires]]. She died in a car crash at the age of 61.

==Early life and first marriage==
Barrantes was born in [[Bramcote]], Nottinghamshire, the daughter of FitzHerbert Wright and [[The Honourable|the Hon.]] Doreen Wingfield, sister of [[Mervyn Patrick Wingfield, 9th Viscount Powerscourt]]. She was the youngest of four children, with two sisters, Brigid and Davinia, and a brother, Bryan. Susan's maternal grandfather was [[Mervyn Wingfield, 8th Viscount Powerscourt]].  Her father was a director of the coal and iron-producing [[Butterley Company]] in Ripley, Derbyshire, and was the great-grandson of industrialist and philanthropist [[Francis Wright (industrialist)|Francis Wright]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Regan |first=Mary |date=14 October 2006 |title='Duchess of Cork' embraces Irish roots |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20015772.html |access-date=7 December 2020 |work=[[Irish Examiner]]}}</ref><ref>Butterley Brick: 200 years in the making - Roy Christian 1990</ref>

Susan Wright completed school and for a short time attended secretarial college. During the [[debutante]] season of 1954, she was presented at the court of Queen [[Elizabeth II]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y2nKOyjVaz0C&dq=susan+wright+presented+to+the+queen+1954&pg=PT394 |title=Elizabeth the Queen: The real story behind The Crown |date=2 February 2012 |publisher=Penguin - 2012 |isbn=9780141973333 |quote=Susan Wright and been presented at court during the 1954 debutante season... |access-date=4 May 2019}}</ref>

On 17 January 1956, Susan married Lieutenant [[Ronald Ferguson (polo)|Ronald Ferguson]] (1931–2003) at [[St Margaret's, Westminster]]. He rose to the rank of [[Major (rank)|Major]], played polo with the [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh|Duke of Edinburgh]], and became the polo manager for [[Charles III|Charles, the Prince of Wales]]. Ronald and Susan had two daughters: Jane Louisa, born on 26 August 1957, and [[Sarah, Duchess of York|Sarah Margaret]], later known as the [[Duchess of York]], born on 15 October 1959.<ref>{{cite web |date=21 September 1998 |title=Duchess's mother dies in car crash |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/duchess-s-mother-dies-in-car-crash-1.195428 |access-date=7 December 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=21 September 1998 |title=Duchess of York's Mother Dies in a Car Crash |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/21/world/duchess-of-york-s-mother-dies-in-a-car-crash.html |access-date=7 December 2020 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

==Divorce and second marriage==
In 1972, Susan caused a stir in society circles by leaving her family to move to [[Argentina]] with professional polo player [[Héctor Barrantes]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Harris |first=Paul |date=26 October 2002 |title=Fergie: How food became my only friend |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/oct/27/monarchy.paulharris |access-date=25 November 2020 |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> Her daughters were then raised by their father Ronald with the help of extended family. Susan and Ronald divorced in 1974, and in 1975 she married Barrantes.<ref>{{cite web |date=22 September 1998 |title=Duchess of York's Mother Buried |url=https://apnews.com/article/8ecc5401c884b5e434e4c26e4723f2e0 |access-date=7 December 2020 |publisher=Associated Press}}</ref>

Susan and her new husband moved to the ranch-manor "El Pucará" in [[Tres Lomas]], Argentina. In her writings and filmographic work, she recorded that aside from the birth of her two daughters, her life in Argentina was the happiest time of her life personally and professionally, since she had the chance to explore and develop a documentary film career that combined her two passions, polo and film. She also assisted her husband's business of breeding polo ponies and cattle until his death from cancer in 1990. 

Widowhood brought financial difficulties for Susan Barrantes, and she once again decided to start afresh. Selling more than half the farm to the polo-playing Australian media magnate [[Kerry Packer]], she relocated to a large flat in the [[Recoleta, Buenos Aires|Recoleta]]-Palermo borough of [[Buenos Aires]] and set up a television production company, making films about horses.<ref>{{cite news |date=21 September 1998 |title=UK Horsewoman at home on the ranch |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/175871.stm |access-date=5 October 2017}}</ref>

Susan remained firm friends with Prince Charles, who contributed a foreword to her book ''Polo''.

==Death==
While returning to her country home on 19 September 1998, the [[Rover 400 / 45|Rover 400]] she was driving collided head on with a Renault catering truck on a two-lane highway in flat countryside.<ref name="Ind-death">{{cite web |date=21 September 1998 |title=Fergie's mother killed in car smash |url=https://www.independent.ie/world-news/fergies-mother-killed-in-car-smash-26174975.html |access-date=25 November 2020 |work=Irish Independent}}</ref> The driver of the truck, Jose Maria Rodriguez, suffered a broken ankle, but Barrantes was not wearing a safety belt and was decapitated, aged 61.<ref name="Ind-death" /> Barrantes' 25-year-old nephew, Raphael, was in her car and was hospitalized with minor injuries. Barrantes had been involved in a road traffic crash the year before when her car flipped an estimated seven times.<ref name="BBC-death">{{cite news |date=22 September 1998 |title=Fergie mourns mum |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/177434.stm |access-date=10 January 2020}}</ref>

Susan Barrantes is buried beside her second husband in a vault beneath her home, next to a polo field on the "El Pucara" estate in Tres Lomas, Argentina.<ref name="BBC-death" /> Her death came just one year after that of her daughter's former sister-in-law [[Diana, Princess of Wales]], [[Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales|whose funeral]] Susan and Sarah had both attended.<ref>{{cite news |date=22 September 1998 |title=Press pursue Duchess before mother's funeral |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/175805.stm |access-date=6 January 2017}}</ref>

== Ancestors ==
{{Ahnentafel|collapsed=yes|align=center|ref=<ref>Burke's Landed Gentry</ref>
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''Susan Barrantes'''
|2= 2. FitzHerbert Wright
|3= 3. Hon. Doreen Wingfield
|4= 4. [[Henry FitzHerbert Wright]]
|5= 5. Muriel Harriet Fletcher
|6= 6. [[Mervyn Wingfield, 8th Viscount Powerscourt]]
|7= 7. Sybil Pleydell-Bouverie
|8= 8. FitzHerbert Wright
|9= 9. Charlotte Rudolphine von Beckmann
|10= 10. Col. Henry C Fletcher
|11= 11. Lady Harriet Marsham
|12= 12. [[Mervyn Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt]]
|13= 13. Lady Julia Coke
|14= 14. Walter Pleydell-Bouverie
|15= 15. Mary Bridgeman-Simpson
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrantes, Susan}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:Wright family (Nottingham)]]
[[Category:English emigrants to Argentina]]
[[Category:People from Bramcote]]
[[Category:British women film producers]]
[[Category:British debutantes]]
[[Category:People from Buenos Aires]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in Argentina]]
[[Category:Deaths by decapitation]]