Photo taken in her modelling days

Nathalie was born in Edinburgh on 20th Sept 1928, 10 minutes after her twin brother, Angus.  They were the only children of Joseph McCance and Phyllis Adah Turner, though Phyllis had a daughter, Jill, from her previous marriage to Ted Quilter.  She was educated at Beaufront School, which was evacuated from Camberley to Crekerne in Somerset during the war.  

Nathalie with her mother and grandmother (Louie Blasson)

At that time they lived near Wellington in Somerset, but after the war they moved to Malta, where her father was posted, for two and a half years.  On returning to England she worked as a model for the Jean Bell Agency.

Her modelling career petered out after she married Gordon Nares, in 1951, and started a family.  Oliver was born in 1952, James in 1953 and Gina in 1955.  They lived in Chelsea until they moved to a new house which they had built near Newick in Sussex in 1956. Tragically, Gordon died the next year of a heart attack.  However, Wycliffe Stutchbury, who had been Gordon's "best man", (and the architect for their house) proposed to her and they were married in 1959. 

Two more daughters followed, Jessica in 1960 and Bettina (Bena) in 1961.  They lived in the house in Newick for another twelve years or so and then moved to a new house that Wycliffe had designed and built on his family's farm on the downs near Seaford.  When her children had grown up and become independent she embarked on a new career, working as administrator at Sabine de Mirbeck's "Ecole de Cuisine Francaise" which was newly established at Clapham House in Litlington.  Sabine's mother-in-law was Directrice of Le Cordon Bleu de Paris for 40 years and this pedigree was evident in the style of her school.  Nathalie thrived on the demanding work and the atmosphere in the school and played a crucial role in helping Sabine to develop the school's reputation.  However,  Wycliffe retired in 1982 and they decided to live permanently in the holiday house they had built in Ireland in 1962.  Their idyllic existence out there was shattered by Wycliffe's sudden death while visiting his brother in France in 1992.  She still lives in Ireland with her dogs and numerous friends and relations for company.