Osla Benning

Margaret Osla, Lady Henniker-Major (née Benning; 23 August 1921 – 29 October 1974) was a Canadian debutante, who worked at Bletchley Park, was Prince Philip's first girlfriend, and later married Sir John Henniker-Major (who became the 8th Baron Henniker after her death).

Osla Benning was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on 23 August 1921, the daughter of Edith Black and James William Benning, and the goddaughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten.

She went to finishing school in Austria, and came out as a debutante in August 1939.

Benning went to stay with her godfather Lord Mountbatten, who mentioned to her friend (and fellow goddaughter) Sarah Baring that Prince Philip (Mountbatten's nephew) did not have a girlfriend and Baring acted as matchmaker.

According to Baring, "It was obvious that he was Osla's boyfriend in a simple, nice way, so to speak".

"I do know that he was her first love," says her daughter, Jane Spring.

"She never told me about him for years. She just said: 'I fell in love with a naval officer'."

Early in the war, she and Baring went to build Hurricane fighter planes at a Hawker Siddeley factory close to Slough, and shared a cottage nearby.

A few months later, by summer 1941, they were both tested on their German language skills and posted to Hut 4 at Bletchley Park, the naval section, as linguists.

Kate Quinn’s 2021 novel about Bletchley Park, The Rose Code, features a character named Osla Kendall, who is based heavily on Osla Benning.

She married John Henniker-Major (later 8th Baron Henniker) in 1946.

They had two sons and one daughter:

Her husband was knighted in the 1965 New Years Honours List and succeeded as the 8th Baron Henniker in 1980.

Benning died of cancer in Kensington, London, on 29 October 1974, at the age of 53.