Vanessa Branson

{{Infobox person

| name =

| image = Vanessa Branson MB 2016 (cropped).png

| caption = Branson in 2016

| birth_name = Vanessa Gay Branson

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1959|6|3}}{{cite web |title=Companies House |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02155645/filing-history |website=Companies House |access-date=7 May 2023}}

| birth_place =

| other_names = Vanessa Devereux

| occupation = {{hlist|Businesswoman|author}}

| known_for =

| years_active = 1983–present

| spouse = {{marriage|Robert Devereux|1983|1997|reason=divorce}}

| children = 4

| father =

| mother = Eve Branson

| relatives = G. A. H. Branson (grandfather)
Richard Branson
(brother)

| website = {{URL|vanessabranson.co.uk}}

}}

Vanessa Branson (born 3 June 1959) is an English businesswoman and the founder of the Marrakech Biennale.

Early life

Branson is the youngest child of Eve Branson (née Evette Huntley Flindt; 1924–2021), a former ballet dancer and air hostess,{{cite web |url=http://evebransonfoundation.org.uk/eves-story/ |title=Eve's Story |publisher=The Eve Branson Foundation |access-date=26 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161016160117/http://evebransonfoundation.org.uk/eves-story/ |archive-date=16 October 2016 |url-status=dead}} and Edward James "Ted" Branson (1918–2011), a barrister.{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/law-obituaries/8501350/Edward-Branson.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=Edward Branson | date=8 May 2011 | access-date=4 April 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408073321/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/law-obituaries/8501350/Edward-Branson.html | archive-date=8 April 2018 | url-status=live }} She was educated at Box Hill School.{{cite news |work=Evening Standard |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/insider/celebrity/vanessa-branson-on-family-her-brother-and-her-explosive-new-memoir-a4440846.html |date=14 May 2020 |title=Vanessa Branson on family, her new memoir and why her brother Richard is no 'wizened tycoon' |access-date=28 August 2022 |last=Law |first=Katie }}{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/vanessa-branson-aiming-to-outshine-her-famous-brother-316788.html |title=Vanessa Branson: Aiming to outshine her famous brother |work=Independent |last=Phillips |first=Caroline |date=3 October 2005 |access-date=26 August 2022}} Her brother is founder of Virgin Group, Richard Branson.{{cite news |url=https://www.ft.com/content/c6afd23d-8ad7-4acb-a6bb-a057cf09db4c |title=Unlocking the magic of Eilean Shona |date=10 December 2021 |access-date=25 August 2022 |first=Rosanna |last=Dodds |work=Financial Times}}

Career

Branson opened and ran the Vanessa Devereux Gallery on Blenheim Crescent in London from 1986 until 1991.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/travel/1987/11/01/the-artful-lodgers-on-londons-portobello-road/ |title=The Artful Lodgers on London's Portobello Road |newspaper=The Washington Post |last=Frankel |first=Claire |date=1 November 1987 |access-date=26 August 2022}} She had married Robert Devereux in 1983 and they had four children before divorcing in 1997.{{Citation |title=Devereux, Robert Harold Ferrers, (born 11 April 1955), Chairman, New Forests Company Holding Ltd, since 2007; Founder and Director, African Arts Trust, since 2012 |date=2008-12-01 |work=Who's Who |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-247465 |access-date=2025-03-05 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u247465}}

Between 1999 and 2004, Prue O’Day and Branson curated the Wonderful Fund collection which was first shown at the Museum of Marrackech.{{cite news|last=Gleadell|first=Colin|title=It's wonderful being a patron|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4719852/Its-Wonderful-being-a-patron.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112115856/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4719852/Its-Wonderful-being-a-patron.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 November 2012|access-date=12 February 2019|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=14 February 2000}} Branson is the co-owner of a luxury boutique hotel in Marrakech, El Fenn, which she purchased in 2002 with entrepreneur Howell James.{{cite web|url=https://el-fenn.com/history/|title=El Fenn:Our history|publisher=El Fenn|access-date=25 August 2022}}{{cite news |url=https://www.ft.com/content/a0587fb4-93e6-11e3-a0e1-00144feab7de |work=Financial Times |first=Catherine |last=Milner |date=25 February 2014 |access-date=26 August 2022 |title=Vanessa Branson: Marrakech Biennale interview }} In 2005 she became the president and founder of the Arts in Marrakech Festival, now known as the Marrakech Biennale.{{cite web|title=Marrakech Biennale: History|url=https://el-fenn.com/history/ | publisher=Marrakech Biennale |access-date=12 February 2019}} In October 2014, Branson was awarded the royal distinction of Officer of the Ouissam Aalouite{{cite web|title=Vanessa Branson |url=https://bloomsbury.com/uk/author/vanessa-branson/| publisher=Bloomsbury |access-date=1 August 2020}} at the occasion of the ceremony inaugurating the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rabat for her contributions to Moroccan arts and culture.{{cite news |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/2015/feb/16/the-joy-of-art-717907.html |work=The New Indian Express |last=Sebastian |first=Shevlin |date=16 February 2015 |title=The Joy of Art |access-date=25 August 2022 }}

Branson also owns and runs Eilean Shona, an island on the west coast of Scotland at the entrance to Loch Moidart.{{cite magazine |magazine=Condé Nast Traveller |date=14 November 2016 |access-date=26 August 2022 |url=https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/eilean-shona-private-island-scotland |first=Alice |last=Bragg |title=Britain's most romantic island hideaway}} In collaboration with the Royal Society of Sculptors, a members-only residency has been created — a month-long opportunity for the winning member to live on the island and reflect upon and respond to the natural environment.{{Cite web |title=Eilean Shona Residency {{!}} Royal Society of Sculptors |url=https://sculptors.org.uk/awards/eilean-shona-residency |access-date=25 August 2022 |website=sculptors.org.uk}}

Branson's memoir, One Hundred Summers, was published in May 2020.{{cite web | url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/vanessa-branson-one-hundred-summers-review | title=Vanessa Branson's memoir is a perfect 1980s time capsule | work=GQ Magazine | date=23 May 2020 | access-date=26 May 2020 | author=Cole, Olivia}}

Vanessa Branson

Early life

Career

References

Further reading