Monique Marie Mauricette (Arnoux) Wilson (1923 - 1982)

Born 1923 in Haiphong, North Vietnam

Died 1982 at about age 59 in Torremolinos, Spain

Gardnerian Wicca

Biography

Queen of the Witches

Written and compiled by George Knowles http://www.controverscial.com/Monique%20Wilson.htm

Monique Marie Mauricette Wilson (nee Arnoux) was born in Haiphong, North Vietnam in 1928. Her parents were French, the father being a French naval officer stationed there in the seaport. She first met Gerald B. Gardner as a child in Haiphong and came to know him as “Uncle Gerald”. At the time Gardner was working as a customs official for the British government, a position that allowed him to travel widely in the area and occasionally brought him into contact with her father.

Shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939, Monique was witness to the unfortunate murder of her father by Communists in the streets of Hanoi, after which she and her mother joined many other refugees and fled to the relative safety of Hong Kong, there to wait out the war. Life was tough in Hong Kong during the war, more so after the British surrendered to the Japanese on the 25th December 1941. It remained tough until the end of the war and the British reoccupied the island following the surrender of Japan on the 14th August 1945.

After the war and while still living in Hong Kong, Monique met her future husband a Scotsman called Campbell Wilson, or “Scotty” to all who knew him. At the time he was serving as a Flight Lieutenant with the Bomber Command of the Royal Air Force and stationed in Hong Kong. Within months of their meeting they got engaged and soon after were married. After leaving the service in 1954, they returned to the UK and settled in Perth, Scotland, where Scotty went to work for the local gas board. Three years later they were blessed with a daughter called Yvette.

While living in Perth, Monique became interested in the Old Religion, inspired in part by a book called Witchcraft Today (1954) and news media articles about the book’s author “Gerald Gardner”, dubbed by the press as “Britain’s Chief Witch”. Gardner was gaining popularity in the daily tabloids, though sometimes controversially, as the owner of a “Museum of Witchcraft and Magic” based on the Isle of Man.

Not knowing whom the author actually was, Monique wrote to him seeking further information about the craft, and was surprised to find that he was the same “Uncle Gerald” she had known as a child in Haiphong many years earlier. After renewing their friendship Gardner initiated Monique into the craft, and later in 1961 elevated her to High Priestess. She was given the craft name of Lady Olwen, and her husband Scotty who acted as her High Priest.

Monique's most influential initiate was Raymond Buckland.

Spouse- Campbell "Scotty" Crozier Arnoux Child- Yvette Arnoux

Sources

• http://www.witchcraftandwitches.com/witches_wilson.html

• http://www.geraldgardner.com/Monique_Wilson.pdf

• Wikidata: Item Q16579425