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Her once-luxuriant blonde hair is cropped brief, hidden beneath a standard nun’s wimple. Our image exhibits the second when former socialite Laura Adshead took her ‘remaining, solemn, occupation of vows’ to turn out to be Mom John Mary.
It was a milestone that this once-troubled lady had labored in the direction of for 14 years, lower off from the world at a distant Benedictine abbey. The girlfriend of David Cameron in one other age, she has since achieved a metamorphosis much more outstanding than the political resurrection of the previous Prime Minister.
Whereas her former lover is again on the coronary heart of British political life, having been appointed International Secretary final week, Laura’s world couldn’t be extra completely different. The 55-year-old has devoted herself to a lifetime of prayer alongside 39 fellow nuns on the remoted 400-acre Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut, a two-hour drive north of New York Metropolis.
In 2008, after years of alcoholism and drug dependancy, she entered the abbey and gave up all her worldly possessions, committing herself to a lifetime of quiet worship.
When The Mail on Sunday visited final week to hunt remark from her in regards to the now Lord Cameron’s political renaissance, a fellow nun politely knowledgeable us that Regina Laudis is a closed order the place nuns even obtain Holy Communion from behind a steel grille throughout Mass to maintain them separate from others within the church.
This image exhibits the second when former socialite Laura Adshead took her ‘remaining, solemn, occupation of vows’ to turn out to be Mom John Mary
Laura met David Cameron once they have been each undergraduates at Oxford College
Laura’s transition from get together lady to nun was first revealed in a 2011 Oscar-nominated documentary referred to as God Is Larger Than Elvis
‘She can’t communicate with out permission,’ a nun generally known as The Portress, informed us.
‘She should apply for depart to talk to outsiders, and which will take a while.’
Laura, a former pupil of £45,000-a-year Cheltenham Girls’ Faculty who was born in New Zealand to British dad and mom, met Cameron when each have been undergraduates at Oxford College. They then labored collectively at Conservative Central Workplace and dated from the spring of 1990 to the summer time of 1991 when, in keeping with reviews, their break-up was so devastating she requested for a compassionate depart of absence.
As Cameron rose by means of the political ranks, Laura moved to America, acquiring a grasp’s diploma at Wharton enterprise college in Philadelphia earlier than touchdown a job as an promoting government at Ogilvy & Mather in Manhattan, the company that impressed the TV collection Mad Males. However after her dependancy points she turned to Alcoholics Nameless, discovered God and entered the abbey as a novice nun.
On a web page revealed on the abbey’s web site dedicated to ‘The Closing Career of Mom John Mary’ in October 2022, Laura writes: ‘Making vows is a declaration of affection. We make these vows to not an summary notion of monastic life, however to a selected folks and neighborhood. I made the leap, and have landed on the opposite facet, and it’s beginning to really feel quite a bit like residence.’
Day by day Laura rises at 2am for the primary of not less than six prayer periods carried out in Latin. At weekends she works within the abbey store, promoting home-made cheese, candles and picket bowls constituted of bushes felled within the grounds.
She additionally helps on the 400-acre dairy farm, cleansing stables and tending her beloved rose backyard.
Laura labored with Cameron in Conservative Central Workplace and in keeping with reviews requested for compassionate depart of absence following their break-up
Pictures on the abbey’s web site present nuns milking cows, baling hay and making cheese.
Laura’s transition from get together lady to nun was first revealed in a 2011 Oscar-nominated documentary referred to as God Is Larger Than Elvis, about Dolores Hart, now 85, one other nun on the abbey.
Dolores had starred alongside Elvis Presley within the movies Loving You and King Creole earlier than turning her again on Hollywood aged 24 to take vows at Regina Laudis, the place she nonetheless lives.
Within the documentary, Laura, whose theologian father wrote a e book titled Philosophy Of Faith In Nineteenth-Century England And Past, mentioned: ‘I really feel like I attempted most issues in life which might be imagined to make you content. That journey took me down into alcoholism and drug dependancy. I bear in mind telling my mom, “I’m going to hitch the abbey,’’ and she or he mentioned, “Sure, I can see this world has no actual which means for you any extra.’’
‘I checked out this place and noticed girls who had what I wished. Making a decision right here to give up your life to God.’
Laura rises at 2am every single day for the primary of six prayer periods in Latin, and works on the abbey store on the weekends
Laura lives in a easy room with a picket mattress, a shelf full of spiritual books and shares a communal rest room.
The abbey has a guesthouse for guests searching for ‘peace and serenity’ the place a former classmate of Laura’s, Shelley Sprang, as soon as spent a while. Shelley mentioned: ‘She’s received that sparkle and the depraved sense of humour she at all times had.
‘We nicknamed her the naughty nun – I received’t inform you why.’
She recalled assembly David Cameron when he and Laura dated, saying they might meet for ‘Friday drinks’ in London’s Sloane Sq..
Laura is thought to have left the abbey solely as soon as, in 2011, to go to New Zealand following the earthquake that devastated Christchurch Cathedral, the place she and her dad and mom had worshipped.
Cameron married Samantha Sheffield in 1996.
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