“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” – Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn was born in Belgium on 4 May 1929. Her father, Joseph Ruston had served as a consul to the Dutch East Indies and so she lived all over Europethroughout her childhood as his work moved him and his family from one place toanother. She took an interest in dance at an early age whilst in Switzerland and when the family arrived in London in 1948, she began training as a ballerina.

Audrey Hepburn’s mother was the Baroness Ella van Heemstra, a Dutch noblewoman who marriedAudrey’s father in Batavia in September 1925. Both had been married previously and as Joseph mistakenly believed himself to be descended from James Hepburn, the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots he changed his surname to Ruston-Hepburn as he thought the name sounded more aristocratic.

Due to her parents’ positions, Audrey had a fairly sheltered and privileged upbringing, and due to the amount of moving around that the family did, she was fortunate enough to learn five languages including English and Dutch from her parents, and later some Spanish, French, and Italian.

However, money can’t buy happiness and in 1935 Audrey suffered what she described as the most traumatic event of her life when her father unexpectedly decided to turn his back on his family when he moved to London where he became deeply involved in the Fascist movement. He and Ella were officially divorced in 1938 but Audrey later reconnected with her father in the 1960s after locating him through the Red Cross in Dublin. Sadly, he continued to be emotionally detached, but even so, she supported him financially until his death.

At the beginning of the Second World War, Audrey Hepburn lived with her mother in Arnhem, in the Netherlands as it was hoped that the Netherlands would remain neutral. However, after the Germans invaded in 1940, she started using a different name, going by Edda van Heemstra, as it was thought that having an English sounding name could cause problems.

The Nazi occupation of Holland was a very difficult time for Audrey and her family. She once said, “had we known that we were going to be occupied for five years, we might have all shot ourselves.”

Following the Allied landing on D-Day in June 1944, the daily conditions in Arnhem quickly deteriorated. After the difficulties of occupation, the Dutch were now having to deal with famine as the Germans blocked the supply routes which stopped food and goods from getting to them. Audrey Hepburn suffered from malnutrition and as a result, developed acute anaemia as well as respiratory problems.

As a probable consequence of the suffering she witnessed during the Nazi occupation, Audrey Hepburn developed a deep sense of compassion which led to her launching a second career as a humanitarian during the 1950s. She was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF for which she went on multiple overseas field missions to places like Ethiopia, Sudan, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. She worked with UNICEF for the rest of her life and went on a mission to Somalia just four months before her death. She called what she witnessed there “apocalyptic”, and went on to say, “I walked into a nightmare. I have seen famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I have seen nothing like this…”

Audrey Hepburn’s acting career took off after playing the part of a European Princess called Ann in 1953’s Roman Holiday. She received critical acclaim and won a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award, otherwise known as a BAFTA, and of course an Academy Award for her performance.

Although she won the Academy Award for Roman Holiday...