SOCIETY beauty Elizabeth Tyser mixed with European royals, counted the Duke of Kent among her friends and heard Mussolini speak in pre-war Rome.

She skiied for Britain as a young woman and even a devastating car accident in her 40s could not keep her from her beloved slopes.

She lost two of her three sons - Nicholas died of leukaemia aged only six and the child of her first marriage, Jeremy Gunn, died five years ago from cancer of the tongue.

Mrs Tyser, who has died aged 83, was born in Australia, the daughter of a Ceylon tea planter. Her father died unexpectedly, leaving his widow with three small children. The family came to Dorset, where they were taken in by Dorset landowners the Farquharsons.

Elizabeth went to finishing school in Switzerland, where she developed her passion for skiing.

During a trip to Rome she heard fascist leader Benito Mussolini speaking in St Peter's Square.

Life in Britain involved working as a fashion designer and mixing with royals from Liechtenstein and Austria - not to mention the Duke of Kent.

Her brother Dennis was one of the first casualties in the Battle of Britain while the other brother, Tony, earned a DSO as a major in the SAS.

In spite of wartime privations, Elizabeth married army officer Bill Gunn in Romsey Abbey in a dress gorgeous enough to be recycled as an altar cloth at Gussage All Saints where it was used at her funeral.

The couple divorced in 1949 when Jeremy - who was to become a reporter on the then Evening Echo - was four.

Elizabeth married Alan Tyser, who worked in the city, and the couple moved to Dorset in 1958, following the birth of Jonathan and Nicholas.

The second marriage also broke up.

"Everyone loved her. Men just fell at her feet but marriage didn't really agree with her," said surviving son Jonathan.

Following Nicholas's death his mother turned to the village church for solace, and lavished £90,000 on it.

In 1964, while returning from lunch with the 10th Earl of Shaftesbury - murdered in France this year - she collided with a bus at Wimborne St Giles and spent three months in a coma.

She made a remarkable recovery, taking up skiing again in spite of loss of balance which caused her to fall frequently. During the last half of her life she faced increasing frailty - both physical and mental - and isolation.

Elizabeth Tyser is buried at Gussage All Saints, next to her two sons and her mother.

First published: October 19