Introduction
Eve Branson (born Evette Huntley Flindt; 1924) is a British philanthropist, child welfare advocate, and the mother of Richard Branson.
Life and career
Branson was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, England, the daughter of Dorothy Constance (Jenkins) and Major Rupert Ernest Huntley Flindt. As a young adult, Branson served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRENS) during World War II. After the war ended, Branson toured Germany as a ballet dancer with Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). She later became an airline hostess for British South American Airways. After getting married, she ran a real estate business, and was a military police officer and probation officer. She has written novels and children's books.
At the age of eighty-nine, Branson launched her autobiography entitled Mum's the Word: The High-Flying Adventures of Eve Branson.
Charitable work
Throughout her life, Branson has been a child welfare advocate. She established the Eve Branson Foundation and currently serves as director. This not-for-profit organization provides communities in Morocco with income-generating projects and training.
Branson is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children ("ICMEC"), the goal of which is to help find missing children, and to stop the exploitation of children. She was a founding member of ICMEC's Board of Directors in 1999, seeking to generate awareness of the Centre's work, and her son Richard was ICMEC's founding sponsor.
Personal life
She was married to Edward James Branson, a former cavalryman. He died on 19 March 2011 in his sleep at the age of 93.
In 2011, Branson escaped the fire at her son's Caribbean island home on Necker Island, and Kate Winslet who was also at the house at the time picked her up and helped her down four steps.