Although she protested that her family was not wealthy, her grandfather was a Baron and her father descended from Mary Queen of Scots and the Queen's 3rd husband James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. Her grandfather was Mayor of Arnhem.
Audrey's passion was for ballet and she continued her dancing well into the war even during the occupation of her town of Velp. Her dancing became increasingly difficult with little nutrition and virtually no protein, but when she was unable to dance she taught younger children. Her mother, Baroness Ella Van Heemstra, was once a Nazi sympathizer (lipstick nazi), friend of the Mitford sisters, and thought the war, like the first world war, would avoid the Netherlands, but that was not to be and they soon learned that the occupiers had little empathy for the Dutch. Audrey helped a young doctor for a short time at the local hospital and on occasion helped the resistance to whom he belonged. He was harboring Jews and rescuing downed British and American allied airmen. The advantage Audrey had was that she spoke English, having spent some of her childhood at an English school before the war. Operation Market Garden was a particularly horrendous experience when allied troops descended from the sky in nearby Arnhem to protect bridges for the army but the liberation was short lived when the army was delayed and many of the brave paratroopers were captured or killed. Arnhem, a town that had survived for hundreds of years, was sadly left in ruins including the music center where Audrey had performed and attended ballet school.
