The Dowager Lady Killearn, who has died aged 105, remained, in old age, as vivacious, colourful and controversial as she had been as the glamorous young wife of Britain’s wartime ambassador to Cairo. An only child, Jacqueline Aldine Leslie Castellani was born in Ceylon on January 13 1910. Her mother was a Yorkshire Protestant, but Jacqueline took more after her Italian father, Sir Aldo Castellani, a flamboyant Florentine bacteriologist turned Harley Street doctor who discovered the parasite that transmits sleeping sickness, pioneered various vaccinations and founded the International Society of Dermatology. Sir Aldo was a raconteur, monarchist and snob, and his roll-call of patients included Rudolph Valentino, Elsa Schiaparelli, Guglielmo Marconi and Umberto, the deposed king of Italy. At the time of Jacqueline’s birth her father was head of the British government clinic for tropical diseases in Ceylon. A great dancer and a great flirt, in due course she was presented at Court in London, and was one of the outstanding debutantes of her year. Her fragile, porcelain-doll beauty, her exotic and sophisticated background and her vivacity won her many followers.
Lady Killearn
