Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex: New holder of the office is named as Lady Emma Barnard of Parham House

Lady Emma said: "It is an exceptional honour to be asked by Her Majesty The Queen to represent her as Lord-Lieutenant in our beautiful, vibrant and very special county.

"I feel greatly privileged and humbled to take on this ancient role and to follow in Susan Pyper’s very worthy footsteps when she retires at the end of July.

"It will be a joy to be able to support, encourage and – above all – to thank, in The Queen’s name, all those who make West Sussex what it is, and who help and sustain us all."

Mrs Pyper said: "I am delighted that Lady Emma Barnard is to be the next Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex.

"She has been an active member of the Lieutenancy since 2019 and before that was a very popular High Sheriff 2017-2018.

"She is a wonderful advocate for our great county. I wish her every success and happiness in her role."

Lady Emma was High Sheriff of West Sussex in 2017-18.

She lives at Parham House, near Pulborough, an Elizabethan house with award-winning gardens owned by a charitable trust, and is chairman of Parham Park Ltd, which maintains Parham and opens it to the public.

Lady Emma is patron of the British Evacuees Association and the Coroner’s Court Support Service, and in June 2022 will come to the end of a six-year term as Chair of the Patrons of the National Gallery, London.

She is a trustee for a college fund of Lincoln College, Oxford.

In West Sussex, she is an Ambassador for the Sussex Community Foundation and President of the Mary How Trust.

Other organisations she supports include the West Sussex Ambulance Retirement Association, The Association of Sussex Artists and Kamelia Kids Day Nursery in Goring.