Madeleine Gurdon

Madeleine "Gurtie" Gurdon was born in 1962 into a military family, one of four sisters. Her father, uncle and grandfather were all in the Black Watch, as was her mother's father.[1]

Her father, Adam Gurdon, retired as a brigadier, before his marriage serving in Korea and later in Kenya during the Mau Mau Uprising. As a married man, he took his family around the world, including Cyprus, Tanganyika, and Hong Kong.[1][2] Madeleine Gurdon was educated at a convent school.[3]

Madeleine Gurdon was an equestrian competitor for nearly a decade, riding in three-day events, which require the same horse and rider pair to demonstrate skill in dressage, showjumping, and cross-country riding. In the 1980s she competed internationally, coming second at the Burghley Horse Trials in 1988.[4] To supplement her riding career, Gurdon designed an exclusive country-wear company that featured leather and suede clothing [3] called The Done Thing, after her favourite dun horse.

She began to breed and train thoroughbreds for flat racing. She owns and supervises two stud farms: Watership Down Stud near her English home in Sydmonton Court, and Kiltinan Castle stud in Ireland.[5] Dar Re Mi is one of her successful broodmares.[4]

She and her husband set up the Watership Down Polo Club; their children play polo.[6] In 2007 she allowed a group from St Bart's, a local school, to practise there, subsidising their training. The state school team went on to beat fee-paying schools such as Rugby and Cheltenham Ladies College in the Schools and Universities Polo Association Cup.[7] Gurdon then commissioned family friend Emerald Fennell to write a rom-com loosely based on this.[8]

In 2010 she became president of the Pony Club, which she has been involved with all her life.[4] According to Companies House, as of 2021 she has roles in eight companies, including as a director in her husband's Really Useful Group.[9] She is the only woman on the board of Newbury Racecourse.[10]

Gurdon married Andrew Lloyd Webber at his Hampshire home, Sydmonton Court, on 9 February 1991. The couple met through his Watership Down neighbours, who loved horses. [11]

They have three children together: Alastair (born 1992), William (born 1993) and Isabella (born 1996). The family divides its time between properties in London and Hampshire.[12]