Betsy Stewart

Betsy Royalty Stewart, 94, of Lexington died Saturday, March 26, 2022. She was the daughter of the late Mayor B. M. and Bernice Patterson Royalty and granddaughter of Judge and Mrs. Alpha Patterson. Her family were some of the earliest settlers in Harrodsburg. She was born on historic Morgan Row and formerly owned Diamond Point, a National Historic Landmark. Two family members on the Royalty and Taylor sides were Poet Laureates of Kentucky and Texas. She is survived by her son “Dee” and several cousins. She attended Duke before transferring back to Centre College graduating with high honors in chemistry. She received her M.A. in Education from the University of Kentucky and taught in Bell and Fayette Counties in Kentucky and Naples, Florida. She served as Governor of the Kentucky Society of Mayflower Descendants, a life member of Alden Kindred, Regent of Lexington Chapter DAR and First Lady of the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival. She was a patron of the Kentucky Horse Park supplying exotic horses from Austria and the USSR. She entertained Austrian diplomats in Lexington and was a guest at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, D.C. She met the Prime Minister of Antigua, the Austrian Ambassador to the U.S., and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. She traveled to Asia, Canada, Europe, Middle East and South America and flew on British Airway’s SS Concorde and sailed on Cunard’s HMS QE2. Services were held at Central Christian Church with burial in the Lexington Cemetery. Paid Obit.