The glamorous icon and trailblazing transgender activist April Ashley has died at age 86. She was a top Vogue model until she was cruelly outed by a British tabloid in 1961, and even though that damaged her modeling career, April still managed to lead the most exciting life packed to the gills. Boy George tweeted yesterday, she was a force of nature and transgender high priestess. He also added: “April Ashley remains an inspiration on how to live with grace and dignity.”
April was the second British person to ever undergo gender reassignment surgery – transitioning from male to female in 1960 at the age of 25..
During her life, April was married to Arthur Corbett, later Lord Rowallan (The Chief Scout of the UK) in 1963 – however their marriage ended abruptly and there was a landmark divorce case in 1970 which dictated the marriage was void as April’s change of gender was not recognized by the courts. The precedent for the judge’s ruling was later overturned, however, by the Gender Recognition Act – which April credited her old friend John Prescott the Deputy Prime Minister for helping push through government.
Instead of the whole divorce scandal which filled the gossip sheets in London keeping April out of sight, April rallied by shifting her position slightly and opening a restaurant. April and Desmonds, or AD8, at 8 Egerton Garden Mews, Knightsbridge, just down from Harrods. With April acting as the hostess each night, it quickly became THE place to be …… as our own Editor testifies’ when he was taken there one glorious summer night in the 1970s. We are still unsure why April sold it in the end, BUT we do that Lord Lichfield bought it eventually.
Labels: 2021, activist, April Ashley, pioneer, transgender
