These will be the priorities of the Queen's new representative in West Sussex - and why Lady Emma Barnard of Parham House will be rolling up her sleeves to make a real difference

A new Lord-Lieutenant has been appointed to represent The Queen in West Sussex and Lady Emma Barnard is very clear that her new role is first and foremost about celebrating the wonderful people in the county who make such a difference to all our lives.
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"I’m looking forward most to meeting people and learning more – as well as supporting, encouraging and, above all, thanking them," she said, as she succeeded Dame Susan Pyper, who has retired after 14 years.

"It is all about the extraordinary people who live in West Sussex and who have such imagination, vitality, creativity, courage and integrity. What a privilege to be able to meet them, hear about what they are doing, appreciate them and say 'thank you'.

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"Saying thank you, and meaning it, is one of the most important things anyone can do in life."

Lady Emma Barnard of Parham House is the new Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex. Pic S Robards SR2208054Lady Emma Barnard of Parham House is the new Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex. Pic S Robards SR2208054
Lady Emma Barnard of Parham House is the new Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex. Pic S Robards SR2208054

She feels enormously humbled herself by the honour bestowed on her.

"It is an extraordinary privilege. The Queen has devoted her life to encouraging people and to upholding everything that is full of integrity, full of good - the stuff that keeps us as a society, as a country, as a county, together.

"So to be asked personally to represent Her Majesty, who has done that with such supreme brilliance - it is not even 'brilliance' is it, because words cannot describe what she has done over the last 70 years of being Queen - is the greatest honour.

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"The Monarchy is important, especially when times get rough and goodness knows the world is in choppy seas at the moment.

"People turn to the institutions and traditional foundations on which all our lives are built, for comfort and for support and to feel rooted. The Monarchy links us with previous generations, but it also looks to the future with hope, as The Queen herself has said."

The role of Lord-Lieutenant is the most senior position in the county and it is undertaken on an entirely voluntary basis.

Lady Emma, who lives at Parham House near Storrington - one of England's finest Elizabethan houses, owned by a charitable trust - is very clear that the role is about public service.

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"That is really, really important. I am very lucky; my family on both sides have, over the generations, had many privileges and also a very strong sense of the importance and the worth of public duty. And the strong belief that responsibilities must be taken very seriously.

"I feel that if I had not grasped with both hands the opportunities that I have been given - whether it's here at Parham or now with the honour of receiving the invitation to be Lord Lieutenant - and rolled up my sleeves to try to make some sort of difference for good to the world around me, I would never have forgiven myself.

"I feel that my ancestors would approve, and I get great comfort from that! I'm sure they would think that I’ve made the right decision - they would certainly tell me in no uncertain terms to 'get on with it'! There's no question of that!"

Parham was purchased by Lady Emma’s great-grandparents exactly 100 years ago, in 1922.

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"My great-grandfather Clive Pearson's parents - the 1st Lord and Lady Cowdray - couldn't really understand why he and my great-grandmother Alicia wanted to buy a very old, very dilapidated house rather than build a state-of-the-art new one. They certainly had the money to do so."But they were absolutely adamant that they wanted to save Parham. When they first saw it they fell completely in love with it. It was in a very bad way and they just knew they had to come here and look after this wonderful place."Clive and Alicia Pearson were extraordinary people, I think, because they weren’t doing it for themselves or to show off or anything like that. The more I live here and the older I get, the more I realise that they were deliberately saving Parham for Sussex. But they were also saving Parham for England and, whether they thought of this or not, they were actually saving it for the world. They had such energy, vision and generosity of heart.

"After so much devastating loss for so many people in World War II, I think too that maybe they felt that Parham was a tangible example of the England which people had sacrificed so much to defend. They thought it might bring comfort."I believe that this thought was behind a lot of their subsequent collecting and the great joy they subsequently took in opening the House to visitors and sharing it. It wasn't about them personally. They weren't at all grand and they weren't trying to show off. They were very modest, very shy people. They simply got great pleasure in restoring this small corner of Sussex because they saw something that was worthy of saving and they felt that they must do it. I think that's remarkable."They completely understood the importance of these old places and when they opened it to visitors in 1948 they were completely clear that they wanted to share it. When they died they wanted my great-aunt Veronica to continue to share it, and she, in turn, passed on that wish. It’s now owned by a charitable trust which has the remit to look after Parham and open it to visitors in perpetuity. We move forward with their ethos always firmly in mind."

That ethos of sharing all that is best about Sussex with the people of Sussex, and celebrating their successes will be the hall-mark of the new Lord-Lieutenant. Like Parham itself, West Sussex could not be in better hands.