The Duchess of Somerset
Judith-Rose, Duchess of Somerset, is the Patron of the Douai Foundation. She is also a Trustee of the Walking Together Foundation, an Honorary Vice-President of the Friends of the Ordinariate, a Patron of the Queen Charlotte’s Ball, and heavily involved in charities in Italy.
HRH Prince Constantin de Nassau and Princess Kathryn de Nassau
Kathryn and Constantin were each educated at Ampleforth College in Yorkshire, before going on to St Andrews University. Following their graduation, each had a hunger to travel and moved overseas. At this point, Constantin started his career within the sustainability sector, as part of the Swiss mission that successfully flew the first solar aircraft around the globe.
Kathryn pursued a career in international relations, endeavouring to encourage FDI into various emerging economies, this led her to work in Myanmar, Kuwait, Nigeria, and Ghana amongst other interesting countries.
They have now relocated back to Yorkshire, a place that always remained close to their heart, with their son Felix and daughter Cosima, whom they hope to raise with the same Benedictine values they both received in their education.
Our Trustees
Tony Hill
Chair of Trustees
Tony was educated at Douai. He spent a 40 year career in the Lloyd’s reinsurance market with extended spells in New York and Chicago. In retirement he is a director of a company Pension Board, he is a volunteer with OvercomingMS and is a supporter of various educational charities.
Richard Quarterman
President
Richard studied English and Philosophy at the University of Southampton, followed by a thirty-year career with the John Lewis Partnership. He has since worked as a consultant and lecturer in Retail Management, and spent a year on secondment to Business in the Community. In 2018 he was elected to Hart District Council, where he holds the cabinet portfolio for Commercialisation. He lives in Yateley, Hampshire.
Richard Sims
Vice Chair and Honorary Secretary
After Douai, and university at Aberdeen and Cambridge, Richard qualified as a lawyer and worked in private practice in London before being appointed Secretary and General Counsel of St John Ambulance. He now lives on the Isle of Wight, works as legal counsel to an international animal charity, and sits on the boards of several not-for-profit organisations, including as a Governor of an independent school.
Christopher Vale
Honorary Treasurer
Chris was educated at Douai and Exeter University. After a short service commission in the Army he spent thirty years in fund management, including eight years in Hong Kong and three in Seoul. He now holds a portfolio of non-executive roles and is a member of Esher Catenians and the local Save the Children committee.
Clive Duncan
Trustee
Clive left Douai in 1968 and studied Modern History at St John’s College, Oxford. The final thirty-three years of his teaching career were spent in Catholic comprehensives in Walsall and Wolverhampton. He stood for Parliament at two General Elections in the 1980s.
Mary Lesault
Trustee
Mary studied at University College London and the Sorbonne, Paris before moving to France, where she worked in marketing and communications for over 20 years. She now lives in Somerset and has six children, four of whom attended Downside, a Benedictine school.
Andrew Taylor
Trustee
Andrew has spent thirty-five years in education, as Headmaster, Housemaster and Head of History. The last twenty-two years of his career were at the Benedictine schools of Douai and Worth, where both his sons were educated. In retirement he sits on the committee of the Worth Society.
Fr Oliver Holt OSB
Trustee
Fr Oliver is a monk of Douai Abbey, where he serves on the Abbot’s Council, and is parish priest of St Gregory’s in Stratford-upon-Avon.