text: sibyl hathaway dame sibyl mary hathaway , dbe ( née collings ; 13 january 1884 – 14 july 1974 ) was dame of sark from 1927 until her death . her 47 - year tenure spanned the reigns of four overlords : george v , edward viii , george vi and elizabeth ii . hathaway was a financially troubled widow with six children when she succeeded her eccentric father , william frederick collings , as feudal lord of sark , one of the small channel islands . she immediately set about reinforcing her feudal rights and promoting tourism on the island , which she affectionately called " the last bastion of feudalism " . when she remarried in 1929 , her second husband , robert hathaway , legally became her senior co - ruler , but she kept control of the government . hathaway 's tenure as dame saw the german occupation of the channel islands in the second world war , during which she refused to evacuate and convinced the islanders to stay as well . her eldest son and heir apparent , francis william beaumont , was killed in 1941 , while her husband was deported to a nazi concentration camp in 1943 . hathaway remains best known for her indomitable conduct during the occupation . after the war , she continued her publicity campaign , strengthening the island 's tourism industry . having been widowed again in 1954 , she went on to rule alone , and was made dame commander of the order of the british empire in 1965 . she was described by a british government official as a " lady of unusual personality " , and is often referred to as a benevolent dictator . dame sibyl died at the age of 90 , and was succeeded by her grandson , michael beaumont . early life sibyl mary was born in guernsey in a house that once belonged to john allaire , her privateering great - great - grandfather , whose business dealings brought the fief of sark to his daughter , marie collings . her parents were william frederick collings and his montreal - born wife sophie ( née moffatt ) . sibyl was born two years after her notoriously father inherited the fief from his father , william thomas collings . sibyl had one sibling , a sister named doris . collings treated hathaway , his heir presumptive , as if she were a boy . she was lame due to unequal leg length , but that did not prevent her father from insisting on teaching her to shoot , sail , and climb cliffs . collings never allowed his daughters to complain of pain or sadness ; hathaway was later grateful for " being able to live a life free of the inconvenience of self - pity " . as the future ruler of an island situated between france and the united kingdom , she learned standard french and the local dialect of the norman language . first marriage at the age of 15 , hathaway fell in love with dudley beaumont , a british painter who could neither shoot nor climb cliffs and whom her father thus considered a " weakling " . in 1901 , collings made it clear to hathaway that he was adamantly opposed to the relationship . when she continued seeing beaumont , her enraged father dragged her out of her bedroom at midnight and threw her out of the seigneurial residence barefoot and in a nightgown . hathaway remained in a hedge until beaumont , alerted by her mother , found her predawn . she boarded a boat for the neighbouring island of guernsey . when the seigneur stormed aboard looking for hathaway , she was hidden by the captain . she then travelled to the house of a relative in london . beaumont soon married her at st james 's church , piccadilly . hathaway had no contact with her father until the birth of her first child , bridget ( 1902 – 1948 ) , when he sent her a telegram of condolence because the child was female , saying : " sorry it was a vixen " . hathaway , who found children boring , went on to have two more daughters – douce alianore daphne and jehanne rosemary ernestine ( born after her father 's death ) – and four sons – francis william lionel , cyril john astley , basil ian ( died in infancy ) and richard vyvyan dudley . the family moved to sark in 1912 , a few years after her mother 's death . hathaway wrote extensively about her relationship with beaumont in her 1961 autobiography . beaumont , who served in the british army as an officer during the first world war , died on 24 november 1918 during the spanish flu pandemic . beaumont 's death left her a pregnant widow deprived of most of her income . neither her father nor her father - in - law , the army officer william spencer beaumont , were willing to give financial support to hathaway and her six surviving children . she learned german and started working for the ymca in cologne . she also worked for the british army of the rhine and raised prize cattle . accession and remarriage collings died on 20 june 1927 , and was succeeded by his widowed daughter . towards the end of his life , he stopped requesting from the inhabitants the payment of tithes , wheat and ( a feudal tax of two chickens ) . upon her accession , hathaway immediately reasserted her feudal rights , and even noted : " they always give me the and oldest [ chickens ] " . some islanders complained about sark being the last remnant of feudalism in europe , but hathaway maintained that agriculture had to be encouraged to make the island more self - sufficient . she used the island 's unique feudal system to draw tourists , and refused to allow anything to deter them by ruining its peacefulness . she thus banned motor vehicles and holiday camps , but the chief pleas refused to pass an ordinance that would forbid selling alcohol to anyone known to get drunk . like her eldest son francis , heir apparent to the , hathaway was fascinated by film production . while appointment with venus was being shot on sark in 1951 , the dame even deigned to allow a car ashore , ostensibly believing that " a land rover was some sort of senior boy scout " . in autumn 1929 , the dame was on her way to a holiday in the united states when she met robert hathaway , an american - born former army aviator . on 5 november , following her return from the united states and a twelve - day - long courtship , they married at st marylebone parish church . robert was not aware that the marriage made him jure uxoris seigneur of sark , his wife 's co - ruler , until they set foot on the island . hathaway 's strong personality , however , ensured that she had the final say in the matters of government ; while her husband attended government meetings as seigneur , she accompanied him to " give advice " . lecture tours in the united states , aided by her second husband 's connections , were part of her efforts to promote tourism and bring more revenue to the island . second world war hathaway 's tenure as seigneur was interrupted by the german occupation of the channel islands in the second world war from 3 july 1940 until 8 may 1945 . while some inhabitants of other channel islands were evacuated , hathaway declared that she would not leave her island , and prevailed upon all native - born islanders to remain as well . hathaway appears to have believed that germans would either never come to the island or that their stay would be brief . most of her tenants bitterly resented her for the decision to remain on sark during the ensuing five years of occupation , but thanked her after the war when they saw how total evacuation destroyed the neighbouring island of alderney . the dame had her senior official meet german officers at the harbour and escort them to her residence , where her maid announced them as if they were guests . hathaway was much respected by the islanders as well as the germans , whose language she spoke perfectly , for the leadership she gave during this period , and the british home secretary herbert morrison observed that she remained " almost wholly mistress of the situation " throughout the occupation . hathaway was on friendly terms with eugen fürst zu oettingen - wallerstein , the german commander stationed in guernsey , as indicated by their warm correspondence . she wrote of him as a " charming man " and noted " that they had many friends in common " . many other german officers in charge of the channel islands were also of noble extraction , and hathaway exploited their " stiff german formality " by making it clear that she " expected to be treated ... with the rigid etiquette to which they were accustomed in their own country . " she insisted that officers come to her rather than the other way around , and expected them to bow , kiss her hand , and bow again before she allowed them to take a seat . using her influence with the prince of oettingen - wallerstein , she was able to get the german army physician stationed in sark to treat her sick tenants . when germans ordered that all the be instructed in german , the dame offered a room in her residence as a classroom for the children of the island . hathaway 's eldest son francis and his wife mary were killed during the liverpool blitz ; his son michael became first in line to inherit the island . her husband was deported to vii in in bavaria in february 1943 , where he remained for the rest of the war . he did not sign any document delegating his seigneurial authority , which meant that legality of ordinances issued by hathaway during this period was , at best , questionable . she refused to sign orders issued by germans , arguing that they were simply not hers to sign . she was insulted by an order that prohibited sexual relations between her tenants and german troops on the grounds of venereal disease outbreak , since the order implied that women consorted with germans . on the other hand , it appears that she did not voice objection to a series of antisemitic orders that had been previously issued , and which concerned her czech jewish friend annie . islanders struggled with food shortage in the last months of the occupation . hathaway organised a raid on german grain stocks and saved many families from starvation with her secret potato hoard . sark was liberated on 10 may 1945 . three british officers arrived and , explaining that no british troops were available , asked the dame to take command of 275 men belonging to the defeated german garrison . she made sure the garrison cleared up the island of land mines . she was , however , so concerned about the legal status of the decisions she had issued during the war that she sailed to guernsey to validate them as soon as the island was liberated . her experience of the german occupation inspired william douglas - home 's play the dame of sark . hathaway 's manner of receiving germans has been described as both impressive and overly cordial . postwar years following the war , hathaway continued to promote sark 's tourist trade and advocated building a new harbour . in 1949 , she and her husband welcomed princess elizabeth , duchess of edinburgh ( later queen elizabeth ii ) and the duke of edinburgh , who opened the new harbour . the same year , hathaway became officer of the order of the british empire . sibyl and robert hathaway 's happy marriage ended with his death in 1954 , six years after the death of her eldest child , bridget . hathaway , a widow once again , regained her complete authority over the island . in 1957 , queen elizabeth ii and the duke of edinburgh returned to sark ; this was the first time a reigning monarch had ever come to the island . hathaway rendered homage to the queen on that occasion – the first time that ceremony was performed on sark itself . her autobiography , dame of sark , was published in 1961 . on the 400th anniversary of queen elizabeth i 's grant of charter signed in 1565 to sark 's first seigneur , de carteret , hathaway was made dame commander of the order of the british empire at buckingham palace . she then jokingly referred to herself as a " double dame " . however , soon after her quatercentenary , her daughter , douce briscoe , died in 1967 , having struggled with alcoholism for a long time . in 1969 , hathaway became increasingly worried by the royal commission on the constitution 's intrusion into her affairs . at the same time , she had a sharp dispute with the chief pleas , claiming that its members violated the laws they themselves had passed and that their misconduct threatened to make her tourism campaign futile . she shocked the islanders by announcing her intention to resign the charter of the island back to the crown " in somewhat the same way as the hereditary le mesurier family did in alderney " and to recommend that the government be taken over by guernsey . the threat was effective ; regulations were suddenly enforced much more strictly . by the beginning of the next year , hathaway retracted her announcement , having been persuaded " by an enormous number of letters and requests " . death cyril beaumont died in 1973 , becoming the fifth child dame sibyl outlived . early next year , the 90 - year - old gave her approval for the stage presentation of william douglas - home 's play the dame of sark , inspired by her experiences in the second world war . she looked forward to meeting celia johnson , who was to play the title role , but died suddenly at the of a heart attack on 14 july 1974 . the passed from the benevolent dictator , referred to as a " lady of unusual personality " by a british government official , to her grandson michael beaumont . sark remained " the last bastion of feudalism " , as she proudly put it , until 2008 , when universal suffrage and a democratic leadership were established .