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Marguerite, Baroness de Reuter (14 July 1912 – 25 January 2009) was a Europeanaristocrat and the last surviving member of the family that founded theReutersnews service.[1] She was the wife ofOliver, 4th Baron de Reuter, whose grandfather,Paul Reuter, established the Reuters news service inLondon in 1851.[1] Paul Reuter, a Jew who settled in theUnited Kingdom and converted to Christianity, had previously begun his career in journalism inAachen, Germany, usingcarrier pigeons andtelegraphs.[1]
She was born on 14 July 1912, the daughter ofGeorge Uehlinger ofNeunkirch, Switzerland.[1] Apatron of the arts, she was a champion of her family's links with Reuters News Agency, and of her British citizenship, which she acquired through marriage to her husband, Oliver, 4th Baron de Reuter.[1] She and her husband had no children, and she was a widow for the last 40 years of her life.[1]
The title that her husband bore had been created on 7 September 1871, when the GermanDuke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha granted the noble title ofFreiherr (Baron) to Paul Reuter, her grandfather-in-law.[2] In November 1891,Queen Victoria granted Paul Reuter (and his subsequent male-line successors) the right to use that German title (listed as "Baron von Reuter") in Britain. The title became extinct upon the death of her husband, the 4th Baron, since there was no male heir.
She suffered from a series of successivestrokes late in 2008.[1] She died at the age of 96 on Sunday 25 January 2009 at a Frenchnursing home near the border withMonaco.
Tom Glocer, thechief executive ofThomson Reuters at that time, released a statement upon Marguerite's death, saying: "Although the founding family of Reuters were no longer significantshareholders in the company, the baroness did notably attend a service atSt Bride's Church, London, to mark Reuters' historic move fromFleet Street toCanary Wharf in 2005."[1]
Reuters News Agency moved out of its headquarters onFleet Street in 2005. The company became part ofThomson Reutersplc in 2008.[3]
Her personal interests, especially in the arts, continued well into her later years. She continued to ski until her 70s and was known to be fluent in several languages.[1] Her hobbies included Bridge, as well as attendingopera andballet.[1]