Sarah Troughton


Sarah Rose Troughton CStJ is the Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, appointed with effect from February 2012. She is the first woman to hold the position since it was created in the 16th century.
A cousin of Elizabeth II, for ten years she was lady-in-waiting to Katharine, Duchess of Kent.

Early life and family

Troughton is the eldest of the five children of Sir Timothy Colman KG, a past Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk, and of Lady Mary Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, a granddaughter of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. Her maternal grandfather was a brother of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, so that she is a first cousin twice removed of the present Earl of Strathmore and also a first cousin once removed of Elizabeth II. Her ancestor Jeremiah Colman made a fortune from Colman's mustard, a business which eventually grew into Reckitt & Colman, of which her father was a director until 1989. In 1977 she married Peter John Charles Troughton, a member of the Diplomatic Service and the eldest son of Sir Charles Hugh Willis Troughton, chairman of W H Smith. They have a son and two daughters.

Public life

From 1990 to 2000 Troughton was Lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Kent.
Living at Wanborough, near Swindon, she became a trustee of the Community Foundation for Wiltshire and Swindon, a role in which she still serves, and is also President of Community First/Youth Action Wiltshire and chairman of the Chelsea Physic Garden. She became a Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire in 2006. In December 2011, with effect from February 2012, she was promoted to the Lord Lieutenancy. Her Vice-Lieutenant is Charles Petty-Fitzmaurice, 9th Marquess of Lansdowne.
As Lord Lieutenant, her public duties include overseeing arrangements for visits to Wiltshire by members of the Royal Family and escorting Royal visitors; Representing H. M. the Queen at events and presenting awards and medals on her behalf; liaising with the Wiltshire units of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force; leading the local magistracy as Chairman of the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Justices of the Peace; and advising on nominations for national honours.